Arena insurance - hiring

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Equi

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Got a new arena i can hire, very quiet no other people about etc. She said i'm free to use it but shes not insured to rent it so come at my own risk. I said thats fine i have BHS Gold anyway.

Is that arrangement okay? I mean, legally if i rent the arena with money will she be responsible or not because we agreed on her not being so? I'll ask about getting it all down in writing, just making sure before i write it.
 
I am not a lawyer.

IMO, you take the decision to ride on the road, on a bridleway, on the beach, on moorland...... etc etc. You look at the conditions on the day and decide if it is safe or not. I would hire an arena to ride my own horse on without knowing if the arena owner has insurance or not, no problem.

I also own an arena. I will not hire it out to anyone, as I have no insurance. I can get them to sigh whatever I like, but when push comes to shove I would be hiring my arena as somewhere fit to ride horses, and if the rider had an accident and decided my arena was at fault, they could still sue me. I would not rely on a signed document for this unless advised by a lawyer. A very good one! I do not believe you can sign away your right to safety if you are paying for this.

Also, my stables and arena are at my private house, both in the garden. If I hired out then I would have to pay business rates.
 
I hire a number of private arenas .......I don't have one. I do so at my own risk with full knowledge that the risk is mine. I check out the school before hand. I did have a fall on my horse in a private arena, it had got a bit deep. Cost me £300 in physio fees. Never entered my head to chase the owner. Why would I? I have Bhs cover for anything else. I am just so grateful that these people allow me to use their schools.
 
The risk is hers not yours in all likelihood. If you lunged and dug up the surface so much it trashed the membrane I guess she could come after you - but she'd probably not given she probably doesn't have planning for commercial use or pay business rates.

If your horse tripped over poking out membrane and broke a leg or stumbled in a deep corner and launched you into the fence causing a nasty injury they you could decide to sue her, no matter what you have said or signed - as above you can't sign away your right to claim someone else was negligent (if you read the actual words on show t's and c's) it does say that.

I suspect your BHS membership wouldn't be of any help to you if there was a major incident - it protects you for damage your horse does to a third party - as you have a relationship with her (by paying her for use of her school) she isn't a third party. there has been this debate recently with people trying to claim on BHS for horses damage to livery yard fencing. A third party is someone you have no interaction with
 
I stopped letting people use my arena, which is at home, for this very reason. I do not have insurance or PP for business use (and even an informal arrangement like this becomes business use if money changes hands.).

It's a shame, as I liked others to use it, but it was too much hassle and worry.
 
Thanks guys, might give it a miss then. I hire my riding schools one but its never been leveled so is literally just a worn track and you can only use about half of it due to poor draining, and its probably not insured either, but its at least a business lol
 
I hire a friends arena.
A condition of her being able to rent it out with her own insurance is that she takes copies of our insurance proving we have third party and personal accident cover.
Not sure how it would stand if there were a claim, but she has obviously met the terms of her insurers should that happen, so hopefully wouldn't leave herself exposed and at risk,
 
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