diff --git a/activerecord/CHANGELOG b/activerecord/CHANGELOG
index 59bcb3e712..af797707b0 100644
--- a/activerecord/CHANGELOG
+++ b/activerecord/CHANGELOG
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 *SVN*
 
+* Added HasManyAssociation#count that works like Base#count #413 [intinig]
+
 * Fixed handling of binary content in blobs and similar fields for Ruby/MySQL and SQLite #409 [xal]
 
 * Added dynamic attribute-based finders as a cleaner way of getting objects by simple queries without turning to SQL. 
diff --git a/activerecord/lib/active_record/associations/has_many_association.rb b/activerecord/lib/active_record/associations/has_many_association.rb
index 665d28869f..384433e29a 100644
--- a/activerecord/lib/active_record/associations/has_many_association.rb
+++ b/activerecord/lib/active_record/associations/has_many_association.rb
@@ -47,6 +47,17 @@ module ActiveRecord
         end
       end
 
+      # Count the number of associated records. All arguments are optional.
+      def count(runtime_conditions = nil)
+        if @options[:finder_sql]
+          @association_class.count_by_sql(@finder_sql)
+        else
+          sql = @finder_sql
+          sql << " AND #{sanitize_sql(runtime_conditions)}" if runtime_conditions
+          @association_class.count(sql)
+        end
+      end
+      
       # Find the first associated record.  All arguments are optional.
       def find_first(conditions = nil, orderings = nil)
         find_all(conditions, orderings, 1).first
diff --git a/activerecord/test/associations_test.rb b/activerecord/test/associations_test.rb
index f94f04e279..844f075f34 100755
--- a/activerecord/test/associations_test.rb
+++ b/activerecord/test/associations_test.rb
@@ -149,6 +149,10 @@ class HasManyAssociationsTest < Test::Unit::TestCase
     @signals37.clients_of_firm.each {|f| }
   end
   
+  def test_counting
+    assert_equal 2, Firm.find_first.clients.count
+  end
+  
   def test_finding
     assert_equal 2, Firm.find_first.clients.length
   end