Insurance for a new loaner

[Newguyequestrian]

Hi everyone.
I recently got asked by a friend if I wanted to help break in a horse as some experience towards owning one myself in the future.
We have been going well. However its been requested that if I continue taking him for walks in hand on the road (to get used to traffic) that I get insured including public liability etc incase it kicks any traffic.

Now since I ride friends horses as well, I thought there might be a blanket policy that would insure me for any horses I rode alongside the horse I take out for walks in hand.This doesn't seem to be the case. It appears that everywhere only insures you for one horse or maybe two at the most.

So the question really is. Is there any place that insures you for riding and in hand of any horse not just one or two?

 

[Leo Walker]

you cant get insured as far as I know, the owner has to insure the horse, and I'd be very, very, very careful breaking someone elses youngster and tramping down the road in traffic without being 100% certain its in place and what the restrictions are

 

[Theocat]

There are two types of insurance that are needed here.

The *owner* needs to have public liability in place - not you. That is their responsibility - not yours.

You should get your own personal injury insurance to cover you if you get injured.

 

[hellfire]

There's rider only policies that will cover for any horse you ride or are leading for public liability and personal accident. A friend who rides mine has the policy with E&L. As Theocat says the owner should have public liability too!

 

[Newguyequestrian]

you cant get insured as far as I know, the owner has to insure the horse, and I'd be very, very, very careful breaking someone elses youngster and tramping down the road in traffic without being 100% certain its in place and what the restrictions are

It appears I can insure as somebody who loans a horse. A few places offer this including public liability if the horse hits something.

There are two types of insurance that are needed here.

The *owner* needs to have public liability in place - not you. That is their responsibility - not yours.

You should get your own personal injury insurance to cover you if you get injured.

It seems that most policies have a personal injury add-on that I would always go for.

 

[Theocat]

Yes, but you aren't loaning. You aren't even really sharing. You are helping a friend, who owns the horse and ought to have their own public liability insurance. I am pretty horrified that they don't, and yet expect you to pay for it.

 

[Auslander]

It appears I can insure as somebody who loans a horse. A few places offer this including public liability if the horse hits something.
It seems that most policies have a personal injury add-on that I would always go for.

Not sure you're getting what people are saying. It is not up to you to take out public liability insurance for a horse that you are helping with (you aren't loaning this horse btw - that's a different scenario). The owner is responsible for making sure the horse is correctly insured - not you! Him/her making this strange request makes me think the horse isn't insured. That is the owners prerogative, but if I were you, I would not be taking their young horse out in public unless they show you that it is covered.
The only insurance you need is rider insurance (the British Horse Society do a rider policy) which covers you personally whilst riding /handling other peoples horses

 

[hellfire]

Not sure you're getting what people are saying. It is not up to you to take out public liability insurance for a horse that you are helping with (you aren't loaning this horse btw - that's a different scenario). The owner is responsible for making sure the horse is correctly insured - not you! Him/her making this strange request makes me think the horse isn't insured. That is the owners prerogative, but if I were you, I would not be taking their young horse out in public unless they show you that it is covered.
The only insurance you need is rider insurance (the British Horse Society do a rider policy) which covers you personally whilst riding /handling other peoples horses

Exactly. Rider only policy. Covers you for public liability too just so I know. I'd definitely ask to see the owners insurance though. Penny has this riding mine as I said and mainly because of accidents to her if it ever happened goodness forbid!! With public liability IF she has insurance that will cover things like her horse kicking a car. Unless she doesn't want to claim off her insurance. Reality is from what I learnt reading into this a while back is they'll try claim off the owner as the policy states it's a last resort policy and if another policy exists they won't pay out. In the small print.

 

[Shay]

No - it really isn't. The animal act attracts strict liability to the owner. As rider you do have a very limited liability which is all that rider insurance is designed to cover. And that is mainly to the owner only if your negligence causes injury. The type of third party liability required if the horse kicks a car attaches solely to the owner. In one way that doesn't matter hugely as, if the horse causes damage whilst you are leading out etc, you could argue that liability attaches to the owner not you. But if the owner does not have the assets - house, car etc - then a half decent barrister would then turn to you as having "care & control" to make good the shortfall. Rider only insurance does not cover this scenario - and for most you will find in the small print the requirement that the owner have full 3P liability cover. If they don't, your rider only is invalid.

You can get groom's insurance through BHS which has extended cover for you as a professional working with other's horses. But you might find the minimum qualifications and CPD requirement too onerous. You can get care & control insurance if you run a livery yard or otherwise have care & control of a number of horses over a longer period (Owner 3P is still often a requirement). Otherwise -although you should still have rider only insurance, you really must be sure that the owner have sufficient 3P cover.

Hellfire - just google the numerous threads about E&L - and its shadow companies.