When Time Matters for Horses

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In situations where there are two horse owners and one wants out of the partnership, often a horse’s value seems elusive. The retaining owner says it’s not worth much more than its purchase price. The departing owner says it’s worth a lot more than the purchase price of two years ago since it’s been in training and showed at A level venues in several states. Stalemate. These disagreements are often angry and bitter. The horse continues to compete and do well with no injuries. What happens to the horse’s value? It goes up. Response? The retaining owner hates to pay more. The departing owner is tired of continual bills, wants to move on and invest elsewhere. Now they each look for their own appraisal to prove their point. Remember, the horse gets older, injuries can happen. Put away those angry sentiments and lost time. Act together? Owners should hire a single appraiser who has the reputation to be fair, thorough and practical.

Horse Paper, Paper, Paper

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Hi all - I make appraisal decisions on the basis of many factors including paper. I recently turned away a person getting a divorce because he had almost no papers and only a week before mediation. I could have made the deadline - with documents and photos in my hands. I could even hopped in my car and driven the two hours to the farm to check on health, apparent soundness, quality of movement and so on. As it was, he couldn’t present to the mediators the statement of value he needed.

The best thing an owner can do for themselves and their horses is to keep a folder on each horse. In the folder go all the papers related to the horses. You don’t have to coordinate all this paper or categorize or even file by date. Just throw them in. Keep it current.

When it comes time to make value decisions about your horse, I need documents. If everyone did this, I wouldn’t spend a lot of their money while I sleuthed those details from sources around the world. For example, lots of people can’t find their bills of sale, their pre-purchases, their show records, their vet’s diagnoses/treatments. They have maybe 50% of the paper at hand that really makes an appraisal work.

Also, every owner, or trainer on request from that owner, should make a computer file of photos and videos for each horse. Keep this photo file current. Shoot a video once in a while of the horse just for this file. For any appraisal but, worst case scenario, if the horse should suddenly die, this photo/video file is invaluable. This file is the best record of the horse’s qualities of movement, attitude, physical condition and conformation.

Not only will I be able to spend more time on the analysis using this data, you will have an enduring packet of good memories of your great times together.

Tania


a dna-distinct horse - only 300 left in the world

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Last spring I traveled to the island of Corfu in the Ionian Sea to research this fine DNA-distinct horse. What a great little horse - traces back to perhaps Alexander’s conquest of the known world. Read the article, please, that comes out in The Chronicle of the Horse’s luxury magazine Untacked in early 2019. If you’d like to support the breed with donations to their programs in Greece, Scotland, or France, let me know! If you’d like to provide a secure place in the States for a few of these very rare horses, let me know! You’d be making history.

RARE BREED RESEARCH

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I'll be traveling to Europe soon to investigate and report for an equestrian magazine on a rare breed that has a CV of war and agricultural performance going back centuries.  I hope my reporting will bring attention and donations to the breeding program of this fine horse until it finds a self-sustaining role in today's society.  Such a role, and it's in the offing, means economic success and a stable future.  I won't let the cat out of the bag yet.  Look for my reports in a few months.  Thanks!  Tania Evans

Lechusa Caracas dominates high-goal polo in southeast Dominican Republic

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Looks like this talented and - happy (see those smiles) - Lechusa Caracas team received some fine luggage for their tournament win of the Copa de Plata in February.  Last Saturday, they comtinued the winning streak by taking the Copa de Oro in March.  They aren't packing those bags yet.  The Caribbean Open's 26-goal tournament starts next week!  (ph: Matías Callejo).

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Did you know that polo has been played in the Dominican Republic for about 100 years?

Travel to the Dominican with REA's Riverbend Photo.  
Take a photo trip with us to the Dominican Republic.  We base at my house in Casa de Campo, in the southeast corner of the island.  Join us for 5 - 7 days photographing high goal polo and behind-the-scenes polo pony training, village life, old world Santo Domingo, the National Parks and more.  To see our rental house, where we would base, visit vrbo.com/458172.