I’ve been around horses my entire life and never knew that we had such a big harness racing industry in Delaware. I don’t know much about the horse racing industry in general, aside from going to Delaware Park a few times and watching the Kentucky Derby. However, I’ve owned horses my entire life and dabbled in many disciplines like dressage, jumpers, and eventing. So my experience in the equine industry is extensive, although only in a few specific areas.

Mark Davis taught me how prominent the harness racing industry in this area is. I think it’s a really cool opportunity for people to get involved with the equine industry that don’t want to be involved in the traditional equestrian lifestyle. I had no idea that historically, they crossed Arabians with Warmbloods to get race horses. When I think about horse racing, I only think about thoroughbreds, so Mark Davis was definitely informative about the history too.

I thought it was very interesting that he shared that about a third of horse owners are not very wealthy. I think this is one of the most common misconceptions about equestrians out there. We’re often labeled as the “rich kids” who own horses, but in fact many of us are working hard to make ends meet to pay for our horses!