Horse kicked car in field, are we liable

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BScot

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Hi,
Our horse lives out in a field with a bunch of other horses, and last night we got a call saying that our horse had kicked out at a sharer's car that she had taken into the field.
She has a witness and they say he just kicked out while playing with the other horses causing some damage, and now she's demanding our insurance details.

Would we be liable for such damage given he was in his field and they took their car into it?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, first time being confronted with this scenario.

Thanks,
B Scot
 
ycbm said:
I think you are probably obliged to pass her claim to your insurers, and I suspect they will tell her to get lost.

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It isn't a RTC, no injuries either, no requirement to even tell her if you are insured or not, let alone tell her the name of your insurance company, and certainly not make a claim.

I would say she was negligent in taking her car into the field, and would tell her to pay her own repair bills, and I would tell her if my horse was injured.

She could have a go at "absolute liability" where the horse was concerned, but I think the accident was caused by her negligence. If she tried to take any action then I would go through the insurance just for the free legal advice, but I would start with a big NO so she would then have to take it further herself.

If there is an incident, you are supposed to tell your insurers, but there is no requirement to tell her the details or make a claim. For me, it would be for their info only at this stage.

ETA - I would be furious with her, in case the insurance company decided that the horse was an extra liability and put the premiums up. Silly girl.
 
ycbm said:
I think you are probably obliged to pass her claim to your insurers, and I suspect they will tell her to get lost.

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Not necessarily, it's on private land, which can be tricky in law. I'm leaning to telling them to lump it, if they were driving a car with loose horses in an enclosed area, where the car was not supposed to be....
 
I really don't see how you are liable. Horse was where he should be secured in his paddock, car should have been in it's parking space outside. Plus do you really know it was your horse? Was the witness truly independent? I would be inclined to tell her that I was considering whether I should have my horse checked by the vet at her cost. I would also be pretty furious that anyone would drive a car into a field where horses were playing - absurd.
 
I'm told they had a trailer on it for poo picking, it's not the first time they've taken it in, apparently the field owner has given them permission to take it in.
 
I had a horse who pulled back when tied up, the bale twine didn’t break, but instead the post and rail broke. The horse then ran round, catching a car with the post and doing some damage.
My then insurance company deemed I wasn’t liable, but if the horse would like to admit liability, the car owner could try and sue him! I kid you not!
this was a few years ago, but I don’t think she would have a hope in hell Of a claim.
 
Spottyappy said:
I had a horse who pulled back when tied up, the bale twine didn’t break, but instead the post and rail broke. The horse then ran round, catching a car with the post and doing some damage.
My then insurance company deemed I wasn’t liable, but if the horse would like to admit liability, the car owner could try and sue him! I kid you not!
this was a few years ago, but I don’t think she would have a hope in hell Of a claim.
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I am surprised at that, as you had chosen to tie a horse to a post and rail, which is not a fixed object, and the string is not a reliable break point. Horses are flight animals and a horse pulling back is a predictable thing to happen. Presumably the car was parked in a reasonable place? I think it is because of instances like this that the law was changed to one of assumed absolute liability. Nowadays you are liable even if the horse breaks out of the field, even if the fencing was reasonable.

I think your accident will have been before the law change. To be fair I would ave paid for the damage to the car as long as it was correctly parked, even if I had to pay out of my own pocket.

With OP, the horse was where he was supposed to be, doing what he was supposed to be doing. It was the car driver who was in the field with loose horses, which is a silly thing to do. I would not pay for that.
 
I agree with everyone else and would hope they never do anything so stupid again, a kick into glass could have proved extremely serious and possibly fatal for a horse, if they are your own horses and it is your choice you can weigh up the risks but a sharer who does not even own a horse should not be making such decisions, I would want assurances it never happens again, she can use a wheelbarrow like the rest of us.
 
How idiotic taking a car into a field of horses...

