Deliberately vague...

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elsiex

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You are at a show, your horse has kicked another horse whilst both riders are mounted... horse that has been kicked is not insured and has to have approx 6 weeks box rest, and veterinary treatment to the tune of approx £500... your insurance company says they are not liable for horse on horse.

Are you liable to pay the costs of the other horses treatment?

*let's leave any moral liability aside*

thanks :)
 
It depends on how the situation happened as to whether you could be held liable. And to determine that, more details would be needed on what actually happened.
 
Horses were in close proximity as is usual for showgrounds.

Horse backed up into other horse and double barrelled it.
 
elsiex said:
Horses were in close proximity as is usual for showgrounds.

Horse backed up into other horse and double barrelled it.
Click to expand...

I would have thought in that instance the kickers insurance should cover it, the kicked horse did nothing to initiate the kick.
 
Kickers insurance party do not want to know, they have said that they should have their own accident insurance.
 
If the horse was suddenly scared and ran backwards then I guess its just one of those things

Otherwise you could argue that the first rider should have had better control and the second one shouldnt have been so close behind - if its truely just one of those things then I dont think the first person should pay

I do think the matter would have been reasonably clear cut though, unless the first horse ran back more than a couple of steps the other one must have been very close. Even at a show there is no reason to be on top of each other even in the line ups

I think the person at blame probably knows who they are TBH
 
Its a interesting question as to whether the insurance company should pay in these circumstances. I don't know if they should or not, either.

However, regarding whether you should pay depends. If your horse is a known kicker and you didn't warn the other rider and didn't have a red ribbon would put some blame onto you. Equally, the other rider should have kept far enough away from an unknown horse and so takes some of the responsibility too.
Basically, I'd probably offer a partial contribution towards the extra cost of vet treatment without accepting liability.

However, if your horse acted entirely out of character and the other rider came too close to where you were standing, then I'd just offer commiserations and enquire after the horse but stop short of paying any of the costs.
 
Difficult. But why, oh why weren’t both parties insured?

IF both parties had of been insured, then the insurance companies could have fought out liability. As it is, insurance company will say no payout because they know a person on their own probably won’t have the clout to fight it.

I think the kicker should pay out through their PL insurance because (I believe) if my horse double barrelled a car I would be liable to pay out through my insurance, the only difference in the case is that the horse was not insured (which I believe in itself is wrong but that is a different story!)
 
Agree with some of the above, if your horse did walk backwards and then kicked the horse then I guess your horse is to blame, however if the kicked horse was simply stood just too close that surely its their fault due to common sense that you do not stand that close to a horse you do not know.
 
I too think it depends on the situation.
The horse is a known kicker then yes owner should pay.
If however it was one of those things, they were to close no one more to blame then no.
Owner of injured horse should pay as normal.
 
Well there are two sides to the coin. Firstly both people were at the show knowing there were other horses there, knowing that horses can behave unpredictably and knowing that horses can kick out. To go without insurance seems frankly daft to me. On the the other side of the coin, if the kicker actually targeted the horse and backed into him with the intention of kicking out (i.e. not a spooked/freak accident and rider unable to keep control) then I would have to say had that been me I would have been rather upset that my horse had been targeted and kicked. I do know someone who was kicked out whilst on her horse and her leg broken. She sued the owner/rider of the kicker, won and was compensated. If the owner of the injured horse were to take the owner of the kicker to court and win, then I think the loosing party would have to over their insurance details to see whether it specifically excludes liability situations whilst ridden against other horses. It could all get nasty.
 
I would take personal sentiment out of it.

I'd let the insurers battle it out.

If it was my horse that got kicked, I would claim on my insurance and provide my insurers with the other persons details, if my insurance wants to counter claim then that is their call.

If it was my horse that did the kicking then I'd provide my insurance details and tell the other person to take it up with them. I wouldn't pay out of my own pocket.

If the other person doesn't have insurance then tbh that is their own stupid fault, and not my problem.
 
Copied from the other post

Presumably you were both standing within kicking distance, and you didn't move closer into their space? I would offer to pay half as I think you're both at fault really (although I know I stand plenty close enough to people too!) Do you know them, and would they repay the favour if it was your horse that was kicked, rather than being the kicker?

But with the additional info, if they don't have insurance, then they will maybe be covered for PL under their house insurance, some things are covered udner things like that aren't they?
 
Had the other rider (as opposed to the other horse) got injured I think it would be covered under the third party liability part of the kicker's owners insurance

I can see why the insurance co is reluctant to get involved on a horse v horse incident though
 
elsiex said:
Horses were in close proximity as is usual for showgrounds.

Horse backed up into other horse and double barrelled it.
Click to expand...

Then I would say that there was a liability there - and yes the damaged horses owner has grounds for compensation.
 
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