Injured whilst receiving riding tuition? You may be entitled to compensation.....

[Marydoll]

Would you make a claim if both the RS owner and the RI neglected to inform you that the horse they wanted you to ride had, in the last 2 weeks put 2 people in hospital and failed to mention that the horse would perform up to 4 fly bucks 3-4 strides after each jump? This was the reason the 2 other riders ended up in hospital. (Why put this horse into a jumping lesson??)

I stayed on for 3 of the fly bucks but fell off on the last one landing awkwardly on my neck. I didn't make a claim. The RS owner must have realised that the horse wasn't suitable in the RS as he was removed within days of

Imo you had reasonable cause to make a claim, the horse does not sound suitable to be used in a teaching environment in a jumping lesson, this was demonstrated in the fact it had put 2 people into hospital and they still used it without warning you of its bucking, but imo from your description it shouldn't be used in jumping lessons.
Had you been assessed as an experienced rider, been told of the horses bucking and accepted the risk, well thats a different case, you accepted the risk and made an informed choice as an experienced rider to ride the horse.

 

[thatsmygirl]

Jake10 that's another example where the riding schools are asking for it

 

[Jake10]

Imo you had reasonable cause to make a claim, the horse does not sound suitable to be used in a teaching environment in a jumping lesson, this was demonstrated in the fact it had put 2 people into hospital and they still used it without warning you of its bucking, but imo from your description it shouldn't be used in jumping lessons.
Had you been assessed as an experienced rider, been told of the horses bucking and accepted the risk, well thats a different case, you accepted the risk and made an informed choice as an experienced rider to ride the horse.

I was assessed as an experienced rider but I still wouldn't have ridden him in a jumping lesson if I had known. I had previously ridden him in a schooling lesson and liked him.

 

[Ollie's Mum]

I think these calls and texts that people are getting are just random as they know that at some point they're going to find someone who's had an accident at some time. They're also doing random calls about the other money maker at the minute - mis-sold PPI.

Do kids still do stuff like "round the world" at riding schools any more? I bet they daredn't let them. We were made to jump with crossed stirrups, knotted reins and arms folded to give us a good seat - bet that would give the 'elf and safety lot heart failure nowadays!

 

[Marydoll]

I was assessed as an experienced rider but I still wouldn't have ridden him in a jumping lesson if I had known. I had previously ridden him in a schooling lesson and liked him.

Sounds like he's fine on the flat, but not jumping, the fact that hes ditched 2 people bucking while jumping then never told you you wouldnt expect it having ridden him before with no issues. That they never warned you is wrong imo

 

[Jake10]

Do kids still do stuff like "round the world" at riding schools any more? I bet they daredn't let them. We were made to jump with crossed stirrups, knotted reins and arms folded to give us a good seat - bet that would give the 'elf and safety lot heart failure nowadays!

I used to love the last 20 mins of my lesson. Round the world, half scissors, jumping bareback or without stirrups It would be a shame if kids weren't allowed to do those anymore

 

[Marydoll]

Many RS wont allow round the world, muddy puddle etc now, which is a shame .

 

[Amy567]

I never did round the world, scissors etc etc in a riding school, only when I went to pony club and had my own pony did I ever even know it existed

 

[WelshTilly]

I'm one of those elf & safety folk and before you condemn me I am actually quite nice ....we're not all bad...it's very easy to blame things on reasons of health & safety when in actual fact it can because people aren't willing to do the necessities to be within the realms of the law and to comply with their insurance companies or just look out for a people in a common sense approach (yes health & safety is all about common sense )

Well then, why are they not protecting themselves? All it would take is for schools to get pupils to sign contracts and waiver stating that injuries caused are your own fault.

Tallyho if only....I sit in court on a regular basis defending large companies and these kind of bits of paper as someone else said are not worth the paper they are written on ....I have worked with several companies who believe disclaimers are everything but the truth of the matter is they are not ...

The problem is we live in a world where people feel compelled to blame someone and feel they have a right to claim compensation for injuries sustained and yes there are genuine cases where people have sustained an injury through someone else's negligence however all to often I see people who 'try it on' for Want of a better phrase and because of our civil liability system / insurance companies / costs etc companies are pushed into settling out of court as its easier than battling / proving they have done all they could based on a burden of probability which can be lengthy and time consuming not to mention the bad publicity.

