Equine industry urges Vermont committee to expand current use definitions to include horse farms

Mindy Hinsdale, a former owner of Steeple Ridge Farm and longtime equine industry volunteer, told the House Agriculture, Food Resiliency, & Forestry Committee that horse farms “nicely fit into the reason the current use program exists” and urged the legislature to change Title 32 taxation law so equine operations receive the same current-use tax treatment as other farms.

Hinsdale said the current statutory definitions exclude many horse farms from property tax relief on farm buildings and acreage even when the operations meet other regulatory farm requirements. She described how large equine infrastructure — indoor arenas, outdoor rings, pastures and paddocks — is necessary to care for animals and to keep land open, and said some parcels now enrolled in current use have been reclassified by current-use staff so that pasture, arenas and farm roads are taxed at higher development…