Horse Farms: A Risky Business?
By: Oliver Branch. This was posted Thursday, January 29th, 2009
This is Garrett and I in Aiken, South Carolina!
I am not sure whether I found my way to horses or horses found their way to me, but growing up on a large horse farm probably had something to do with it! My family owns a large training facility in Raleigh, North Carolina. From the age of six or seven, I could usually be found riding, hauling hay, repairing fences, cutting pastures, or doing barn work.
Because the facility was a place where so many people had so much fun, I never really thought about the farm being a business. It never really crossed my mind growing up that the farm-hands were employees, just like those who worked in the office buildings downtown. They were my friends, comrades, and sometimes even competition in the horse bubble where I lived.
I wonder if this misconception on my part has less to do with me and more to do with how horse farms and training facilities are run. As a lawyer, I am trained to think about liability, contracts, etc. So now, every time I am on my mother’s horse farm, I am thinking about whether or not she has effective policies and practices limiting liability. Or, heaven forbid, if she has completed and maintains the correct paper work (such as tax documents and I-9 forms) for her employees. Luckily, my mother has listened to the free advice my expensive education affords her!
So what do you, my fellow equestrians, think? Are farms missing the mark? Are training facilities protecting themselves (as best they can) from liability?
Tags: employment eligibility, equestrian, horse farm, horse industry, horse lawyer, horse riding, I-9