It's a great shame as this compensation culture does nothing for my profession where we strive hard to actually prevent people getting injured in the first place on a sensible risk basis however im not saying we are a whiter than whte profession as there are a few 'rogue' people amongst us who do nothing for our profession and almost give us the wrap in bubble wrap effect.

I do believe the planned changes As a result of the Loefstedt the UK / Europe to get an evidenced based approach to setting policy / law and the commitment as well as the governments commitment to reducing burden on businesses as a result f the compensation culture inc tackling insurance companies will go someone to reducing this for the future.

 

[Ollie's Mum]

I'm one of those elf & safety folk and before you condemn me I am actually quite nice ....we're not all bad...it's very easy to blame things on reasons of health & safety when in actual fact it can because people aren't willing to do the necessities to be within the realms of the law and to comply with their insurance companies or just look out for a people in a common sense approach (yes health & safety is all about common sense )

Yes it may be about common sense but don't you think that things have been taken just a bit too far? Councils cutting trees down in case conkers fall on people's heads and kids not allowed to play with said conkers in case they get hit by one. At some schools children aren't even allowed outside to play at all as we were when we were young - they might fall over on the ground. Fetes and festivals, public fireworks displays all getting thin on the ground where the liability insurance becomes prohibitive. We learn about danger in life by experience - when we were kids there was the lad who broke his arm falling off a rope swing in the woods when the rope snapped. It never happened to another kid as that was a lesson in life to make sure you had a good rope and far more effective that just being warned about it! Over zealous health and safety just encourages people to lean on the compensation culture rather than making them take responsibility for their own actions. We're becoming a nation of total wimps!

 

[Kaylum]

Horse riding is a high risk sport. if you go skiing you get insurance if you go horse riding you don't bother? You have to sign a bit of paper to say you have your own insurance like you do if you book a holiday or even ride someone else's horse.

never had any own try to sue me when they fell off, it's their decision to ride and
Pay me to teach them and their kids bare back they agreed to it. It's very hard to prove otherwise as they are paying you. It's actually their decision not a forced one, horses are animals not machines.

 

[WelshTilly]

Yes it may be about common sense but don't you think that things have been taken just a bit too far? Councils cutting trees down in case conkers fall on people's heads and kids not allowed to play with said conkers in case they get hit by one. At some schools children aren't even allowed outside to play at all as we were when we were young - they might fall over on the ground. Fetes and festivals, public fireworks displays all getting thin on the ground where the liability insurance becomes prohibitive. We learn about danger in life by experience - when we were kids there was the lad who broke his arm falling off a rope swing in the woods when the rope snapped. It never happened to another kid as that was a lesson in life to make sure you had a good rope and far more effective that just being warned about it! Over zealous health and safety just encourages people to lean on the compensation culture rather than making them take responsibility for their own actions. We're becoming a nation of total wimps!

Ollies mum I agree with you however unfortunately the examples you stated on the most part are caused by people using elf & safety as an excuse, fuelled by the media fuelled myth that health & safety laws are ridiculous and only exist to restrict our lives rather than the real reasons such as over-the-top fears of litigation, escalating costs of running such an event, insurance driven reasons, receiving poor safety advice, wrong interpretation / understanding on the legal requirements.....the list goes on....

In fact our professional body sponsored the World Conker Championship in a bid to move the profession away from the portrayal of health and safety as something that ‘stops people from having fun' we are not a bunch of killjoys And actually like to have as much fun as everyone else.

 

[Booboos]

Surely it depends on the behaviour of both parties, both the RS and the client. RIs must take reasonable steps to ensure the safety of riders, riders must accept that riding is a risk sport and accidents may happen even if everything was done to prevent them.

A friend of a friend took her two kids (under 10) for riding lessons, all three were complete beginners. They were all put in the same lesson together, off the lead rein, no helpers for anyone. By lesson 3 her daughter had fallen off the horse as it bucked her off. They then swaped the mum on to the same horse for the next lesson when it reared and she fell off breaking her coccyx. She was off work, couldn't drive, had trouble looking after the kids, etc. for months!

