If sharer injured your horse??

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sonjafoers

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This hasn't actually happened but it's just a thought after reading the earlier post on sharing horses with no money changing hands and the differing views. For all of you with sharers how would you feel if the sharer took your horse out and injured it? I know accidents can happen to anyone but what if the sharer did something irresponsible to cause the accident/injury. There are the practical implications of who pays the vets fees or insurance excess, and the emotional issues concerned. Do any of you discuss this with your sharers before the arrangement starts? Is this situation worse if the sharer is a friend? Would be interested to hear your thoughts and experiences
 
We had a sharer for a while (via HHO). Lovely lady and it was a shame when she had to stop due to moving away. We had a proper agreement drawn up which covered pretty much all eventualities. Accidents can and do happen, I'm not sure how easy or otherwise it would be to prove the sharer acted irresponsibly in the event of one happening. To my mind you thoroughly vet the sharer first to make sure they are the responsible kind of person you would want around your horses.
 
It would have to be gross negligence ie not that it just happened on their watch, and not that they did something a bit daft that you wouldnt do, but that they did something that would always be dangerous, that noone else would do, and that would very obviously put the horse at risk. Or if they did something risky that they were specifically barred from doing in the agreement.

Vets fees again depend on the agreement but to me would follow the above, if grossly negligent they would pay, otherwise not. Sharers often are willing to share because they dont want an open ended commitment involved with buying a horse, there would be many fewer sharers if they thought the commitment was open ended.

The other thing that comes in is whether the sharer is insured, it shouldnt be relevant but it is in practice sometimes.
 
I have shared with no money changing hands and nothing on paper. If I had injured a horse through my actions I would have offered to pay. I probably would have offered if it was a genuine accident that happened on my watch, but could have happened to anyone, just because I'd feel bad.

But say if the horse overreached and sharer hadn't put it's boots on then the sharer should definitely pay.

But as said above, hopefully you make sure that the sharer is responsible and treats the horse with as much care as their own (or more - I was always extra careful as it was someone else's!)
 
if it was a simple accident i would say 50/50, if it was definitely a stupid and irresponsible thing they did and put the horse in danger, they should pay up. obviously its best to fully vet potential sharers but cant always tell if they are going to go and do something stupid! im looking for a share/loan stroud/glos area 15hh ish, and i would pay 5050 if i was sharing, full bills if loaning obviously.
 
i shared for a year, i paid £120 a month. I had no contract but i was insured as a rider the whole time. I was careful with him and he was never injured in my care.
 
I'm sure a sharer would take as much care as the owner, they obviously love horses and want to be around them so would be careful and responsible especially when the owner trusts them with their horse. I was just interested in the agreements made to cover this situation if it happened and how the owners felt if their horse was injured when in someone elses care. Thanks for the responses so far.
 
I'm insured as a sharer so if I was (legally) responsible for an accident it would come off that. I pay a fixed amount to the owner for the share and that covers my contribution to vets bills etc.

I do make mistakes, everyone does, and my owner accepts this. What makes that OK is that I am totally open about what does/doesn't happen and on the one occasion early on where I couldn't deal with some of horsey's behaviour I asked for a lesson on handling from our joint RI. On the couple of occasions where he has been unwell on my watch (once behaving oddly after being kept in, rolling, looking round at sides, I suspected colic and once when he cornered too sharply in excitement loose jumping and slipped over) I've called her straight away so the desicions (to come up and have a look and to not panic as he picked himslef up and conintued jumping of his own accord!) rested with the owner.

For anything that was my decision (due to the list of emergency contacts I have not beign available) and that went wrong/was already wrong by the time I could call anyone I'd probably offer to pay/cover excess for but that would be good will/guilt rather than because I have to.
 
My last sharer had rider only insurance which covered the vet fees for any horse that might be injured whilst she was riding.

I would hope that I would not take on a sharer that I tought would do anything irresponsible with my horse and I would hope that a sharer would help with the care and rehab of a horse that might be injured whilst they were riding.
 
I am a sharer and shared my previous mare for about 3 years. In that time all that happened to me wss:
a shoe came off (knew it was loose but sticky mud got the better of me) I then went back and found the shoe for the owner, led the horse 4 miles home and contacted the owner as soon as I got in. Nothing came of this as the farrier was due later that week and it was actually the owner that reccommended I ride that day after I had been worried about losing the shoe.

One small accidental scrape that looked far worse than it was as she was cremello and the blood stood out. I led her home again, cleaned her up, dried her off, put some dermolene on it and contacted the owner again. Once again no problem at all as it was the pony who had stumbled and knocked herself with her other hoof, we didn't get the vet out so there were no costs, we just watched the injury carefully.

I was (and still am) insured for vets bills on other people's horses and ride calmly and carefully as I live in fear that I could hurt someone elses horse!
 
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