Horse Center continues to attract business despite state budget battles

Virginia Business
August 2005

An emerging economic engine for the Lexington area relies heavily on horsepower, the old-fashioned kind.

The Virginia Horse Center is drawing people and dollars to Lexington and Rockbridge County. With eight barns, a 4,000-seat coliseum and an indoor arena, the Horse Center can accommodate 750 horses in permanent stabling and up to 1,200 in permanent and temporary housing. This capacity and the center’s 600 acres of property allow it to host a wide variety of national horse shows, as well as other events such as historical re-enactments and indoor motocross (BMX) bike racing. “The demand for a facility like the Horse Center keeps us booked 50 out of 52 weeks a year,” says John Scott, the center’s executive director. “The center has definitely been an economic catalyst. We now have nine hotels and 11 restaurants in the region to support the tourist traffic.”

One company that is cashing in on the Horse Center’s growing popularity is Dominion Lodging. David Andersen, vice president of Dominion Lodging, says that when its latest hotel is completed, the company will have four of its 13 properties within a mile of the Horse Center. “Over 60 percent of our total business is generated by the center’s operation,” he says.

The Horse Center was created in 1985 after many years of deliberations by the General Assembly. It’s one of the earliest examples of Virginia’s public-private partnerships, and a recent study suggests the deal is paying off. The Weldon Cooper Center at the University of Virginia estimates that the Horse Center’s total economic impact is more than $53 million a year.

Nonetheless, state funding for the Horse Center has been a bone of contention in General Assembly budget battles. In its 2005 session, the legislature agreed to put $890,000 in the budget for the Horse Center after vigorous debate. Gov. Mark R. Warner increased that amount to an even $900,000. “Continued assistance by the state is necessary to service the original debt,” says Lethia Hammond, the center’s director of marketing and public affairs. “The center has continued to meet its operational expense commitments through event revenues and private fund-raising.”

The Horse Center also is conducting a series of studies to obtain a $1 million federal grant. The money would be used to pay for maintenance at the center and to build an education building that would include a conference center and therapeutic riding center that would serve schoolchildren.

Officials say that the Horse Center’s growing prominence is demonstrated in its ability to attract major equine events such as the North American Young Riders Champion-ship held in June and the International Friesian Horse Grand National Finals scheduled for October. Nonetheless, the center faces increasing competition from other states. North Carolina has a horse center and Maryland is searching for a site for its own center.

The Horse Center is part of statewide equine industry that a 2001 study estimated had an annual economic impact of more than $1.5 billion. That number ranked Virginia the fifth largest equine state, surpassed by only Texas, California, Missouri and Tennessee. Horse Center officials, however, say that 4-year-old study was incomplete, and they expect another study scheduled for this year to provide a clearer picture of the industry’s contribution to the state.