 

[Ollie's Mum]

I'm afraid I remain to be convinced that the world hasn't gone mad trying to wrap us all in cotton wool. Over the top litigation could be stopped if someone making the decisions applied some common sense and sent these silly claimants away with a flea in their ear. That's never going to happen now - things shouldn't have been allowed to escalate to the level that they have. I'm not advocating that we go back to the days of sending children up chimneys or sitting working at machines with no guards on, of course there have to be safe working practices but the nanny state has poked it's nose too far into our lives.

 

[Beausmate]

I was a bit shocked, but not surprised to see on the back of the advice leaflet I was given in A&E an advert for a firm of ambulance chasers.

 

[CharlesMax]

I was a bit shocked, but not surprised to see on the back of the advice leaflet I was given in A&E an advert for a firm of ambulance chasers.

...not to mention the massive 'shops' they have on high streets in the less affluent areas in London - funny that...

 

[Miss L Toe]

Think about it a bit harder!!

Each time you make a claim on your insurance it goes up and there is always an excess to pay too...often several hundreds, which can hit a RS hard.. Insurance isn't free money.

It is not only the money it is the attitude of people and the trouble, the time and the worry. I am in business but would like to give up due to customers who don't pay, it is tantamount to theft, to ask someone to do some work and then decide not to pay, not because the work is unsatisfactory, but "it is too dear" or some such excuse. They would not get away with that at a garage, but can with other services.

 

[Mare Stare]

I haven't waded through all the answers so I don't know if this has already been mentioned but..

The ads on Facebook are Pay Per Click - meaning that the companies only pay for the ad when it is clicked on. So I encourage people to hit this company where it hurts and click away!! Click, back, click, back, click!

 

[CharlesMax]

I haven't waded through all the answers so I don't know if this has already been mentioned but..

The ads on Facebook are Pay Per Click - meaning that the companies only pay for the ad when it is clicked on. So I encourage people to hit this company where it hurts and click away!! Click, back, click, back, click!

Thats a brilliant idea and very funny!

 

[wattamus]

I remember when i started riding (at the age of two), there was no H&S on this sort of scale! my paranoid mum used to run round with the instructor just to make sure she could catch me if i fell off (literally- but i never did ) I had my first fall when i was 7 and i was asked "are you ok?" I was crying my eyes out but said "yes" and was promptly told to remount! And thats the way I've always done it. Bloody H&S all these kids riding now they're ridiculous. Its a high risk sport you take the risk the minute you step on the yard and you must be prepared to accept the consequences of your actions/ descisions. I would never blame my instructor for the many falls i had when learning to ride- it was character building

 

[Partoow]

It makes me furious! As an instructor with my insurance renewal my company sends me firms to get clients to sign , a joke really , on the bright side a judge recently overturned a decision when someone sued , he said that by getting on a horse you accept the responsibility that it's a risk sport and you are taking a risk. This was z very good moment as it sets a good
precident

 

[Mince Pie]

Haha, I was about to jump down your throat for the title.

Yes if there was negligence and the direction given was totally inappropriate or it was a riding horse that was never fit to school a novice there should be some come back and the person/place investigated.

However 99% of falls are down to pure accident or the riders fault... I don't know many people that haven't learnt to balance well because you don't bounce so well!!!

Pan

Exactly my thoughts!

 

[Mince Pie]

Sorry but this doesn't add up. Any "large equestrinan centre" would presumably be BHS approved, and they wouldn't get approval without insurance.

That's why riding schools have insurance so that they don't have to pay out thousands if/when they get sued.

In my opinion any riding school that doesn't have insurance is asking for trouble.

Not that I am condonning the sue/compensation mentality, in fact I am totally against it, but accidents happen, often through nobody's fault and sometimes life changing, and that is what insurance is for.

Not necessarily, can you imagine how much their premiums would go up if the father had sued them and won? Most RS's are run on a tight budget and an insurance hike could quite easily put them out of business.

 

[fburton]

I was disgusted to find an advertisement on facebook this afternoon with the title as above. Surely riders must accept the risk they may be injured whilst riding??

