Jul 13, 2021

Farm Purchase with Parker Equine Insurance

No farm in Virginia is complete without a big red barn. USEA/Leslie Mintz Photo

Purchasing your first horse farm is a very daunting experience. When you are a young, horse-crazed kid, having your very own horse farm sounds like the perfect dream. “All I want is to wake up in the morning and be on a farm with my horses and ride all day long.” Then you grow up, and that dream starts to become more tangible, and you realize a lot more goes into owning a farm than you first thought. Most would think for a professional horse rider and trainer that it would be a no-brainer to own your own farm, but making it happen is not always that easy when you are living it. So, when the stars do begin to align and the possibility of making that childhood dream a reality, you jump on it!

Like any real estate purchase, buying a farm can be stressful, especially if you have never owned a big piece of land with multiple buildings. Once you go through the process of finding the farm you love, have all the financing ready to go, and the inspections are complete, you would think, “Okay, great, we are done!” As you get closer to the closing date, where you will go and swap keys, deeds and sign your life away to your dream, little things will continue to pop up along the way. This is where Parker Equine Insurance, and Donna Parker, in particular, got me out of a dream-killing-sized pickle.

Our (myself and my husband) situation was somewhat unique in that we were not using a realtor. We knew the property owners well and had come up with an arrangement that was going to work for the sale without having to go through a realtor, which was going to save us both some money. When you purchase a property without a realtor, you soon realize how much they are responsible for doing it because you have to do it yourself! We thought that we had crossed all our t’s and dotted our i’s and couldn’t believe we had gotten all the way to the finish without a hiccup. Then, 36 hours before the closing, my current home insurance company called. “I am so sorry we didn’t notice this before, but because your dwelling and business are on the same property and it is technically agriculture, we are not going to be able to insure you,” they said. All I could feel was panic. We had 36 hours to figure out how to get someone to insure our farm and bind the coverage!

Fortunately, I knew that Parker Equine Insurance also did Farm Coverage in addition to insuring horses, amongst other things. I gave Donna a call and left her a voicemail alerting her of the giant mess we were in. She called me back in less than 5 minutes, asked me a few questions, and then said, “Pretty sure I can make this happen; let me see what I can do.” I was still a little panicked at this point but was praying that Donna could help me find a solution. Sure enough, she came through. Donna was able to find a company that could bind my coverage to help me get the sale done and assured me we could then go back and figure out the particulars of the coverage.

I really leaned on Donna to help me with exactly what I needed. In the end, I learned a lot about Farm and Home Insurance policies. There are a lot of things that you need to have covered when purchasing a farm that you wouldn’t think about. I am so thankful to Donna and Parker Equine Insurance for helping me out when I was in a bind and acting quickly to help. Now, we can live out our childhood dream with no stress because we know we are covered!

Jul 02, 2024 Educational Activities

USEA Educational Activity Highlight: Sherwood Forest Hunter Pace | Sherwood Oregon | July 13, 2024

What’s a Hunter Pace? The Sherwood Forest Equestrian Center's Hunter Pace is a cross-country-style course around Sherwood Forest over various natural obstacles/terrain. The course ends with a final treat for riders to take in stunning views of Mt. Hood with a loop through the old Far Hill Farms field. The beginning of the course will first start with a warm-up loop around show jumping obstacles in the outdoor ring at Sherwood Forest and then riders will continue directly onto the course. Sign up as a solo rider, pair, or team.

Jul 02, 2024 Profile

No Longer Dreaming: Claire Allen's Goal of Qualifying for USEF Eventing Young Rider Championship is Now Reality

Claire Allen remembers when she was 11 years old, having just made the switch from the hunter/jumper ring to three-day eventing. She told her new eventing trainer that her goal was to one day compete in the United States Equestrian Federation’s Eventing Young Rider Championships.

Jul 01, 2024 Competitions

Alliston’s Busy Weekend, Braitling’s Reuniting with Five-Star Mount, & Kalkman’s Advanced Victory Highlight Twin Rivers Summer H.T.

As he was finishing tacking up his horse in preparation to navigate the cross-country course at the 2024 Twin Rivers Summer Horse Trials, James Alliston expressed concern about navigating the 101 Freeway. That’s because as soon as he crossed the finish line aboard Intermediate level winner Addyson (Ampere x Nickerbocker) at 10:38 a.m. on Saturday—his fifth cross-country round of the morning with three at Preliminary and two at Intermediate—the West Coast-based five-star rider had to drive 185 miles on the 101 Freeway from Twin Rivers Ranch in Paso Robles, California, to San Francisco International Airport to catch a 4:35 p.m. flight to Frankfurt, Germany.

Jul 01, 2024 Education

USEA Podcast #364: All Your Grooming Questions Answered

There is so much more to proper grooming than keeping your horse picture-perfect for the horse inspection. Good grooming practices are critical to proper horse management, no matter if you are planning for your next FEI appearance or your Starter level debut. To help you maximize your knowledge of grooming practices, we opened up the opportunity for USEA members to submit any questions they might have on our Instagram and Facebook stories. In this week's episode, Host Nicole Brown sits down with three of the highest-regarded grooms in this industry, Max Corcoran, Emma Ford, and Stephanie Simpson, and asks them all of your questions and more to help you perfect the art of grooming.

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