Show Jumping And Insurance Fraud

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Last night I was reading up about different sporting scandals and one of the stories stood out as it wasn't doping or match fixing, but still was fueled by greed. Who would have thought that this practice was wide spread amongst the horsing community in the United States.

This happened from the late 1970's to the early 1990's and what it involved was insuring your specialist show jumping horse for Millions against death or injury and then killing the horse through electrocution. No one knows exactly how many horses were killed, but the FBI reckons it is somewhere between 50 and 100.

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The only reason that this came to light was when a high society women was murdered.Helen Brach disappeared in 1977 and the FBI was called in to investigate her disappearance and murder. It turned out that she was against what was going on with the horse murders and was killed to keep her quiet.

In some cases owners who had bought over valued horses and realised they had a dud used the inflated value with the insurance companies as an opportunity to recoup their investment without risk. this was a big business and millions were involved with the specialist show jumping horses.

How it worked was con artists would court wealthy widows and convince them of the great investment in a worthless horse and milk her for her money and if she was suspicious they would kill the horse and claim the insurance giving her money back and making the con artists a decent return. This is what happened to Helen Brach and opened up a can of worms the more they investigated.

If a horse is electrocuted in a certain way it is impossible for a veterinary pathologist to spot as it leaves no traces and the death would be chalked down to colic. An informant who had been taught how to electrocute horses spilled the beans after being caught for killing the horse "Henry the Hawk" and claiming $150 000. The owner of the horse was a lawyer who ironically fought insurance fraud and knew of the scam and how to get away with it. He was cash strapped at the time and used this method to kill his daughters prize winning horse and claim the insurance money.

Greed can be found in any sport and nothing is sacred if money can be earned. The horses didn't suffer which is one good thing as death was instant. Colic is a common form of death in horses and if not operated on will cause their death.