A lot of things are happening with horses these days. A particularly well articulated example is from Sweden where about a third of all the citizens of Sweden have in some form, contact with horses. The following trends are particular to Sweden, but have resonance for other developing countries.
People move to the country in order to be able to keep their own horses.
Horses are increasingly accorded human qualities.
The use of horses i therapeutic settings with, for example, troubled youth, prisoners and handicapped persons grows.
Increase in therapies for horses such as massage, working stretch points, acupuncture, stretching and homo pathology.
More communication and cooperation between different members of the horse industry.
Horse tourism is on the rise and there is a connection between increased riding and increases in mountain wandering, cycling and fishing.
More specialization in food production for horses.
Technical development in horse breeding such as cloning and embryo transfer and digitalized breeding registers.
Greater focus on protection of animals measured by increased reports of mishandle to authorities.
More horses put on diets.
The use of working horses as an environmental alternative in new/old areas: on farms, cutting park lawns, in school transportation and garbage collection.
The source is the report Future Scanning on the Horse Industry by the Swedish Board of Agriculture (Jordbruksverket) May 2008 Ask yourself if there is a score you wish was higher or lower. http://www.sjv.se/nyhetsarkiv/nyheter/hastsverige2017jordbruksverketsamladehastsektornforframtidsspaning.5.1c72e95711857a22453800014638.html
