I was asked to review “raceday” a book published by Ivan R. Dee, publishers.

As you know, the horse business is filled with many wonderful stories…most of which are true! I’ve often said a Hollywood producer wouldn’t believe it if such stories were sent in as scripts.

Mr. Watman’s retelling true stories of racing’s past captures the lore and love we all have for horses and good horsemen. Recounting much of the historical perspectives is fascinating as Mr. Watman tells about the “Arlington Million” and the growth of the Santa Anita track in Southern California among many other tales.

Lyman Rollins, 85, has been training thoroughbred race horses continuously since the early 1940s, with just a brief break for a tour of duty in the Navy during World War II. He was leading trainer at Centennial Race Track in Littleton, Colorado a total of thirteen times.

Lyman was inducted into the Nebraska Racing Hall of Fame for his success at Ak-Sar-Ben Race Track in Omaha, Nebraska. He has trained world record holding thoroughbreds. He still gets up each morning at 4:00 am to train horses at Turf Paradise in Phoenix, Arizona.

Lyman and his wife, Lois, recently celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary. They are the parents of six children, 26 grandchildren, and fifty-five great-grandchildren.

As you may imagine I get examined in many depositions and at trial. There are some very basic “body language” suggestions that you may wish to use not only if you get deposed or go to trial but in everyday life when negotiating.

Here’s an example, when speaking to a prospective client folding your arms in front of you makes your “opponent” think you’re not “buying” what they’re talking about.

Instead, keep your hands down and look directly into their eyes. That will make them think you actually may be interested…(even if you’re not).

When being questioned by a client, don’t fold your arms in front and, when seated, move toward the front of the chair but make it look comfortable…hands lightly on the arms of the chair…and don’t fiddle with a pen, paper or anything else; that will definitely distract a anyone.

Anyway, that’s just a small start in “body language” for horse folks; more in the next Newsletter.

In this rare case, the owner purposely withheld potentially damaging information on a very recent joint injection.

Although the horse continued sound for a few days, the preexisting condition, (verified by a veterinarian), caused the horse chronic lameness from the introduction of bacteria into the joint.

Now the previous owner claims total ignorance, even though signing credit card statements to the attending vet…(lack of ethics? It would seem so).

You can read about other interesting cases on my web site, www.northamericanequine.com. The cases appear on the Certified Equine Appraisals page.

Having a reliable idea as to what your horses and equipment are worth can go a long way in making you whole after the un-thinkable happens.

If you have multiple horses in your barn it may be a good idea to get a “baseline” appraisal of your herd. This will help to establish a valuation which could later be used to establish values.

Even if never needed for disasters it will help you focus on profitability… (remember IRS Section 183?).

Dave promoted me because he’s in charge of stuff like that and I do what I’m supposed to.

I also get petted a whole lot and I think that’s part of the job, too!

I’m supposed to guard all the paper and computer files.

Dave has lots of boxes filled with old cases, (confidential, of course), and since we don’t ever throw out files…here they stay, in our big storeroom. (I think he’s running out of room so he’ll have to build another one pretty soon).

I go with Dave all over and lots of his lawyer-clients know me pretty good, too…and yes, I keep my mouth shut and just lie down when I’m in their offices; (see, I can go into all kinds of different places because of this Service Dog tag…cool!...huh?).

Dave wants me to fill you guys in on what’s happening at my dog level in future Newsletter issues…he says that’ll be in January but I don’t understand what that means since I don’t even know what “days” are.

All I know is that every day is super because I get lots of hugs and pets!

Later!

“ICY”

Dave started NAES more than 10 years ago with an eye to making sure all horse owners and those interested in horses could depend on NAES for the straight scoop on horses and prices. In addition, Dave is one of the busiest horse activity experts in North America.

Because of his long history of working with so many breeds and disciplines he's called upon to give his opinion in literally hundreds of legal cases and horse appraisals.