Column
MAN ON A EQUINE MISSION
Rider and dressage enthusiast Luc Schelstraete started his own law firm almost 20 years ago and has
been specialising in equine law ever since. He sees changes in international law to cover arbitration,
veterinary inspections and the status of agent and trainer as both necessary and imminent.
How did you start in the law profession?
“After I acquired my law degree at Tilburg University in the Netherlands in 1986 I started working as a lawyer and a solicitor in Rotterdam. In 1989 I started my own office in the province of Noord-Brabant. Right from the start I took an interest in business law and contracting. When the office moved to Noord-Brabant, I also took up equine law. I myself was active as a rider in dressage and show jumping competitions and later on eventing as well.”
Why are you specialised in equine law?
“I discovered an increasing need for answers to horse-related judicial matters in the equestrian world. And important part of the questions coincided with ‘regular’ judicial matters. It became clear to me that the sport was in need of legal aid. At the beginning of the nineties I began practicing equine law besides business law and contracting. In the second half of the nineties the introduction of European Equine Laywers meant an important international step forward. Schelstreate Advocaten and European Equine Lawyers now have a team of seven lawyers and solicitors
and four additional employees. I have been active and still am in most European ‘equestrian’ countries as well as for example the U.S., Canada, Japan and Dubai.
Additionally, my office specialised in sponsoring riders, for example Rene van der Loo, Romp Stables (owned by former Dutch show jumping coach Bert Romp) and Nancy Huismans. With Schelstraete’s Goldfever Van der Loo was Dutch eventing champion several times. Huismans was successful on the national show jumping level. My wife Jonna van den Ham and I have our own dressage stables near Den Bosch. We purchase and train talented dressage horses that Jonna competes up to Prix St. Georges level, such as Schelstreate’s Mendelsohn (by Houston) and Schelstraete’s Witness, who competed in the semi-finals of the Dutch Pavo Cup for young dressage horses.”
What changes, both positive and negative, have you witnessed in the industry?
And how have they effected changes (or not) in the law? “The last ten years we have witnessed an enormous popularity boost in equestrian sports, especially in dressage. The number of national and international competitions has increased a great deal as well. Unfortunately though, true horsemanship has decreased just as much. With huge consequences, especially when it comes to the judicial aspects of international equestrianism. Equestrian sport takes more than a well-filled wallet. There are no guarantees: An expensive and talented horse is not an automatic recipe for success. Owners tend to overlook the influence of proper training, grooming and riding and switch to arguments involving quality and veterinary aspects more and more easily. All too soon, one decides the horse does not live up to the expectations. The seller is more easily confronted, also internationally, than he used to. Often, buyers meet a lot of resistance and communicating is difficult. Before you know it, there is no communication whatsoever anymore and an international lawsuit seems the only way out. It is our primary task to see if both parties can still come to an amicable agreement instead.
The EU has worked hard to offer the European consumer more protection from the professional seller, but this does not affect non-EU buyers and sellers. The European Union simply does not regard them as ‘consumer’. In short, there is no uniform regulation on international horse trade. It surprises me time and again that people running a high-profile successful international company act completely on impulse when it comes to buying expensive horses. Yes, one asks for a veterinary inspection, but fails to look into the veterinary history of the horse or sport results. Moreover, the question of who the owner and seller are the moment the horse is sold is completely overlooked, as well as the fiscal consequences of buying a horse from abroad and the veterinary protocol associated with it. Often, only a trainer or agent that benefits directly from a successful transaction advises the buyer. Usually, this becomes clear to the purchaser
only later.
So, the buyer truly benefits from a professional contract that shows the equine expertise on the part of the legal advisor. Such an agreement proves its value when something goes
wrong before or after the horse is handed over to its new owner. If there isn’t such a contract, the buyer has to rely on the national regulations in the country of purchase and on a solicitor
from that country that is usually not familiar with equine matters.”
Are there any laws you think need changing to get up to date with modern times, specifically in the area of owners and professional riders?
“I think uniform regulations and protocols are eminent when it comes to:
- The judicial status of the agent and trainer. All too often, the selling party receives only a fraction of what the purchaser has paid for the horse. The price is sometimes raised 200 or even 300%. Of course, scouts or agents or whatever you want to call them, need to be ‘rewarded’ for the effort they make finding a suitable horse and bringing seller and buyer together. However, when this commission exceeds the commonly accepted 10%, the agent’s judgement might become clouded when advising his client. Simultaneous representation of the buyer as well as the seller should therefore be prohibited in regulations or by contract. Furthermore, it should be absolutely clear who is selling, so the agent knows what amount of commission to expect from whom. An agent is a separate party in an agreement and should co-sign as such. It should also be clear in writing what exactly is expected from him in the process.
- The veterinary inspection form. It’s high time a group of international veterinarians and other horse specialists draw up a uniform inspection protocol and form. I think a qualified veterinarian should conduct an extensive inspection, especially when the buyer and the seller are very far apart. In the Netherlands and Belgium it still isn’t common practice to show even a more expensive show jumping or dressage horse under the saddle. My advice is to videotape the inspection. The seller should provide the veterinarian with the complete veterinary records. Horse inspections
have their subjective moments. When the inspecting veterinarian does the inspections of almost all the seller’s horses or even owns a horse together with the seller, objectivity is at risk.
- Arbitration. It is my colleagues’ and my experience that cases abroad are always slow and unnecessarily expensive. There is often reluctance to appoint experts from outside the country of trial. I am very much pro equestrian arbitration board. These three items call for concise and uniform international rules and regulations. Until that time, I would advise parties to sign up a contract, protecting the parties involved and the buyer in particular.”
Do all riders and owners now have contracts and do owners always have the last word, in other words is the law on their side?
“I suppose there are ample contracts between riders and owners, though in my office I don’t see much files to support this. I assume internationally renowned riders are in a strong enough position to bring up such contracts and agreements. It goes wrong when an owner decides to sell a horse the rider had high ambitions with. For example, many horses change hands in the year before the Olympics. Occasionally a rider asks us to seize a horse to the account of the owner to prevent it from being withdrawn from the agreement. In the files known to me owners don’t
always come off best; on the contrary.” Mr Schelstraete would be happy to look at any contract concept. Should you have any more questions, you can contact him through e-mail or on his cell phone.
Also see www.schelstraete.nl,
www.schelstraete-horses.nl,
www.europeanequinelawyers.com
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