Don`t be surprised if ”My Old Lake County Home” replaces ”My Old Kentucky Home” as the American horse industry`s unofficial anthem. Lake County is breeding numerous innovations affecting national and international horse industries. These pacesetting ideas include new plans for trail development, horse shows, horse ownership and education, according to local horse enthusiasts.
At $50 million to $60 million a year, local horse industry revenues are more than 10 percent of the horse industry gross product statewide, said Dr. Daniel Burke, an Abbott Laboratories research scientist and president of Equine Educational Associates, a local horse nutrition consulting firm. In the future, the innovations could cause the figure to increase significantly.
”More people ride more horses for more reasons in Lake County than Cook, Du Page or McHenry,” said Connie Cameron Porth, editor of the Liberyville Sentinel, the largest circulated horse periodical in the Midwest. There are 13,000 horses here, about 28 horses per square mile, she reported. Some property areas, such as Mettawa, Wadsworth/Old Mill Creek and parts of unincorporated Barrington, have more horses than people. Many innovations focus on ensuring local riders will continue to find property on which to ride, said Lake County horse enthusiasts. ”It seems Lake County`s horse industry is on a collision course with real estate,” Burke said. ”And, the future is in the hands of the county zoning board by maintaining some areas for horseback riding.” The amount of land devoted to horses in Lake County has diminished by almost 10 percent, or 1,000 acres, over the past 10 years, Porth said.
”Five years ago, northern Lake County was considered the boonies,” said Linda Kelly, co-owner of Kelly`s Stables, a 22-acre complex in Wadsworth.
”Since then, developers have been buying up land for subdivisions. Farms that had horses and were probably worth $8,000 an acre on an agricultural basis are now improved one-acre home-sites priced anywhere from $60,000 to $75,000 per acre, she said.
As there are fewer places to ride, there is more demand on the stables and riding facilities left, she said. One creative solution proposed to the Lake County Forest Preserve Board would use 50-foot rights-of-way under Commonweath Edison power lines beginning at the Zion Nuclear Power Plant for multi-use trails, including horseback riding, said Jack Martin, owner of the Libertyville Saddle Shop.
This plan could extend into Cook, Du Page and McHenry Counties because the network for Commonwealth Edison lines goes through the northern part of the state, Martin added. ”It might be possible for a trail rider to ride from the Wisconsin state line through these trails and forest preserves to the Indiana state line,” he said.
Work by local riders in promoting equestrian trails signifies the greatest change Ruby Holmquist has seen in Lake County horse activities since she came to Lake County in 1929. ”Horse owners and horseback riders are generally loners or isolationists,” she said. ”They do their own thing, but lately, there`s been a unification of horse people, and it`s a great thing.” Holmquist is president of the Illinois Trailriders` Association and a member of the Lake County Sheriff`s Posse. The unification she mentions has resulted in the proposal by another group of horse enthusiasts for
establishment of an indoor riding facility to house revenue-generating horse shows. Large horse shows bring in many people who spend money in hotels, restaurants and retail stores, said Burke, who recently compiled a study on state horse industry revenues for the Horseman`s Council of Illinois.
The indoor facility in Columbus, Ohio, generates more than $40 million for its economy annually through the All-American Quarterhorse Congress and other events, he said. Springfield`s Solid Gold Futurity adds $7 million to $10 million to that economy, he added. ”It would be a greater boon to this county`s economy than anyone realizes,” Porth said.
Many Lake County horse show competitors must travel to other counties to compete, she said. The closest large-scale, indoor horse show facilities are in Rantoul or outside Rockford. ”Lake County really wants one, but to build it will require a partnership of state, county and private-sector
representatives as was done in Virginia and Kentucky,” said George Malsam, president of the Horseman`s Council of Illinois.
A substantial riding arena with seating for 2,000 spectators plus permanent stabling for 500 horses would cost $3 million to $5 million, he estimated. This structure could also serve as a permanent location for the county`s Riding for the Handicapped programs and equine educational center, proponents say.
The decline in riding locations has prompted some local horse enthusiasts to increase the number of horse shows to give people more places to ride, said Fred Carney, a Wadsworth horse dealer who is Lake County`s largest horse supplier. Lately, there`ve been more quarter horse, 4-H and jumping shows locally, he said.
