There are 14 bridles hanging on the wall of trainer Greg Wilson's equipment room at Laurel Race Course. But Wilson only has four animals in his care -- three horses and a goat.
Elsewhere at the track, a veterinarian has lost so much business he has had to begin making "farm calls." A shortage of thoroughbreds has forced Laurel to cut a race a day from its program. And in Frederick County, a horseman who used to break -- or train for riding -- nearly 20 horses a year, is now driving a school bus part-time to make ends meet.
Maryland's 250-year-old horse industry is slogging through a nation-wide, equine depression. Breeders and owners are going out of business or cutting operations at alarming rates. Fewer fans are betting less money on fewer horses at Laurel and Pimlico. And supporting services, from veterinarians to feed suppliers, are hurting.
A precise estimate of the industry's impact in Maryland is difficult to come by, but most estimates suggest that $1 billion changes hands because of it every year.
A few years ago, state reports estimated nearly 20,000 people were employed in the thoroughbred business directly or indirectly,although this included part-timers and anyone who owned or invested in a horse. Direct employment is probably much less.
But racing has been a part of Maryland's culture for centuries, and its troubles strike a harsh chord across the state. The Maryland Jockey Club is the oldest racing organization in the United States. The nation's first organized thoroughbred race was held at Annapolis in 1745, and Baltimore's Pimlico is its second-oldest track.
Maryland horse racing underwent an unprecedented renaissance over the past decade, and was even dubbed "The Maryland Miracle" within the industry. The good times peaked in 1990, with record betting and attendance at the state's tracks. The thoroughbred crop that was born in 1987 and raced as 3-year-olds in 1990 represented the largest number of horses ever bred in the state.
But times have changed.
"We find we have to watch who we extend credit to, and even monitor the accounts of our good-paying clients," said Bob Vallance, partner in Yergey, Stewart and Vallance, the veterinary practice that takes care of the largest number of horses at Maryland tracks.
The business "just dried up" at the tracks at the end of last year, forcing his firm to make farm calls, he said.
David Butts, a Frederick County horseman, once broke as many as 12 to 18 yearlings, or 1-year-olds, each fall. He broke only half that number this year, and supplements his income by substitute teaching, driving a school bus and doing horse dentistry.
Mr. Wilson, the trainer, has equipment for 40 horses. But without investors willing to buy and race horses, he, like other trainers, is left with little business. A few years ago Mr. Wilson, 41, was at the height of his career.
When the late Frank De Francis and his partners, Bob and Tom Manfuso, purchased moribund Laurel and Pimlico in the mid-1980s, Mr. De Francis inspired the state legislature to give the tracks a hefty tax break, Sunday racing and intertrack wagering.
Between 1985 and 1990, annual attendance at Laurel and Pimlico increased 50 percent, four times the growth rate of 12 percent for all tracks in United States. The amount bet -- called the handle -- increased 65 percent at the two Maryland tracks, three times the national growth rate of 21 percent during the period.
No more. Last year, the handle was down 7 percent and attendance was off by more than 6 percent at the Maryland tracks. And because of heavy borrowing, the interest payments have eaten operating profits and left the tracks in the red.
Pimlico and Laurel are expected to show losses for 1991 on top of more than $1 million in red ink during the previous two years. In November, 40 employees were laid off, leaving the tracks and associated training center at Bowie with 875 employees.
An average of eight fewer horses compete each day at a Maryland track than they did a year ago. The number of horses competing has fallen so far that only 1,700 of the 2,800 stalls are occupied at Pimlico, Laurel and Bowie.
The state, facing its own fiscal troubles, has cut 16 track jobs, including 10 satchel men who collect equine urine samples for drug tests. Fewer satchel men mean fewer horses are being tested for illegal drugs.
Harness racing has its own troubles. Last year, Rosecroft Raceway in Prince George's County and Delmarva Downs near Ocean City were sold after owner Mark Vogel declared bankruptcy.
Fans say the tracks had deteriorated badly, but the new owner, Los Angeles businessman Frederick Weisman, has vowed to make sweeping improvements.
The picturesque breeding farms that supply the tracks and depend on their success are in the second year of a spiral of foreclosures, fire sales and liquidations.
Horse prices, which zig and zag like oil futures, have collapsed, taking down profits and livelihoods with them.
Sagamore Farm near Hunt Valley was once Maryland's signature thoroughbred establishment. The farm -- former home of the great Native Dancer -- shut down last summer.
Windfields Farm in Chesapeake City closed in 1988. Polinger Farm in Montgomery County is becoming a golf course. Sunset Hill, the Jerold C. Hoffberger farm in Howard County, was auctioned off last month.
Other large stud farms, such as Summer Wind in Frederick County and Thornmar in Kent County, have been advertised for sale. Owners of Merryland Farm in Baltimore County also have talked with potential buyers.
There are probably fewer than a dozen farms in the state that could be called major commercial breeding centers that stand stallions.
"The sad thing is that I don't see any new farms starting up," said Joseph P. Pons Jr., whose Country Life Farm in Bel Air has been family-owned since 1933.
Several events sent the horse industry into its current free fall, according to experts. For breeders, the 1986 overhaul of the federal tax code was catastrophic. It eliminated loopholes for horse owners at just about the time that the bull market for horses had run out of energy.
The result was a virtual price collapse not unlike a stock market crash.
"We were in an oversupply position in 1985. Like every other market, the pendulum had swung too far," said Dr. Malcolm Commer, an agricultural economist and equine specialist at the University of Maryland's Wye Research and Education Center.
The Tax Reform Act contained passive loss provisions that eliminated limited partnerships in the ownership of racehorses and also decreased capital gains deductions derived from the sale of horses. At one time before the changes, up to 70 percent of business losses could be deducted against individual income.
"What we are seeing is the negative impact of the [federal] Tax Reform Act of 1986, compounded by the current recession," said Richards Rolapp, president of the American Horse Council.
Some of President Bush's tax proposals, such as the capital gains tax cut, would help the industry but not restore what was lost in 1986.
"What we're going to see is four owners owning one horse instead of one owner owning four horses," said Francis Campitelli, a leading trainer.
The same phenomenon was going on across the country, Dr. Commer said.
"Ultimately that's going to make for a stronger horse industry. But it has caused a lot of injury for a lot of people," Dr. Commer said.