If they persist and keep harassing you for your insurance details, just say "very well, but you must be aware that I will be making a counter claim against you for vets fees, and injuries, sustained by my horse as a result of your negligence"

Note: I am not a solicitor, just what I would say to them because this would really tick me off! :mad:
 
Tell her you are now greatly concerned that your horse might have sustained some injury from their negligence driving their vehicle into his field. Inform them that you need their insurance details to pass the claim for a complete soundness work up from your vet to THEIR insurers.

What a lot of nonsense - and your yard owner needs to cop on too if they fail to ensure your horse is in a reasonably safe environment without motorised vehicles roaming randomly about the field you pay for. :mad:
 
I'd sit tight in this situation. Remember the Three Wise Monkeys and keep schtuum basically.

I am aware that as far as insurance is concerned, the onus is normally upon the DRIVER, i.e. if you decide to drive through floods and the car gets marooned, normally they said that is the fault of the driver as they made the decision to drive into the situation in the first place!

Ditto this! If the driver chose to take the risk and drive the vehicle into a field with loose horses (yes, they were loose??) in it, then I think their insurance company would have every justification in saying that they were the ones who took the risk and therefore if something happened then they are liable.

Of course, the owner of the horse is also entitled to counter-claim for vets fees as if this was a livery yard the YO AND the driver of the vehicle could possibly be held to be "negligent". Whatever OP, if you are a BHS Gold member then now is the time to be ringing their legal helpline; otherwise I'd sit tight and see what transpires. You are under no obligation to supply your insurance details unless someone is injured.
 
In my opinion as a lay person, the horses were in their own environment and behaved naturally. There was no negligence on your part as a livery. If any claim was made, it should be against the landowner who gave them permission.
Personally, any claim should be made against the horse owner who drove her car into the field and was obviously was familiar with the herd and should have known how they might react. You could claim for distress and any injury that could have been sustained.
Some horses get used to machinery in their paddock if it's a usual event, but these horses weren't desensitized.
 
It's ridiculous what she's asking. If she takes her anything into a field/paddock where horses live, there's the possibility of that item being affected in some way.

I wouldn't give her my details and I'd inspect my horse for damage. (I wouldn't expect to see damage and I certainly wouldn't use it as an excuse for any vet checks that weren't necessary.)

The horses were in the place they were meant to be. It would be different in they were in the wrong place.

Sorry, in a hurry. Hope I'm making sense.
 
Why would anyone take their car into a field full of horses?! A friend did just that once to empty a trailer and her horses investigated with their teeth! Luckily she wasn’t fussy about her car but they made quite a mess.
 
Well I'd really hope any insurer would tell them where to go. What a moronic thing to do! Tbh she's got off lightly - a horse could have kicked a window and badly cut themselves, and if I were the owner I would definitely be demanding she pay vet bills!
 
TheMule said:
I would be far more concerned about the damage done to your horse if it was a hard enough impact to damage the car
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Not always - one of our horses got loose and squeezed down a gap with my car on one side. Half a ton of horse left a nice dent in the door panel. As it was an old car I suckered most of it out with a hair dryer and a Sink plunger!
 
dogatemysalad said:
In my opinion as a lay person, the horses were in their own environment and behaved naturally. There was no negligence on your part as a livery. If any claim was made, it should be against the landowner who gave them permission.
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Agree with this, that the horses were behaving as one should expect horses to behave, but I also don't think the landowner is responsible. Sure he gave permission for them to drive on the field, but it was their decision to do so when the horses were lose. Unless he specifically told them that the horses would not damage the car then he isn't liable in my opinion, particularly as this permission was given to someone used to being around horses who should have known better!
 
"She has a witness and they say he just kicked out while playing with the other horses causing some damage, and now she's demanding our insurance details. "

Independent witness? Or a friend/family member? This is too much of a grey area even with a so called witness - as there were several horses in the field and any one of these could have caused the damage. Plus the driver made a decision to go into a field of loose horses. Sounds like she hasn't got a leg to stand on.
 
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