New York State Fair 'One Thing' Series -- Today's Feature, Horses

An Arabian male, age 13, eats some hay at the New York State Fair

The horse shows at the Coliseum at the New York State Fair are some of the most entertaining things to see while at the fairgrounds.

There are so many different types of horses to see, including working horses like Percherons and Belgians, and even miniature horses.

Some are shown by adults and some by kids. There also are competitions with the working horses pulling wagons.

And there's always something going on in the Coliseum, so be sure to stop by.

Also go to the Horse Barn and check out the horses and talk to the people who raise them. I did just that and ran into Morgan Rether, 15, of Camillus, who owns five horses and had some of them at the fair.

I asked her what 'one thing' she would like to tell the public about horses. She said: "They cost a lot of money. But they're good companions, they're fun and they're nice."

According to the 2005 equine survey for New York, there wee 197,000 horses in the state. About 87,000 were used for pleasure, followed by 27,000 for competition, 26,900 for breeding, 14,500 for racing and 11,100 for lessons.

There were 33,000 equine operations in the state in 2005. Total assets of the equine industry were $10.4 billion and expenditures by the industry into the New York economy totaled $2.1 billion.