As it relates to agricultural legislation (some of which impact or could impact the Oklahoma equine industry), 2017 has been a busy year so far. The following highlights just a few of either legislation officially signed by the Governor or legislation still working the way through the legislative process. HB 1224 - Oklahoma Agricultural Land…
For those of us who have stabled our horses at horse boarding barns, it is important to understand the concept of an “agister’s lien” or perhaps you are more familiar with a “stable keeper’s lien.” For a working definition of lien, I’ll look to Webster’s Online Dictionary, “a charge upon real or personal property for…
According to the American Horse Council (AHC), President Trump's recent executive actions could impact segments of the horse industry reliant on foreign workers. Equine businesses unable to fill vacancies with local, American workers can utilize Federal temporary worker programs such as H-2A Temporary Agricultural Workers and H-2B Temporary Non-Agricultiral Workers to fill vacancies. See https://www.uscis.gov/working-united-states/temporary-workers/h-2a-temporary-agricultural-workers and hsomettps://www.uscis.gov/working-united-states/temporary-workers/h-2b-temporary-non-agricultural-workers.…
The Horse Protection bill that was opposed by the American Horse Council and numerous breed associations last year has been reintroduced. Read more from the American Horse Council by following this link. http://www.horsecouncil.org/press-release/ahc-opposes-horse-protection-act-bill-desjarlais/
If you lost the bill of sale, will your breed registration certificate prove ownership? The answer is, in Oklahoma, maybe. Case law is sparse on what proves ownership of a horse. A couple very old cases, 1856 and 1909, describe possession and general acts of ownership, i.e. riding, are evidence of ownership. See Barnes v.…
The USDA has removed from its website information related to the results of animal welfare investigations including information related to horse welfare initiatives such as abolishing soring. According to the website, this information must be requested by filing a Freedom of Information Act request. It's unclear how long such a request would take to process.…
Sending out an alert to my fellow boarding stable colleagues. I was contacted by text message by an individual identifying only as "Kevin" allegedly looking for a boarding facility that offered horse training. The grammar was poor and message curiously vague. While I don't know if the individual was male or female I will refer…
In my last blog post, I discussed Oklahoma's laws designed to eradicate Equine Infectious Anemia. Failure to comply can result in civil and criminal penalties. Today, I am sharing a newly published report commissioned by the USDA which shares equine health metrics within the United States. In December 2016, the USDA's non-regulatory division - National Animal…
You may ask why I would write about the EDCC in an equine law blog? Many states including Oklahoma have laws that require horse owners to take certain steps to prevent the spread of disease. For example, a horse boarding facility could have liability if a boarding horse is injured or dies because the facility…
Oklahoma Equine Law 