Horses in Virginia

All thoroughbreds date back to three stallions or "foundation sires" imported to England in the 1600's - but did the quarter horse breed come from Virginia? According to Oklahoma State University - Livestock Breeds of the North American Continent, at least we can claim that Virginians helped develop the quarter horse and the Tennessee Walking Horse...

Horses were originally valued in Virginia for their ability to carry a load (including a passenger), haul a wagon, or even pull a plow. Today, though a few Virginia horses are work animals, most are valued for personal riding - or professional horse races. There are a number of "hunt clubs" in Virginia, such as the Deep Run Hunt Club, where urban residents can ride horses - and not always with the intention of catching a fox... As urbanization/suburbanization has expanded into the rural areas, former riding grounds have been converted to houses and are closed to horseback riding. The Bull Run Hunt is now conducted in Culpeper County, far from Interstate 66...

In the early 1990's, recreational horseback riding at Manassas National Battlefield Park was criticized, primarily because Vice President Dan Quayle took advantage of National Park Service horses there. Today the local Battlefield Equestrian Society maintains recreational horse riding trails on the Civil War battlefield, open for all qualified riders to use. Cavalry played a significant role in the two battles of Manassas and horses are clearly appropriate in the historical setting, but the park nearly lost its horse-mounted ranger program before the political fight finally simmered down.

Now the politics revolve around betting on horses. After a short but intense political battle, a license for a track permitting pari-mutual gambling was issued for New Kent County. The track went into operation in 1997, just before the deadline mandated in the license. (Northern Virginia proponents, losers in the original contest, were anxiously awaiting another chance...) Colonial Downs was expected to make a profit from off-track betting parlors, as well as from track visitors drawn from Tidewater and Richmond.

However, Colonial Downs has failed to prosper, in part because none of the four satellite racing centers (the 2004 General Assembly authorized up to 10 locations) are in the most populous region in the state. Colonial Downs has tried to open a betting parlor north of Fredericksburg, but has not been able to find a community in Northern Virginia that would permit pari-mutual betting - even Manassas Park rejected a betting parlor. It is a blue-collar city, highly dependent upon real estate property taxes to finance an expanding school system, but the morality of gambling was the greatest barrier to approval.

The four existing satellite racing centers are strategically located in Tidewater (north and south of Hampton Roads), Richmond, and Alberta.

Alberta, you say? Where's that?

Alberta is in Brunswick County, halfway between Petersburg and the North Carolina border on Interstate 85. While business from Petersburg is welcome, the facility is clearly located to draw customers from across the state line. In the summer of 2000, Colonial Downs discussed building a similar satellite facility in Weber City. That Scott County community certainly could not support the investment by itself - but it might have drawn customers from Tennessee and Kentucky, if the gabling center had been approved.

Horses in Virginia

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