The recently released 2012 Kentucky Equine Survey results don’t just reveal important information on the economic impact data of the commonwealth’s equine industry, they also open the door for new horse health surveillance and disease mitigating measures.

On Sept. 6 the University of Kentucky (UK) College of Agriculture, Food, and Environment’s Ag Equine Programs and the Kentucky Horse Council, in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Statistics Service, released the economic impact figures from the first such wide-ranging study of Kentucky’s equine industry since 1977 and the first-ever detailed economic impact study about Kentucky’s equine industry. 

Craig Carter, DVM, PhD, Dipl. ACVPM, director of the UK Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, explained that simply knowing how many horses reside in Kentucky will help improve disease surveillance; for epidemiologic (the study of determinants of disease in populations) purposes, this is termed the denominator.

"From an epidemiological standpoint, the denominator on your data is almost like a mind-expanding thing to have," he said. "In theory it sounds simple, but getting the denominator data is not easy—especially in animals