Horse-y areas? (Spokane, Vancouver, Bellevue: houses, gated, live in)

[Johnbiggs]

What are the counties/regions of Washington that tend to have higher horse populations/horse to human ratios?

[sll3454]

I think horses were left off the census. Here are some places you might find help or clues:

Frequently Asked Questions
Business Directory- Washington Equestrian Network

City-data's county pages give this sort of information:
Agriculture in Spokane County:

Average size of farms: 289 acres
Average value of agricultural products sold per farm: $42,181
Average value of crops sold per acre for harvested cropland: $245.10
The value of nursery, greenhouse, floriculture, and sod as a percentage of the total market value of agricultural products sold: 21.85%
The value of livestock, poultry, and their products as a percentage of the total market value of agricultural products sold: 17.68%
Average total farm production expenses per farm: $33,304
Harvested cropland as a percentage of land in farms: 49.00%
Irrigated harvested cropland as a percentage of land in farms: 3.37%
Average market value of all machinery and equipment per farm: $56,915
The percentage of farms operated by a family or individual: 89.89%
Average age of principal farm operators: 56 years
Average number of cattle and calves per 100 acres of all land in farms: 4.01
Milk cows as a percentage of all cattle and calves: 8.61%
All wheat for grain: 143897 harvested acres
Vegetables: 1,174 harvested acres
Land in orchards: 796 acres[LEFT]
Read more: http://www.city-data.com/county/Spok...#ixzz2BYJCWB7b


. . . and the city pages will tell you what percent of the houses are in rural areas.

You can look at Skagit County, Washington Horse Directory - O Horse! to get an idea of how many boarding farms/stables a county has.

Then you can zoom in on a map and see what the areas look like.

[BellevueNative]

The OP's wording is a little creepy.

[ukiyo-e]

I live on the Olympic Peninsula and there are lots of horses here. In fact, my house sits next to several hundred acres with trails and I see people riding horses right behind my lot line every day.

[Fat Freddy]

Western Washington has lots of trees.

Eastern Washington has lots of grass.

You will find more horses in the grass than you will find in the woods.

[PS90]

OP, I have no data to help you out, but the "horsiest" areas of Washington state, from my own anecdotal experience, would be the Vancouver area, the Monroe/Snohomish area, and the Ellensburg area.

Vancouver and Monroe have a much higher concentration of horses than anywhere else, because many people have a very small plot of land with a few backyard horses. Ellensburg and a few other places in Eastern WA probably have more total horses with much less horse-density because of much more open pastureland and people with larger acreages.

Also, many of the bigger, fancier horse shows and dressage-type shows in this state take place in the arena in Monroe (I forget what they call it). Ellensburg, of course, has the rodeo, so many stock-type horse breeders live in that area.

[Hemlock140]

PS90 is right, and I would add Carnation and Duvall, Enumclaw and Black Diamond. There are some closer-in areas with some horses, such as Woodinville, outer Issaquah toward Hobart, Bellevue (Bridle trails area) and Sammamish.

[rainforest338]

You could contact the Backcountry Horsemen of Washington. They might have the best guesses for ratios. I live in Clallam County and there are quite a few horses in the eastern part of the county. Once you get west of Joyce, the 'herd' seems to thin out considerably. Also a lot in eastern Jefferson county and in Kitsap as well.