Exam THE MISSING WHAT-IFs
particular horse that is for sale with a dealer with whom the trainer has done business in the past. The trainer had previously “traded in” a horse to this dealer and had a “credit” with the dealer of 25,000 euros. The horse that the trainer wants to buy is priced at 100,000 euros. The trainer contacts three of her clients in the United States and tells them about this horse she wants to buy and invites them to purchase a 25% interest in the horse for 25,000 euros apiece. The clients enthusiastically agree and the trainer ships the horse back to her farm in the U.S. The trainer and her clients enter into a written
A
“training” agreement. The agreement provides that each of the three clients will share equally in the horse’s expenses—board, showing, shipping, vet, farrier, etc., and the trainer will provide all training and riding for the horse at no charge to the three clients (in other words, the trainer’s training charges will be the trainer’s contribution to the “partnership”). Every month, the trainer sends each of the three clients a bill for one-third of all the horse’s expenses, and each of the three clients dutifully pay their share. The “training agreement” does not require the horse to remain in the care of the trainer and does not have any provisions about what might happen if one of the four co-owners “wants out.” After three years, the horse is progressing nicely
with its training and competitive career, and he is positioned to compete at the Grand Prix level at the upcoming winter circuit in Florida. However, after showing during the spring, the trainer and treating veterinarian determine that the horse has sustained a minor strain to a ligament. The trainer decides the best thing for the horse is to take the summer and fall
60 November/December 2012
trainer who rides and trains Warmblood jumpers travels to Europe to find her next Grand Prix prospect. The trainer finds one
by Attorney Krysia Nelson
Test your knowledge of equine law. Attorney Krysia Nelson presents a bona fide case study of equestrian litigation.
off from competing and carefully condition the horse so that he is ready to return to a full work schedule and competition by the time the winter circuit begins in January.
One of the three clients who owns a 25% interest in the horse lives on a large farm where she keeps her retired show horses. When this client learns that the horse may have sustained an injury, the client proposes that the horse “come home” to live with her for the summer. The client believes that she will be able to rehab the horse as well as the trainer would and at a much lower cost. The client convinces the other two clients that rehabbing the horse at her
farm would save them all money and give them a chance to “enjoy” their horse “away” from the trainer (who they believe is too controlling). The clients (who are amateurs and not very good riders) are excited at the prospect of being able to give “their” horse a nice vacation and take “their” horse out on cross-country trail rides, etc. The trainer is mortified by this suggestion and
politely, but flatly, refuses to permit her Grand Prix prospect to “go home” with her amateur clients. The trainer also suspects that the clients want to send the horse to another trainer, and that if she lets the horse “go home” with them, she will never see it again. The clients hire an attorney who writes a letter to
the trainer demanding that she relinquish possession of the horse to the clients. The letter also accuses the trainer of fraud because she has never produced proof that she actually paid for her equity interest in the horse in the first place. The clients are not proposing to pay the trainer any money because they feel that they have been duped and that the trainer has now “broken their horse” rendering it worthless. The lawyer is threatening to file suit on behalf of his clients immediately if the trainer does not hand over the horse.
☛ Turn the page for the outcome of the case.
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