<p>My daughter will be finishing up a major in equine science. She loves the horse industry, but would like to do something different than breeding, training, and management. Do you see a need for lawyers with a background in equine science? How would the law degree be used? Insurance companies? Contract? Any ideas?</p>
<p>Actually, yea. Because it’s a relatively specialized niche, I would think she’d be in demand; particularly with insurance, contract, and probate, if I’m not mistaken. I think UC Davis (or it might be Berkeley, not sure) has a really good program for veterinary-related law. </p>
<p>Also, I think Steven Levitt (Freakonomics) wrote his dissertation on horse racing/betting. Your D might be interested.</p>
<p>I know some people who have taken Animal Law courses. She should find law schools that offer such courses… and also talk to horse people about the legal issues. </p>
<p>For some reason (intuitive, not logical), I think that contract law would be very helpful for someone who wants horse-related law.</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies so far. She went to a workshop on equine liability which sparked her interest.</p>
<p>Horses are not particularly litigious, and do not have a reputation for paying their bills on-time.</p>
<p>I actually did represent a human being in a horse-bite case once upon a time, but didn’t view it as a stable way of making a living.</p>
<p>nice turn of words greybeard:)</p>
<p>There absolutly is such a thing, and it is mostly contracts (sales, leases, boarding, lessons–there are SO many things horse owners can be sued for!). She would want to make sure to live in a very horsey area, preferably where people have money (realise that MOST horse owners, not in snobby areas, are FAR from rich) if she wants to be financially sucessful. If she’s interested in the ethical side of equine law, there is a solid animal law program-type thing at Rutgers. Actually, one of the professors came to my school and gave a speech about animal rights. I am not an equine science major, but reaaaallly wanted to be one (just couldn’t find a school that had everything else I wanted AND the major), instead I just settled for being on the riding team, but once I’ve become a sucessful corporate lawyer (or whatever else I may do as long as I make $$$) I plan on doing a lot of pro-bono animal ethics law. I don’t know how much your daughter would want to travel, but I would imagine there’s an untapped market in international horse trade (germany, france, england, Ireland, etc), where the laws might be blurred. Good luck and I’m glad there are other horse-lovers on this board!</p>
<p>Thanks for the reply Equine99. I’m going to send your response to her as she doesn’t frequent these boards. She does love to travel. Spent some time in Germany last summer and plans to go to France next year. As you stated, most horse people don’t have money, so she is looking for a horse related field where she can also support her horse habit when Mom and Dad quit paying the board :).</p>
<p>^^ That’s exactly why I’m doing law too. I considered going to UConn or UMass or UC Davis and doing the horse route but I thought about it enough and realized that I would end up 50 years old with bad knees/back/ankles, with maybe a small house if I’m lucky and no retirment, training other people’s horses, and that is not the life I want. So I’m doing corporate Law, saving as much money as I can, and retiring to do my horses full time for me. At least that’s the plan. . . It stinks having a passion that is SO expensive to do well. She’s lucky she has mom and dad to pay for board as I only get to ride once a week, twice when I’m lucky.</p>