I am just so sick of the compensation culture which is the cause of the demise of so many small busineses! I cannot keep count of the number of falls (some nasty ones!) I have had when having lessons. I would never dream of blaming an instructor if I got injured - its a high risk sport!

I am not sure why this ad angered me so much - am I being unreasonable?

No, you are not! I am 100% with you.

 

[CharlesMax]

It makes me furious! As an instructor with my insurance renewal my company sends me firms to get clients to sign , a joke really , on the bright side a judge recently overturned a decision when someone sued , he said that by getting on a horse you accept the responsibility that it's a risk sport and you are taking a risk. This was z very good moment as it sets a good
precident

That IS good news! It would be so sad to see talented teachers give up the profession because of claim-culture.

I would love to make an anon call to these chasers to find out how low they are willing to go in terms of representing someone's 'case'

 

[tallyho!]

It makes me furious! As an instructor with my insurance renewal my company sends me firms to get clients to sign , a joke really , on the bright side a judge recently overturned a decision when someone sued , he said that by getting on a horse you accept the responsibility that it's a risk sport and you are taking a risk. This was z very good moment as it sets a good
precident

This needs to happen more often...

I mean the sueing culture is what makes this society such a non-society. Blame blame blame. Let's get some money where we can. Where has all the understanding, compassion, shared responsibility gone!?

Thankfully I still see it where I am but increasingly the world is becoming "bIgger" as in somewhere, a bg company controls something! How scary. The world is becoming smaller in terms of comms but personally it's become so big, the community has been lost for all eternity.

There is no one that takes responsibility anymore, or to help or say sorry or to say its ok, don't worry, things happen, let's sort it out. Now, it's let mt lawyer sue your ass off so you walk the street in a bin liner and sleep in a bin.

Where appropriate I see the worth of compensation but in risk sports... No. You take the risk yourself. You take on responsibility.

What a stupid country we live in, no less that we now know the results of the ost ridiculous budget in modern times. Tax the poor, give to the rich.

 

[Gingermonkey]

A few years ago I had a cleaning company. One of my employees, who had worked for me for only 8 days, took action against me for being 'hit on the head with a cardboard tube' whilst at a clients premises.

My insurance company took the claim out of my hands and settled with her because they maintained it was cheaper to pay-up than fight the case in court. There was no evidence to prove that this incident had actually happened only her word. The supporting documentation stated that she consistently did not turn up for independent medical assessment nor could they find any record of her visiting the hospital or doctor in the first instance. The insurance settled and paid her about £3.5k...

I subsequently found out, after the dust had settled, that she was working throughout the claims process for a local ironing company and joking all the time about her forthcoming 'windfall'.

No-Win No Fee Claim Culture is stifling small business and needs regulating PDQ. I think Riding School Owners are very brave and determined, to provide such a good service, but are basically painting a bullseye on their backsides, for those opportunists who would rather blame others rather than look at themselves and their own actions.

 

[SpruceRI]

b) These people must get access to A& E records - the only way they could have got my details. Can't think of anything else.

Anyone else had this experience?

Agree with you about this sort of thing. What happened to Data Protection???

 

[SpruceRI]

I'm shocked by the amount of companies offering a No Win No Fee service for road traffic accidents where the claimant is either claiming for whiplash injuries or other supposed injuries when they have no proof of said injury, they weren't taken by ambulance from the accident and they didn't see a medical professional after the accident.

I presume they must win their cases, as Solicitors wouldn't take them on....

Something needs to change, that these cases actually go to court, as I think 90% of them would drop out if this were the case, based on no proof of said 'injury'.

 

[Booboos]

It makes me furious! As an instructor with my insurance renewal my company sends me firms to get clients to sign , a joke really , on the bright side a judge recently overturned a decision when someone sued , he said that by getting on a horse you accept the responsibility that it's a risk sport and you are taking a risk. This was z very good moment as it sets a good
precident

Is this the case you were thinking of? http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=521840

If yes, it does NOT establish a precedent that riding is a risk sport and by getting on you accept the risk. This was a, by her own description, competent woman, who knew horses could buck, which, according to the judgement, were the reasons the defendent was not liable.

Driving is a risk activity as well but no one thinks that by getting in a car you accept the risk of being hit by a negligent driver and therefore there is no room for compensation!