The Law Offices of Bing I. Bush, Jr. give horse owners, trainers, riders, breeders and equestrian businesses legal counsel from an attorney who grew up in the barn. Bing handles horse sales and purchases, boarding contracts, liability claims, equine insurance disputes, racing and licensing matters and business formation, and he is admitted to practice in both Kentucky and California.
A lot of legal trouble with horses starts with a handshake. A sale goes sideways after the pre-purchase exam, a boarded horse is hurt in a paddock, an insurer disputes a mortality claim, or a partnership falls apart over who pays the training bills. An equine attorney drafts the agreements that prevent those fights and represents you when they happen anyway.
The firm represents clients in all equine transactional and litigation matters, nationally and internationally. Bing appears for owners, trainers, jockeys and others before the Stewards of Racing Boards and in State and Federal Courts, in financial and contractual disputes, equine insurance issues, equine-related liability and personal injury disputes, and employment issues. On the business side, he forms partnerships, LLCs, LLPs, C-Corporations, S-Corporations and syndications with tax and estate planning considerations in mind.
He also sponsors HorseLawyers.com, an exclusively equine law and referral site with forms, articles and links for horse owners. When a matter is better handled by other equine counsel in Kentucky, California, nationally or internationally, the site helps clients find it.
Bing was born and raised in Lexington, Kentucky, and grew up on a small horse farm, forging a deep bond with horses through daily care and equestrian sports. He came up through 4-H, Pony Club and hunter and jumper shows, then went on to competitive jumping, foxhunting, polo, roping and trail riding. He broke yearlings at local Lexington horse farms, galloped Thoroughbreds at the racetrack, and has been a licensed racing owner and trainer since 1984.
After earning his Juris Doctorate at the University of Kentucky in 1987, with summers of international law and international trade study at Cambridge University's Downing College in 1985 and 1986, Bing moved to California. He started with the insurance defense firm Hollywood & Neil and became a partner at Mullen, Plummer, Badger & Bush in San Diego, where he spent more than ten years on major litigation. In 2000 he founded his own firm with offices in California and Kentucky, and in 2007 he studied the mediation of litigated cases at Pepperdine University.
Unlike many firms, the practice focuses on the horse industry and understands the complex issues that come with it. Typical matters include:
Cases are taken on an hourly basis, project basis, or contingency basis, depending upon each client's individual need and the nature of the work involved.
Where a dispute can be resolved, the firm works to resolve it as efficiently as possible; where it cannot, the firm will litigate your fair interest aggressively.
Bing has also written about the legal side of horse ownership in published articles such as Get That Bill of Sale, What Happens if my Horse is Injured on a Farm? and Using an LLC to Form a Racing Stable, and he has spoken at seminars for equine organizations on the legal issues facing horse owners and trainers.
In March 2025 Bing spoke at TEDxSanDiego with Beyond the Finish Line: Rediscovering Our Bond With Horses. For the last 4,000 years, he explains, horses have shaped human civilization and taught us valuable life lessons, yet that bond has been largely lost in today's modern society. It still survives in equestrian communities, including Thoroughbred racing, where people from every background come together around their love for these animals.
That conviction runs through his practice, summed up in the firm's own words: Same passion. Different arena. Advocacy for what you love.
Bing knows racing from the shed row up. He launched Abbondanza Racing, a Thoroughbred racing partnership, in 2012 and has competed in events like the Breeders' Cup. When the Breeders' Cup World Championships came to Del Mar for the first time in November 2017, he was selected to serve as Executive Director of the Breeders' Cup Host Committee.
He gives back to the horses too. Bing serves on the boards of Thoroughbred Charities of America (TCA) and the California Retirement Management Account, which help retired racehorses find good homes, and his board work also includes the Red Bucket Rescue and Wild for Life Foundation horse rescues. He is a member of the American College of Equine Attorneys.
Yes. Through Bush Law Offices, Bing also handles personal injury and wrongful death cases, civil and business litigation, wills, trusts and estates, and mediation and arbitration. He has tried numerous cases in California, Arizona and Kentucky and has advised and represented royalty and other international clients. The horse business remains a significant concentration of the practice, and horse people can bring the rest of life's legal questions to the same attorney.
