Saddling up for a New Career

Concord Professor Kathleen Reagan has transformed her love of horses into a new curriculum

Professor Reagan has loved horses since she was a child growing up on the family farm near Columbia, Missouri. "I started breeding, racing and training them when I was just a young girl," she says. "Horses have always been a part of my life."

She played on the polo team at both the University of Virginia, where she spent her undergraduate years, and at Tulane University, where she received her Juris Doctorate.

Years later, as an attorney in private practice, she began to notice the dearth of lawyers experienced in equine law, a field that demands not only a specialized knowledge of horses, but also an understanding of how the law treats the issues surrounding them. The nascent field seemed like the perfect fit for an inveterate horse enthusiast turned legal eagle. Professor Reagan began to study equine case law, attend equine law seminars, and consult with experts in the field.

Equine law course is one of the first
Now, she shares her love for the field with students at Concord Law School, where she teaches a course in equine law that is one of the few of its kind in the nation. "I have a blast," she says. "I’m happy to be teaching in an area that’s so interesting and so much fun."

When she’s not in the classroom or spending time with her family, Professor Reagan is devoting time to her professional law practice, where she represents clients in equine cases and sets up nonprofit equine organizations such as therapeutic riding schools. She has even launched, with a partner, the first internet search engine devoted solely to horses ("It’s the equine version of Google," she explains).

"A lot of lawyers will say, ‘I have a horse. I know how to do a contract.’ Then they get halfway through a case and realize they don’t have the {pardon the pun] horsepower to see it through. There’s actually quite a bit of case law in this area, but many lawyers are unaware of it."

Online ‘horse sense’
Professional "horse sense" is something she loves to pass along to Concord students.

"When I set about studying equine law, I noticed that no one had pulled together the written material into any kind of educational format. I’ve attempted to develop a curriculum that acquaints students with both the legal backdrop and practical experience necessary to practice in the field."

Professor Reagan takes special pride in equipping her Concord students—many of them based in rural areas–with the knowledge they’ll need to practice equine law on their own. It’s now a somewhat lonely specialization, she says. But thanks to the new curriculum, "I’m hoping to see this change in the years to come."