How to insure sharers in case of serious injury? Please help!

catembi

catembi

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We had an incident today (sharer had a fall) that has really made me think. I have two horses that live at home, & one of them has a sharer. She pays me £60 a month towards his shoes & can basically do whatever she wants with him.

What does everyone else do re their sharers & insurance? Both horses are insured with a reputable company but I don't know what would happen if the sharer was hurt or killed while riding my horse.

I am going to go thru my policy docs with a fine tooth comb, but just wondered what other people do.

T x
 
Could they/their family still sue me if they were hurt or killed because they were riding my horse & because she pays me? I've never bothered charging sharers before because I thought that if I did, it meant that I would be more liable if anything happened, but o/h insists that I charge her.

T x
 
catembi said:
Could they/their family still sue me if they were hurt or killed because they were riding my horse & because she pays me? I've never bothered charging sharers before because I thought that if I did, it meant that I would be more liable if anything happened, but o/h insists that I charge her.

T x
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I have just advertised for a share for myself, I can't get standard rider insurance because of my epilepsy even though I've not had a fit since, well, I can't actually remember. Howver have got BHS Gold membership which providers rider and public liability. It is for the sharer to sort out their insurance.
 
It's my understanding that to sue they'd have to prove that you were negligent or misrepresented the horse as safe when you know it wasn't. Wasn't there a cast last year where some poor lady died, and the judge ruled that the risk of riding are understood and accepted by the sharer?
 
I would also expect sharer to have their own insurance.

As regards payment, I have an inkling this would not be a factor provided the money was classed as a contribution to the upkeep of the horse, rather than a fee to hire the animal. I would think words to this effect in the contract would be useful just in case. Don't quote me on that, but I think that's how it is.
 
I would tell your sharer to get accident insurance

Most of the lads and lasses in newmarket are covered by combined insurance of america and they do not exclude any previous injuries

BHS gold membership is not worth the paper it is written on as you have to basically LOSE your leg or arm or eye to get just £10000! That will NOT cover someones complete change of life!
 
Agree, sharer should have rider-only insurance. Suggest she gets BHS Gold membership, one of the cheapest and easiest ways, I believe.
 
Okay, thank you! I am feeling a bit shocked - basically we went xc schooling today with our usual trainer & she fell off, trotting over a telegraph pole. Very slow, easy fall, & when she didn't get up, I thought she was just winded. Turned out she was unconscious & we ended up with the normal ambulance & air ambulance. Trainer was struggling to keep her airways open (luckily v experienced first aider) & I was very frightened that she was dead. OMG it was the most awful feeling thinking that my horse had KILLED someone - even tho he did absolutely nothing wrong - just jumped over the pole & stopped when he realised he'd lost her. We have been xc schooling several times before, she did a CR at that venue last year by herself & she's jumped a lot higher in my school with the same trainer. She just fell off for no reason at all, & neither the trainer nor I can work out how she ended up needing an ambulance from a 'nothing' fall. So it's made me think about what would happen if she was dead or seriously hurt.

Not a pleasant thing to think about, but I'd rather think about it NOW & have a plan in place rather than put it off & then end up in a pickle. I had to dump one horse in a borrowed stable so I could ride them back one at a time, & all the way home I could hear that the air ambulance hadn't taken off yet, & I was so scared it was because she was in a bad way & they were trying to stablilise her. So scarey thinking that MY horse may have killed a mother of 2. I have made an early start on the wine today as I feel as if I need one!

T x
 
catembi said:
Okay, thank you! I am feeling a bit shocked - basically we went xc schooling today with our usual trainer & she fell off, trotting over a telegraph pole. Very slow, easy fall, & when she didn't get up, I thought she was just winded. Turned out she was unconscious & we ended up with the normal ambulance & air ambulance. Trainer was struggling to keep her airways open (luckily v experienced first aider) & I was very frightened that she was dead. OMG it was the most awful feeling thinking that my horse had KILLED someone - even tho he did absolutely nothing wrong - just jumped over the pole & stopped when he realised he'd lost her. We have been xc schooling several times before, she did a CR at that venue last year by herself & she's jumped a lot higher in my school with the same trainer. She just fell off for no reason at all, & neither the trainer nor I can work out how she ended up needing an ambulance from a 'nothing' fall. So it's made me think about what would happen if she was dead or seriously hurt.

Not a pleasant thing to think about, but I'd rather think about it NOW & have a plan in place rather than put it off & then end up in a pickle. I had to dump one horse in a borrowed stable so I could ride them back one at a time, & all the way home I could hear that the air ambulance hadn't taken off yet, & I was so scared it was because she was in a bad way & they were trying to stablilise her. So scarey thinking that MY horse may have killed a mother of 2. I have made an early start on the wine today as I feel as if I need one!

T x
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Have you had chance to speak to her since the fall? Maybe she can shed some light on what happened? Is it possible she fainted and that's how she came to fall off. As all the others have said, I would agree she should have her own personal accident insurance at the very least.
 
catembi said:
She is diabetic too.

T x
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Sounds a likely reason, I've been on a yard before where we used to keep goodies as one of the liveries used to admit she was awful at remembering to eat appropriately for her diabetes and she fell off a few times due to low blood sugar and couldn't remember a thing, we used to make sure she had eaten and take goodies with us hacking I'll tell you, just to make sure we didn't have any issues while out!!
 
Update...hosp said her blood sugars were v high & that they think she had an infection that had interfered with diabetes, so it was more of a diabetic 'faint' than a proper fall, if you see what I mean. I am just soooooo glad that she's okay as she just wasn't moving & it didn't look good. She still can't rem what happened. I have had a good fright today as it really wasn't looking good (to my inexperienced eye) for a bit. Am now quite drunk!

T x
 
Oh what a terrible shock to you - I had a sharer fall off one of my horses (she'd ridden and competed him for years, he ducked out and she slid slowly out the side door onto soft sand school) she broke both bones in her lower leg - compound and was on crutches for almost a year and off work for all that time as she couldn't drive to get there.
I felt terrible as she had no insurance and was therefore substantially out of pocket - luckily she's a friend and has common sense (I'm sure the ambulance chasers would have got to speak to her) but horses are a high risk sport, it was a horse she knew well and she was doing something she'd done 100's of times - I'd have defended any claim on that basis.
If I had sharers again I'd check they had insurance for their own sake!
 
My sharer has her own rider policy, although she said all the ones she could find were death or serious accident policies, she couldn't find one that covered loss of earnings for accidents. I am a BHS gold member, so that covers people riding my horses too.

Edited to add, what a scary experience Catembi, glad she's ok now.
 
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