June 2005

QUESTIONNAIRE RESULTS

AERC: Who are we and what do we like?

By Nick Warhol

Thanks again to everyone who helped us by filling out the 2005 AERC general information survey! It was our first attempt at offering the survey on the internet, as well as on paper. It sure seemed to be a good idea -- of the 1,550 responses we got, only 75 were on paper.

We also had a tremendous response overall. When you take the family memberships into consideration, we heard from almost 40% of the membership. That's a huge response for any survey anywhere! Here's a neat fact -- the distribution of respondents by region very closely matched the population percentages of our members in each region.

We certainly learned a few things about the survey itself. The number one response was that it was too long. We hear you, and will be sure to keep that in mind in future surveys. We also heard one common response from many people: the survey seemed like it was written by 10 different people, meaning there were some inconsistencies in the questions. Good observation, because that's exactly what happened. There were a bunch of general questions, and then each committee or AERC group got to ask five questions from their specific areas of interest. This was very valuable to each committee, but we'll do a better job of keeping the questions consistent across the survey next time.

It's also important to remember that there won't be any sweeping changes or new rules proposed as a result of the survey. That's not what it was for. Our two goals were to gather information from the general membership for the first time in several years, and to try out this method of collecting information and feedback from the membership for the future. I can see where we might have a specific situation or hot topic come up where we need quick feedback from the membership. We could whip together a survey, shoot out the e-mail blast, and voila, we have some good data

Who we are

So, what did we learn? All kinds of cool stuff! Who is the membership? Women, it seems! About 80% of survey respondents were women. (That seems amazing to me.)

90% of all of us are over 35 years old. That's not too surprising.

75% of us are married.

70% of us started riding after age 31.

Here's a shocker -- 65% of all respondents have been a member fewer than 10 years, and 42% fewer than five years. That tells me we have a lot of turnover in the organization. (We in the new Membership Committee will have to go out and get everyone to stick around!)

But on the other hand, 65% of us have been riding for 25 years or more.

75% of respondents have a college or advanced degree.

36% reported a household income of over $100,000. One in six noted a household income of over $150,000.

We may have some money, but we are prudent when it comes to buying those endurance horses -- 84% of us would spend between $1,000 and $5,000 on a new horse, with only 9% willing to spend more.

We have lots of horses -- 40% of us have five critters or more, while 10% have 10 horses or more!

It would follow that 62% of us live in a rural area. (Ten horses in downtown Chicago would be a bit dicey!)

We must be creating all those horses, since just about 50% of us are involved in some way with breeding.

Those horses are Arabs -- 94% of the respondents have/had an Arab or part-Arab as their primary horse.

And boy, we like those steel shoes -- 86% use them.

The rides we ride

How many, and what type of rides do we like? It looks like four to six rides per year is the norm for 40% of us; next is one to three rides per year with 25%, then seven to 10 per year at 20%, and finally those hard-core riders who do more than 10 rides per year at 15%.

Who's riding what? Thirteen percent of us do multidays often; 27% do LDs often; 42% do 50s often, and 9% compete in 100s often.

What else do we do? Forty percent do dressage, and 81% do trail riding. I'm impressed by the first, and not at all surprised by the second.

What stuff are we using?

I'm really happy to report that 92.6% of respondents use helmets.

Great news for those vendors -- 76% of us use specific endurance saddles, and 85% of us are holding those expensive saddles on the horse with breast collars.

Heart rate monitors are used by 66% of respondents; I would not have guessed it would be that high.

We are riding safe as well -- 56% of us carry a cell phone while riding.

What are we driving? Fords! -- 45.5% for the F series guys, with Chevy/GMC next at 26%, and Dodge trailing with 24%. Good news -- 82% of those pony tugs are 3/4 ton or 1 ton.

What are we towing? A bumper pull two- or three-horse slant for 28.8% of us, with 18% pulling a gooseneck two- or three-horse slant. What of those living quarters rigs? Yep, you do see a lot at rides; 23.2% of us tow those big units. Half of us hold onto our trailers for 10 years or more.

How is the AERC doing?

We got very high marks for Endurance News, the national office, and the AERC website, especially the horse/rider history section. Speaking of the national office, they get the record for the highest rating in the survey. Only two responses out of 1,525 responded with an unfavorable rating. That's 0.1%, and something of which Executive Director Kathleen Henkel and her staff should really be proud!

Sixty percent of us believe that the following are the highest priority for the AERC: local rides, regional competitions, limited distance, multidays, equine research, rider education, trails, equine welfare, drug testing. Here's an example where the board can be sure we are focusing on the things the members feel are important.

Speaking of the satisfaction level of the board, 59% said they were satisfied, 17% mildly satisfied, with 3% and 1% being mildly dissatisfied or dissatisfied (17% had no opinion).

Miscellaneous tidbits

Electrolytes. Only 3.2% of respondents don't use them. How often, what type, and how much is all over the map (sort of like any discussion on their use).

Juniors. Of our households that have juniors, 80% have only one junior that rides, and most of them (58%) do LD. But here's an interesting tidbit -- it's a pretty even split between people who do and don't think there should be a minimum age for juniors: 52.7% say there should be a minimum age, 47.3% say no. For those who said yes, the choice of what age is also all over the place.

Limited distance. Our questions on LD riding show that we have a real split down the middle on most issues: Should LD and endurance have the exact same rules? 55.7% no, 44.3% yes. Should lifetime miles for LD and endurance be combined? 53.7% yes, 46.3% no. Should LD rides award completion only? 47% yes, 53% no. This just reinforces that we have two very distinct camps of people who feel strongly about these issues.

Research grants. Not so with research grants -- 83% say we should fund research programs, and 90% of us would like to participate in a study. That's really great!

Internet use. Do a lot of people use the internet? How about a whopping 98.5% of respondents?

International and FEI competition. Although 47% of us have no desire to compete in these events, there are 5% who do compete, another 24% who would if they had the right horse, and another 12% who don't want to compete, but want to support international competition. That's just about half and half, and those numbers might surprise a lot of people.

Trails grants. We better get those trails grants and projects going, since an incredible 94% of us would volunteer to work on a trail. (Can we get that in writing, please?)

These are just some of the highlights from the survey that I found interesting. The overall results from the survey are available here (in a 92K PDF file):

2005 AERC survey results

Thanks again for the participation, especially all of you who sent me personal e-mails with suggestions and comments. I encourage everyone to keep doing that -- it's the best way for us to improve things. Thanks again, and I hope you will be sure to use future AERC surveys!

Nick Warhol, a West Region director, is chair of the new Membership Committee.

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