Sales of horses to be ridden in events such as these shows has increased as a percentage of his total horse sales, he added. While growing up in Wadsworth, he could ride almost anywhere, unlike today`s Lake County riders, he said. ”They can`t go off and ride up and down the roads because of all of the developments.”
Lake County is already home to two prestigious international horse shows. For several years, Tempel Farms in Wadsworth has hosted the M&M Chocolate Candies` North American Young Riders` Championships. This is the highest-rated horse show in North America outside of the Olympic and Pan American games, said Roberta Williams, Tempel Farms program director. The competition in August attracted riders from Mexico, Canada, Bermuda, Australia and different parts of the United States for the weeklong event, and several hundred spectators went to the northern Lake County complex.
This competition is designed to develop young riders into potential Olympic equstrians, Williams said. In the future, Tempel will alternate hosting this show with Canada.
Two years ago another top show attracted to the area was the Zurich-American Chicago Grand Prix, sponsored by Great American Insurance Co. to benefit Chicago`s Children`s Memorial Hospital. With a $30,000 purse for a single race, the show drew 150 noted riders from East Coast and Southern states to Fields and Fences Farm in Gurnee, said Mary Jo Farr, a Lake Forest horse show competitor who worked on the event`s committee.
In addition to exploring new places to ride, the Lake County horse community`s concern about scarcity of quality horse stock is also producing some novel solutions, Burke said. Because horse prices have risen almost 50 percent here in the last two years, would-be equestrians have discovered advantages of time-share ownership, Burke said. ”I`ve seen ads in the local newspapers and on bulletin boards at work,” he said. ”It`s a relatively new phenomenon but a great concept since people don`t utilize their horses nearly to capacity.
New ideas aren`t confined to local horseback-riding problems. Horse-related businesses in Lake County are also trail-blazing new concepts. To the 42,000-square-foot Libertyville Saddle Shop store, Martin added a 56,000- square-foot facility that uses state-of-the-art technology to process almost 1,000 packages daily, he said. Seventy-percent of the business` orders are mail order. Most packages are destined for California, Texas, Florida and Nebraska. ”Last year was the best we`ve ever had since opening 32 years ago,” he added. The Libertyville Saddle Shop is the largest horse-supply dealer in the country, experts say.
Martin also is pioneering sophisticated target-marketing computer techniques that other retailers are adopting.
In December, Horse Health Products Inc., the second-largest manufacturer and distributor of horse performance and nutritional products nationwide, moved to Mundelein from South Carolina.
Demand for horseback-riding lessons and stalls for horses has increased substantially, report local stable owners. ”Five years ago I was working at capacity,” said Steve Haight, president of Lake Forest`s Horse Forum. ”Even though demand has increased, I still can`t accommodate anyone else and maintain quality.”
In Wadsworth, despite being open daily, including holidays, Kelly`s Stables is also at capacity. ”When we bought this property in 1987, the barn had eight stalls, said Linda Kelly, co-owner. Currently Kelly`s has 47 stalls and a two-month waiting list.
This popularity has stirred interest in newly designed education programs in riding techniques and horse management. Tempel Farms recently hosted a three-day equestrian clinic instructed by one of the top German dressage coaches in the world, Williams said. ”Classical dressage is often compared to classical ballet and is one of the three Olympic equestrian events,” she added.
While Tempel Farms concentrates on classical dressage training, Burke has devised a different kind of horse education course that has become the only certified program of its kind in the Midwest.
At the College of Lake County, he is teaching horse management and breeding courses to Lake County residents. This series of classes in nutrition, breeding and genetics, marketing, judging and selection leads to an adult education certificate at the College of Lake County.
Carole Sandner, a Lake Bluff mother of six, started riding to accompany her 12-year-old daughter, Angela. ”I wanted her to ride because I`d seen a program about the self-esteem benefits of horseback riding for children with learning disabilities,” she explained.
Angela, who`s ridden for three years, has dyslexia, Sandner said. ”It`s worked unbelievably well,” she said. ”Last weekend, she won three first-place awards for jumping in a horse show.”
