Horse hit by car. Experiences? WWYD?

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The wife

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The sister and I were riding out this morning when a car came towards us. It's a single track road so we stood on the verge and flagged for him to come pass. He did so slowly but fairly close, just as he got level with the sisters horse, he spooked into the road and was hit by the car, shimmying along the bonnet and the right hand side. How he stayed on his feet I will never know :confused:

The damage to the car is minor - small dent in right hand side wing - and the horse thankfully, other than a bloody nose and minor scrapes, was fine. We're all just very shook up. could have been so much worse, shudder to think what could have happened had he been driving any quicker.

We swapped details etc, spoke to my insurance company and they've said not sure whether the gentleman will have a case to claim against us as the onus is upon the driver to ensure they are a safe distance and driving with due care and attention. Half of me wants to pay for the damage out of our own pockets, the other half thinks he was a little too close and that nobody is particularly at fault, it was just one of those things.

Has anybody got any experiences of this? The BHS were very helpful and basically said the same as the insurance company and that nobody is really responsible as we had taken sufficient precautions, ie) hi-viz, older horse with the younger one, riding single file etc.

What would you do? It's our first road accident in 20years and really upset us.
 
I'd take the advice of your insurance company and the BHS, let the insurance companies discuss/ battle/ agree it and concentrate on you and your daughter - you're bound to be shaken by something like this and all the 'what ifs' that go with it.

You pay for insurance to cover costs in these situations so just let them get on with it. What would be gained by you paying for it yourself?
 
The way you describe it, your horse hit the car, not the other way around. If a single track road the driver would be close because of that..but, they slowed down and you waved them past. It is unfortunately the horse who moved into the car. Not the driver's fault.
 
Agree with letting the insurance companies bat it out though..that's what they get paid for.
 
I would leave it to the insurers but encourage the driver to persue it!
In my eyes it was your liability and that is precisely why we have insurance.

Glad everyone was unhurt!
 
Does that type of incident get covered by your public liability cover? Ie would you need to have anything in place other than what you have with the BHS gold offer? Sorry, Op, not very helpful, it was just what came in to my head when i read your post.
 
Haven't hit a moving car, but did have a pony spook sideways into a parked van whilst in harness. Metal tug stop gouged a lovely deep scratch down the side.

In that situation, I offered to pay for the repair via an acquaintance who runs a (very good, but cheap) body shop, or fund the excess if they chose to use the high cost place referred by their insurer. The costs were about the same either way.

Most equine insurance only funds if negligance/fault can be proved, which with a moving vehicle involved is unlikely.
 
Meant also to add that the excess for liability on our insurance is £500 and highly doubtful that the damage done to the car will exceed this.

Thank you for your well wishes. Thankfully it wasn't me on board, I'd never ride on the roads again!
 
Orchardbeck said:
Does that type of incident get covered by your public liability cover? Ie would you need to have anything in place other than what you have with the BHS gold offer? Sorry, Op, not very helpful, it was just what came in to my head when i read your post.
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Yes it would through our BD membership but the excess would be more than the damage. Haven't got Gold membership, Just phoned the BHS for advice as know they are lovely!
 
Let your insurance company sort it out. That's what you pay the premium for. They may settle 50/50 anyway. Assume you didn't admit liability at the time?
 
Chances are that they won't have a case for the reasons outlined. In this case, though, I would advise the driver to try and persue it, then if he doesn't get anywhere, offer to pay for half/all of the damage as you see fit, in the interests of PR. It sounds like one of those unfortunate things. I have some stupidly narrow lanes to ride along (I'm talking hook your leg over the saddle flap, so you don't scrape the car), so can completely understand how easy it is for this sort of thing to happen. Very nearly happened to me just after moving to my yard. A pheasant shot up as I stood in a layby allowing a car to pass (he normally wouldn't give two hoots, but we'd only moved a few days earlier, so he was unsettled). Most embarrassing as it was another livery!
 
I think the driver may have a claim, purely because you waved him past, but I would let the insurance companies argue that one. I don't think you should offer to pay for the damage though - out of the insurance/legal mindset it really does seem to have been one of those things. So glad to hear all concerned are OK :)
 
The wife said:
The sister and I were riding out this morning when a car came towards us. It's a single track road so we stood on the verge and flagged for him to come pass. He did so slowly but fairly close, just as he got level with the sisters horse, he spooked into the road and was hit by the car, shimmying along the bonnet and the right hand side. How he stayed on his feet I will never know :confused:

The damage to the car is minor - small dent in right hand side wing - and the horse thankfully, other than a bloody nose and minor scrapes, was fine. We're all just very shook up. could have been so much worse, shudder to think what could have happened had he been driving any quicker.

We swapped details etc, spoke to my insurance company and they've said not sure whether the gentleman will have a case to claim against us as the onus is upon the driver to ensure they are a safe distance and driving with due care and attention. Half of me wants to pay for the damage out of our own pockets, the other half thinks he was a little too close and that nobody is particularly at fault, it was just one of those things.

Has anybody got any experiences of this? The BHS were very helpful and basically said the same as the insurance company and that nobody is really responsible as we had taken sufficient precautions, ie) hi-viz, older horse with the younger one, riding single file etc.

What would you do? It's our first road accident in 20years and really upset us.
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I am really sorry for what happened. I would do as everyone said and take advice from tehm. And maybe write down what the BHS said to you so you can use if for your insurance company's use.

Well done for wearing flourescent, it probably made the driver slow down even more than he initially would have, had you not been wearing it.
 
DabDab said:
I think the driver may have a claim, purely because you waved him past, but I would let the insurance companies argue that one. I don't think you should offer to pay for the damage though - out of the insurance/legal mindset it really does seem to have been one of those things. So glad to hear all concerned are OK :)
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I thought that the responsilbity about whether to pass was always on the driver, regardless of whether they were waved on or not.
Hope you get it sorted, OP, glad it wasn't more serious.
 
I too would let the insurance companies sort it out.

However, I can't see that the driver did anything wrong, and in this instance I would very much hope that the damage to his car would be paid for.
 
I do too as really don't want to see him out of pocket. We'll get it sorted, many thanks for the advice everybody and well wishes, think I shall just await his phone call tonight and see what happens. It may just be a couple hundred quid, in which case it's pointless paying the £500 excess. Most unfortunate that it had to be a lovely x-type Jag that cost more than my house....
 
amymay said:
I too would let the insurance companies sort it out.

However, I can't see that the driver did anything wrong, and in this instance I would very much hope that the damage to his car would be paid for.
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Me too I would not like to think the driver was out of pocket my other half was hit by a horse in identical situation although he had stopped as another rider had asked him to when the young horse started rearing the horse sat on the range rover caused some damage to the rear wing the rider paid all,the costs of having it repaired at a local body shop it was just under £ 500 ( his excess too) so we sorted it between us.
 
HBM1 said:
The way you describe it, your horse hit the car, not the other way around. If a single track road the driver would be close because of that..but, they slowed down and you waved them past. It is unfortunately the horse who moved into the car. Not the driver's fault.
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This. And the factthat you waved the driver on meant that you deemed it safe to to so.

Glad all concernd are ok. it could have been so much worse.
 
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