The September 1997 legislation did and does provide for the $5/head fee, and it
is correct that $3 goes to TSCRA and $2 goes to Texas Cooperative Extension for
development and management of ongoing education related to Horse Theft Awareness
and Prevention. That is exactly what has happened and that is what goes on
today.
At that time, I was appointed by the Director to give lead to the educational
initiative. We developed a video which is in every County Extension
office, a Downing Exhibit (large display) of which one is located in every one
of the 12 Extension District offices, two are here and used by us when we
travel, and two were provided to TSCRA. A total of 4 Extension
publications were developed. One was revised and three were developed from
scratch. They are
L-5084: Freeze Branding Horses
L-5210: 15 Steps to Minimize Theft of Horses, Facilities and Equipment
L-5211: Permanent Identification of Horses
L-5244: What to do If your horse is Stolen
These publications were also reproduced and placed in Extension Handbook SP69-
The Texas Horse Owner's Reference Guide, and this printed material can further
be obtained at our extension animal science website in the horse section of that
website.
All of the above mentioned were developed right after I established an Extension
Horse Theft Awareness and Prevention Advisory Committee. That committee was
recommended by the Director because this was a legislative initiative.
That committee met to identify major needs, and what was lacking was just about
everything. So, the video was developed, the Downing displays were
developed and the publications were written and produced. So, the funds were
used first and foremost to develop all of this, and the funds are used to
maintain supply of the above mentioned.
This advisory committee meets, typically, once a year, to discuss the
educational initiative, to make recommendations, to review impact across the
state, that sort of thing. The advisory committee oversees what is being done.
We last met in March of 2002.
If you look at the legislation closely, you will notice that wording includes
education directed at law enforcement. To meet this, I began working
closely with the TSCRA and the Sherifff's Association of Texas in 2000 to start
offering 'Law Enforcement Training in Horse Theft Awareness and Prevention'.
We have done two of these per year for the past 3 years, and these 6 trainings
have already reached sheriif's, deputies, constables, patrolmen, from 100 of the
Texas counties. So, the funds have been used to offset costs associated with
these trainings. Such costs have included things such as facilities rental,
resource persons (example: a veterinarian who microchips horses), anything
directly and appropriately related to the specific educational program on Theft
Awareness. The physical location for those trainings have been College Station,
Tyler, Conroe, Gatesville, Eagle Pass and Midland.
This educational initiative is also a significant part of our Summer
Horsemanship School program, which will go into 40 counties this summer. Funding
is used to offset the delivery costs of theft awareness by our Horse Program
Assistants at those horsemanship schools. This is direct education aimed
at youth, also with some adults in the audience, and the primary tool we use for
that is the publication on 15 Steps to Prevent Theft. The schools are based on
user fees, the theft awareness funding is used only to help offset delivery
costs. In other words, it helps, however, it is not used to pay for the
entire school. By the way, the Summer Horsemanship School Program began 31
years ago, and this summer marks the 31st consecutive year of that program
across the state.
I also maintain, and have maintained since January 1998, a listing of every
program in the state involving Extension where education is/was conducted on
Horse Theft Awareness and Prevention. I can tell you what month a program
was conducted, who was involved, where located, who the resource persons were,
what resource materials were utilized, and how many people attended. For
example, in calendar year 2002, there were a total of 106
programs/activities/exhibits related to Horse Theft Awareness and Prevention,
and the total audience for 2002 at those programs was 7,728 from 85
counties, not counting another 5,000 or so more reached via newspaper spots and
radio programs. In one particular year, one Television Program focused on
horse theft awareness was accessible by over 40,000 people. Those records
are right here in my office and I allot quite a bit of time throughout the year
to keep these records current, simply because this is a legislative initiative
and it needs to be monitored.
I have records on every year and am more than happy to summarize the numbers
from each year. For instance, in the first 4 months of 2003, there have
been some 30 programs already planned or conducted that place emphasis on horse
theft awareness and prevention. It would take me a while, but later
this year, I intend to go in and look at the total number of different counties
that have hosted education in theft awareness since we got started in early
1998. A large number of counties have taken on this initiative, due to
leadership provided out of the County Extension office with input from this
office.
To specifically answer your question about 'what happened' to the $2/head, I
hope the above correspondence helps explain what this money has been used for,
and what it continues to be used for. The funds have been used to develop the
materials and support the educational programs directly related to this
legislation in Horse Theft Protection. We make the video and the publications
available to anybody who asks for them. I keep a Horse Theft Awareness
Display in the back seat of the pickup and either the handouts, the video or the
display is made available at 98 % of the educational activities that I am
personally involved in. If you wish to see the latest County
Extension Agent Horse Newsletter which includes a fairly lengthy summary of the
2002 educational effort in Horse Theft Awareness and Prevention, please pull up
the attached newsletter and see pages 7 and 8 of the newsletter.
The funds are not used for anything that is not consistent with or related
to the total eduational effort in Horse Theft Awareness and Prevention. It
costs a significant amount of money to develop and maintain printed and video
resources, to develop, advertize, conduct and evaluate educational programs. The
legislation put that responsibility on Texas Cooperative Extension. In
response to that, we developed the materials, started the programs, maintain the
materials and the programming efforts. As long as the funding source is
there, this type of education will continue. If the funding is no longer
available, then education in Horse Theft Awareness will no longer exist once the
materials and supplies are exhausted.
I have also developed Outcome Measures to determine the extent to which
law enforcement officers gained confidence and competence in responding to horse
theft cases and in direct communication with horse owners about prevention of
theft. We have included information on Body condition scoring and body weight
estimation at these law enforcement trainings, primarily because these are the
same officers who are asked to respond to suspected abuse/neglect cases.
Also have Outcome measures on what percentage of people attending a Mare/Foal
workshop actually went home and either had a horse freeze branded or
microchipped, and the the extent to which people changed management practices
such as locking gates, securing trailers, that sort of thing. In fact, the Horse
Theft Educational Initiative is a major part of a presentation I will make this
summer to Extension Horse Specialists from across the United States on Outcome
Measures of Educational Programs in Texas, to document the extent to which
people actually learn something and then go home and make a change.
So, that's what we are doing. I hope this answers your questions.
Best regards. Pete
Pete G. Gibbs
Professor & Extension Horse Specialist