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profitability of these facilities is Inversely proportional to size, In our conversations with <br />public sector horse facility managers, the generally agreed upon estimate of profitability <br />Is that costs exceed·revenues in all but 8-10% of facilities. This is despite the fact that <br />many of these facilities are not required to make capital payments·, as the capital is herd <br />by the public entity. How are these losses justified? The construction of multi-million <br />dollar horse parks and their continued operation is commonly ju.stifled on grounds of <br />their generating economic impacts and unquantifiable benefits which extend beyond the <br />accounting balances between revenues and costs. These total impacts are of two <br />types: direct impacts that reflect expenditures generated by horse park activities; and <br />indirect Impacts, which reflect the regenerative impacts of the initial spending. For this <br />reason this feasibility study will be coupled with an impact analysis that will factor in the <br />total effect of direct plus indirect impa·cts. <br />This report .is an evaluation of feasibility and potential impact of a proposed state horse <br />park that was authorized by the Washington State Legislature in 1997. The horse park <br />is intended to be a first-class equestrian facility servfng a broad range of the <br />reci:eatlonal, competitive and educatJonal needs of Washington State horse owners. It <br />will support community, youth and disabled riding programs and will fOS~r physical <br />frtness, re~ponsibility, and achievement. Although the general concept for the <br />proposed horse park fs for a facfUty that la custom designed for equine events, it will <br />also be attractive for some secondary types of uses such as company picnics, dog <br />shows, motor vehicle shows, and trail bicycle events. To modify the design to <br />accommodate other non-equestrian events will require additional capital. <br />This report Is comprised of six sections. The remainder of this first section details the, <br />purpose of the study, states study parameters, summarizes the history of the <br />Washington State Horse Park, and provides a summary of the master plan. Section II <br />revi~ws previous studies of horse park feasibility and impact. Section Ill examines <br />existing facilities that were surveyed in the study. Section, IV presents the methodology, <br />10