United States Department of Agriculture • Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service • Safeguarding American Agriculture 

Veterinary Services 

Centers for Epidemiology and Animal Health March 2007 

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

Movement of U.S. Equids, 

2005 

Equids are transported throughout the United States and 

internationally. Understanding the economic and animalhealth implications of equid movement is of vital 

importance to the equine industry. One goal of the U.S. 

Department of Agriculture’s National Animal Health 

Monitoring System’s (NAHMS) Equine 2005 study was 

to compare trends in the movement of equids from 1998 

to 2005. 

 For the Equine 2005 study, NAHMS collected data 

on equine health and management practices from a 

representative sample of operations with 5 or more 

equids in 28 States within four regions.* The 28-State 

target population represented 78.0 percent of equids and 

78.6 percent of operations with 5 or more equids in the 

United States. Interviews were conducted from July 18 

through August 12, 2005, and 2,893 equine operations 

provided data on equine health and management. 

 Some estimates in this information sheet are 

compared to estimates from Equine ’98, NAHMS’ 

previous study of the U.S. equine industry. For the 

evaluation of changes and trends, the data used to 

generate estimates based on the Equine ’98 study were 

re-analyzed to represent operations with five or more 

equids present on January 1, 1998. Therefore, estimates 

for comparing the two study periods are based on 3 

points of commonality: same 28 States, data collection 

performed by National Agricultural Statistics Service 

enumerators, and same reference population of 5 or 

more equids. 

 Of operations participating in the Equine 2005 study, 

40.3 percent identified their primary function as 

“farm/ranch” and 37.0 percent identified their primary 

function as “residence with equids for personal use.” A 

resident equid was defined as an equid that spent or 

was expected to spend more time at the operation than 

at any other operation, whether or not it was present at 

the time of the interview. The operation was its home 

base. 

____________________________________

*Regions: 

West: California, Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, Oregon, 

Washington, and Wyoming

Northeast: New Jersey, New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania

South: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, 

Maryland, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia 

Central: Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, 

and Wisconsin 

Movement of equids can pose the risk of introducing 

infectious disease. Both the Equine ’98 and 2005 studies 

addressed movement of equids on and off equine 

facilities. 

Results 

The Equine 2005 study found that overall 63.4 

percent of operations moved resident equids off the 

operation and back during the previous 12 months 

(whether or not by vehicle). This percentage is lower 

than that reported in Equine ’98 where 80.7 percent of 

operations had moved equids off the operation and 

back. Operations with a primary function of farm/ranch 

work and residences with equids for personal use 

accounted for much of the difference, as these 

operations moved equids less frequently in 2005 than in 

1998, and farm/ranch work operations accounted for a 

larger percentage of operations in 2005 than in 1998. 

In 2005, the percentage of operations that moved 

resident equids off the operation and back varied by 

region, ranging from 58.9 percent in the South region to 

71.6 percent in the Northeast region (see map below). 

CA

WA

OR

NV

ID

UT

NM

AZ

WY

MT

CO

ND

SD

NE

KS

MN

IA

MO

WI

IL IN

MI

OH

PA

 Participating States

OK TX AR

LA

TN

KY

MS AL

FL

GA SC

NC

VA

WV

MD DE

NY RI

VT

NH

ME

MA

CT

NJ

Percentage of Operations that Moved Resident Equids Off the Operation and 

Back (Whether or Not by Vehicle) During the Previous 12 Months, by Region-2005

South = 58.9%

West = 67.0% Central = 64.1%

Northeast = 71.6%

The percentage of operations that moved resident 

equids off the operation and back also varied by primary 

use of equids, ranging from 52.8 percent of operations 

where the primary use of equids was pleasure to 92.9 

percent of operations where the primary use was racing 

(figure 1). 
United States Department of Agriculture • Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service • Safeguarding American Agriculture 

0

20

40

60

80

100

Pleasure Lessons/ school Show/ Breeding

competition

Racing Farm/ ranch work Other

Percent

Primary Use

52.4

87.3

91.4

68.3

92.9

65.5

90.5

Figure 1. Percentage of Operations that Moved Resident Equids Off the 

Operation and Back During the Previous 12 Months, by Primary Use of 

Equids-2005

A higher percentage of large operations (20 or more 

equids) moved resident equids off the operation and 

back compared to medium (10 to 19 equids) and small 

(5 to 9 equids) operations (79.4, 72.5, and 58.2 percent 

respectively). 

A higher percentage of operations with a primary 

function of boarding/training and breeding farm (88.4 

and 72.9 percent, respectively) moved resident equids 

off the operation and back compared to operations with 

a primary function of farm/ranch work and residence with 

equids for personal use (figure 2.) 

0

20

40

60

80

100

Percent

Primary Function

Figure 2. Percentage of Operations that Moved Resident Equids off the 

Operation and Back During the Previous 12 Months, by Primary Function 

of Operation-2005

88.4

72.9

62.2

8.9

56.1

80.6

2.9

Boarding/

Training

Breeding

farm

Farm/ranch 

work Equids for 

personal use

Other

One-third of all operations (32.9 percent) reported a 

maximum one-way distance resident equids traveled 

and returned of less than 100 miles, while 8.3 percent 

reported a maximum one-way distance of 500 miles or 

more. Approximately one of four operations where the 

primary use of equids was show/competition and racing, 

(27.6 percent and 21.4 percent, respectively) reported 

that resident equids traveled a maximum one-way 

distance of 500 miles or more. 

The percentage of operations that transported any 

resident equids by vehicle off the home operation and 

returned during the previous 12 months decreased from 

73.5 percent in 1998 to 58.4 percent in 2005. Of those 

operations in 2005 that transported equids by vehicle, 

the majority (94.8 percent) transported equids at least 

once within State, and 41.7 percent made 10 or more 

trips within State. Approximately one-third of operations 

that transported equids by vehicle (34.3 percent) 

transported equids to an adjacent State, and 11.9 

percent transported equids beyond adjacent States. 

Less than 1 percent of operations transported equids to 

Canada (0.7 percent), Mexico (0.3 percent), or outside 

North America (0.2 percent). 

In 2005, 19.0 percent of operations had nonresident 

equid visitors that stayed for less than 30 consecutive 

days, which was similar to the percentage reported in 

1998 (20.9 percent). 

________________________________ 

For more information, contact: 

USDA:APHIS:VS:CEAH 

NRRC Building B, M.S. 2E7 

2150 Centre Avenue 

Fort Collins, CO 80526-8117 

970.494.7000 

E-mail: NAHMS@aphis.usda.gov 

http://nahms.aphis.usda.gov 

#N464.0806 

____________________________________ 

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