The firm's Kentucky office is in The Offices of City Center at 100 West Main Street, Suite 200, in downtown Lexington, Kentucky 40507, the heart of Thoroughbred country. In California the practice is based in Del Mar, north of San Diego and home to the Del Mar racetrack. The practice is focused on those two regions, but cases are taken across the United States and internationally where appropriate.
The details that decide a horse case are the ones a horseman notices first: what a vetting really found, what the boarding contract actually promised, how a claiming race works. Bing has lived those details all his life, and the firm's aim is to serve your highest legal interests with strength, integrity, excellence and discretion.
An equine attorney handles the legal side of owning, selling, boarding, insuring and racing horses. That means drafting purchase agreements, boarding contracts and partnership papers before trouble starts, and representing clients when a sale, an injury, an insurance claim or a racing matter becomes a dispute. Because horse deals run on their own customs, an attorney who knows the industry can spot problems a generalist may miss.
The firm handles all equine transactional and litigation matters, nationally and internationally. That includes purchase agreements, ownership rights, leases and sales disputes, boarding contracts, premises liability, veterinary malpractice, mortality and fertility insurance disputes, employment issues, and racing matters such as licensing, riding infractions, eligibility and claiming issues. Bing represents owners, trainers, jockeys and others before the Stewards of Racing Boards and in State and Federal Courts.
Yes. The firm forms partnerships, LLCs, LLPs, C-Corporations, S-Corporations and syndications, including stallion syndication, with tax and estate planning considerations in mind. Bing has written on the subject in Using an LLC to Form a Racing Stable, and he launched his own Thoroughbred racing partnership, Abbondanza Racing, in 2012, so he knows how these arrangements work from the owner's side too.
The boarding contract and the facts of the injury decide your options, so have both reviewed by an equine attorney. Boarding contracts, premises liability and equine-related liability disputes are core areas of the firm's practice, and the outcome often turns on what the boarding agreement actually says. Bing has written about exactly this situation in his article What Happens if my Horse is Injured on a Farm?
Yes. The practice covers equine insurance issues, mortality issue disputes and fertility insurance disputes, along with veterinary malpractice claims. These cases turn on both the policy or standard of care and on how horses are actually kept, trained and treated, which is why an attorney with a horseman's background has an advantage.
Bing I. Bush, Jr. is a Lexington, Kentucky native who grew up on a small horse farm, riding in 4-H, Pony Club and hunter and jumper shows, breaking yearlings and galloping Thoroughbreds. He earned his Juris Doctorate at the University of Kentucky in 1987, was a partner at Mullen, Plummer, Badger & Bush in San Diego, and founded his own firm in 2000. He has been a licensed racing owner and trainer since 1984.
In March 2025 Bing gave the TEDxSanDiego talk Beyond the Finish Line: Rediscovering Our Bond With Horses. He explains how horses have shaped human civilization for 4,000 years and taught us valuable life lessons, and how that bond, largely lost in modern society, still survives in equestrian communities such as Thoroughbred racing. The full talk is embedded on this page.
Fees depend on the matter. Cases are taken on an hourly basis, project basis, or contingency basis, depending upon each client's individual need and the nature of the work involved. A contract review or purchase agreement is a very different job from a contested lawsuit, so the engagement is set up to fit the work.
The firm's Kentucky office is in The Offices of City Center, 100 West Main Street, Suite 200, Lexington, Kentucky 40507. In California the practice is based in Del Mar, north of San Diego. The number 858.259.7540 reaches the firm, and cases are taken across the United States and internationally where appropriate.
Yes. Through Bush Law Offices he also handles personal injury and wrongful death cases, civil and business litigation, wills, trusts and estates, and mediation and arbitration. He has tried numerous cases in California, Arizona and Kentucky. The equine industry remains a significant concentration of the practice.
Horse cases are decided by details a horseman notices first: what a pre-purchase exam really found, what a boarding contract promised, how a claiming race works. Bing pairs a lifetime with horses, from breaking yearlings to racing his own Thoroughbreds, with decades of trial and transactional experience in Kentucky and California. He is also a member of the American College of Equine Attorneys.
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