Equine Law | Equine Lawyer

Three lucky students between the age of 17 and 21 will be given the opportunity to spend a day training with leading equine lawyer, Sarah Jordan, at her office in Petersfield, Hampshire. 

An intensive eight-hour schedule has been devised to ensure the students obtain a good basic understanding of equine contract law, equestrian property transactions and equine dispute law.  In addition Sarah will take students to lunch where they can quiz her about life as an equine lawyer and a career in law in general.

Sarah comments: “I regularly receive requests from students who want to be an equine lawyer … the Equine Law Studentship has been designed to satisfy these requests subject to application.  I intend this to be an annual award giving students the opportunity to learn about this specialist career path.”

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Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council was required to pay out £12,000 in damages for injury to a lady who was thrown from her horse when it fell on on a bridleway in poor condition.  Mrs Goodall broke her arm in the accident.  The Tameside Bridleways Association supported Mrs Goodall’s claim and confirmed that the bridleway was in disrepair and required maintenance work.  The horse Mrs Goodall was riding stumbled on some boulders that had been swept down the hillside by rain.  Local Authorities should be aware of the potential claims they face by not keeping their public rights of way networks in good working order.

This new welfare code came into force yesterday (6 April 2010) and outlines basic equine welfare responsibilities for owners of horses, ponies or donkeys.  These include details on equine health, equine diet, equine behaviour and horse passports.

The Code is designed to act as a tool when bringing evidence in prosecution cases.   In particular, it will make it clear to any ‘non-horsey’ judge / lawyer exactly what should be done in practice, which will aid them when making a decision on any particular welfare case in hand.

The Code should also be a starting point for anyone wishing to report a welfare case as this will aid the investigating charity (such as the RSPCA).