The consummate professional

Loretta’s Law...

For Loretta Aston horses are her raison d’être. And the Bridgnorth solicitor has managed to happily combine her high-flying career with her life-long passion for these beautiful creatures.

One of the 33 year-old’s earliest memories is being seated high up on a horse with her mother. So what started out as a little girl’s hobby has now grown into a professional career as a leading expert in equine law.

It is a specialist area which can be a complete minefield, but for Loretta, whose mother and father have always kept horses, it is second nature.

“My first pony was called Beau,” says Loretta, who works at the Bridgnorth office of Mortimers Solicitors.

“I moved on from ponies to horses and today I have two, Joey and Tara.

“Joey is six and Tara is 19 but is still competing. We started doing dressage only last year and she got placed in her first competition.

“As well as still taking part in local riding competitions, I also took both of them out this season with the Wheatland Hunt.”

You could say that it was a love of horses that inspired Loretta to follow her career path after she enrolled on a course in equine studies at Walford Agricultural College in North Shropshire.

“I didn’t really enjoy school. I just wanted to be out and about riding horses. But when I moved on to college and was studying a subject about which I was passionate,

I realised I was actually more academic than I thought,” she says.

She has received glowing tributes from one of Britain’s leading horsewomen, international showjumper and trainer Pat Crann

This new-found interest in studying led to her completing a law degree at Wolverhampton University.

To finance the final part of her legal studies Loretta worked at an estate agents where she gained knowledge of the property world.

This led her to her present position at Mortimers where, as well as being a leading light in the equine world, she is the firm’s property expert.

Loretta, who lives in the village of Middleton Priors with husband Julian, says her equine work can be a real mixed bag; from sorting out problems for people who have bought horses and then found they have been misrepresented in adverts and are not suitable, to dealing with disputes over damage caused by the animals.

And she has received glowing tributes from one of Britain’s leading horsewomen, international showjumper and trainer Pat Crann, who operates from her farm between Bridgnorth and Claverley.

Loretta with international showjumper Pat Crann

Pat says that legal support in the equine world is becoming increasingly important as many farmers and smallholders diversify into livery yards, trekking centres and riding schools.

“People need to be aware of the dangers they might face, including potential liabilities, particularly with regard to injury, buying and selling, livery and loan contracts, employment issues, health and safety and hunting,” she says.

“Litigation in all industries seems to be prevalent at the moment so it is brilliant that there is someone like Loretta, who really understands how the equine world operates, to help out people like myself,” she adds. As Loretta lives in the countryside and, therefore, understands the needs of the rural community, she says she feels well placed to give the right support to those in the equestrian world.

“Horses can be unpredictable and there is every possibility of damage to other animals, property or even people, however well trained their owners think
they are.

“The element of risk is even greater when you take a horse to competitions and they are out of their home environment. They can become anxious and difficult to manage,” she says.