PRESS RELEASE (Edited)
The third installment in the 2026 OwnerView webinar series was held on May 5 and focused on the many different facets that come with owning a Thoroughbred farm.
The conference was hosted by The Jockey Club and the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association and presented by Bessemer Trust, Keeneland and Dean Dorton Equine. The panel was sponsored by Justice Real Estate and Hallway Feeds.
A Q&A was sponsored by West Point Thoroughbreds and attendees were able to ask questions through a Q&A link.
Gary Falter, project manager for OwnerView, moderated the panel with guests Nicole Hammond, owner and manager of December Farm; Bill Justice, founder of Justice Real Estate; Mike Levy, founder of Muirfield Insurance; and Gayle Van Leer, equine advisor and bloodstock agent.
The webinar covered every aspect of farm ownership, from the rewards and risks to fencing and farm equipment to taxes and insurance concerns.
“I think owning a horse farm in central Kentucky can be one of the most rewarding experiences anyone could ever achieve. There is not a better lifestyle culture than that of living on a horse farm,” Justice said. “Getting to live in this landscape, having your eyes on these horses as they develop every day, is a tremendously unique and fulfilling experience.”
Van Leer explained the realities of owning a farm and what she tells prospective clients. “You have to be all in. You have to be part of the farm, part of the life of the farm,” she said. “You have to put your blood, sweat and tears into it as well. And there are great rewards for it, but it’s really time consuming.”
Levy not only discussed farm insurance, but also the importance of insuring the horses themselves.
“Horses are insured by risk category. So, you have breeding risk, you have racing risk, you have rearing risk, which means different life cycles of the horse when it’s born through when it becomes a yearling, 2-year-old, etc.,” he said. “And if you are leveraging your horses in some form or fashion, you have to have insurance.”
To sum up owning a horse farm, Hammond said, “Do it because you love it. Don’t do it for vanity. There’s a lot of people out there who think it’s easy. It’s not, but you will definitely be rewarded. There’s nothing like it.”
The replay of Tuesday’s Thoroughbred Owner Conference panel is available at bit.ly/OVVideos.
Seven additional Thoroughbred Owner Conference virtual panels are scheduled for 2026. The next session, “Tools & Programs for Attending Auctions,” will be held June 9 at 2 p.m. ET. A full schedule can be found here: bit.ly/OVSchedule.
There is no registration fee for the 2026 virtual conference series, but registration is required. For more information about the owner conference series, please visit ownerview.com/event/conference or contact Gary Falter at 859.224.2803 or gfalter@jockeyclub.com.
Return to the May 8 issue of Wire to Wire
