Advice re BHS gold member....

[JackDaniels1]

Advice for a friend really, she is loaning her horse out and loanee has looked into insurance and doesn't think it is worth it as horse is an oldie used to potter around the woods.

Loanee says she has BHS gold membership which has insurance included.

Should she still go down the route of insuring?

 

[Batgirl]

I would agree with the loannee personally, doesn't insure the horse per se but means she has third party. It is all I have with my oldie.

However it is the owners decision, the owners of my horse agree that there would be little point insuring him and I have BHS gold but the owner needs to decide if she would pay big vets bill, have him PTS or expect loanee to pay (and check if she would). The owners and I agree that as I have him on full loan I pay vets bills but if they go over a few hundred pounds we will make the tough decision.

 

[JackDaniels1]

I would agree with the loannee personally, doesn't insure the horse per se but means she has third party. It is all I have with my oldie.

However it is the owners decision, the owners of my horse agree that there would be little point insuring him and I have BHS gold but the owner needs to decide if she would pay big vets bill, have him PTS or expect loanee to pay (and check if she would). The owners and I agree that as I have him on full loan I pay vets bills but if they go over a few hundred pounds we will make the tough decision.

So, would she be covered for liability? I think my friend is worried that if horse kicks farrier (he isn't a kicker but just an example) then could farrier sue my friend? (being the owner)

With vets bills, could something be put in the contract re the loanee taking on all vets bills?

 

[Batgirl]

Yes the main benefit of BHS gold is that you are covered for injury/damage caused by any horse in your care. I would get your friend to look at the policy to make sure she is happy with it (it is laid out in pretty simple language on the BHS website).

They also have a pretty standard loan contract that I believe covers taking on vets fees though it is easy to write in if not, it is fairly standard for anyone taking full loan to cover vets fees unless preexisting.

 

[OWLIE185]

First thing to do is to get a contract drawn up between both parties which would include details of who is resposible for insurance and vets bills etc. BHS do a draught copy.
This needs to be checked out by a specialist equine solicitor to ensure it will stand up in court.
Also ensure that the horse is both freezemarked (where it can be seen when ridden) and microchipped and that the details are recorded on the horses record on the www.nedonline.co.uk datebase and it's passsport.
The BHS Gold members insurance has £10,000,000 cover only for third party public liability.
Vets bill for a horse can be extremely high and if the horse is over about 15 many companies will only cover them for limited external injuries (if at all) so both parties need to be aware that they may have to fork out for large vet bills. £10,000.00 is not un-common for colic surgery for instance so this needs to be sorted out between both parties.