Should there be disclosure in the Horse Industry?
Posted on October 21, 2007
There is an ongoing debate currently within the horse industry: When a horse comes up for sale, should the owner’s privacy remain private, or should the buyer know from whom he is purchasing the animal?
Tough question and 2 viewpoints on this issue.
First, the YES we need disclosure side of things:
These persons view that disclosure would help instill integrity within the horse industry. It would help prevent “back room” deals – and a reputation of sorts would develop for persons that breed and sell horses. Those with a good reputation would likely become more successful. Those with a bad, would like have to get out of the industry.
Now, the NO we need owner privacy perspective:
These persons consider the horse to be the most important part of the transaction, as well as potential privacy & even security issues are raised as concerns. An example, if a farm has a lot of horses, they develop a good reputation, it would potentially become a target for thieves to back in a horse trailer in the middle of the night and steal a few hundred thousand dollars worth of horses in a hurry.
Regarding privacy issues, there are some extremely well known persons that enjoy the horse and horse farms industry in Kentucky – and they don’t want the publicity that can become associated with them. They would essentially rather abandon the industry if they had to become known.
Compromises between the 2 camps are an ongoing discussion. Some persons are advocating a voluntary disclosure – but the NO side of things says that puts extraordinary pressure on the persons wanting to remain anonymous.
Its an ongoing debate that isn’t likely to get resolved anytime soon.
Personally, I think the voluntary disclosure is probably as good as its going to get for the various camps. It gives people that want to develop a reputation, an opportunity to do so. And for those that want to remain anonymous, they can still be anonymous. Would their sales potentially suffer some by remaining anonymous? Probably. But who ever said that privacy didn’t have a price tag associated with it?
» Filed Under Kentucky Horse Farms and Real Estate Tips, Lexington Kentucky, Louisville KY, Shelbyville KY
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