Insurance for studs/multiple horses

argyle

argyle

Well-Known Member
Joined
29 June 2007
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351
Location
Kent
www.southerncrossstud.com
Does this exist and if so would you mind telling me what it covers in your cases?

I have spoken to our local NFU office and they have said that they are only able to provide cover for my horses as individuals or separate situations such as employers liability etc. Is this pretty standard or are there more flexible policies out there?

Thanks.
 
I think it's fairly standard. To insure individual horses you need to specify the horses. I don't insure my own - I have Public Liability, Employer Liability, and 'Care & Control' - which covers me for claims by owners of mares who come to stud or schooling liveries - if something goes wrong.
 
Thanks for that, is your public liability for individual horses or a blanket coverage for all horses in your care? Also the three types of coverage you mentioned, are these on separate policies or all on one? If the latter, who are you with?

Sorry for all the questions!
 
Well we're with NFU and as far as I am aware we're covered for Public Liability.
They quizzed us pretty stringently about what we did with the retired horses and youngstock, and the criteria seems to be that we don't ride the oldies so they just graze here, and the rest are covered by a normal policy if ridden or they escape. etc.
NFU are more picky in their flexibilty, we were with Axa until last year, and people could use our riding arena and be covered, but NFU want extra money for PClub use (as you can imagine that didn't go down well with the local branch at all) and don't want us to rent it out at all.
I would ring a broker who deals with horse policies or farming and ask them to find a better policy.
Much as I like the NFU and have insured things like the tractor and my car with them for donkeys' years, they do seem difficult re PL policies nowadays.
 
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Thanks for that, is your public liability for individual horses or a blanket coverage for all horses in your care? Also the three types of coverage you mentioned, are these on separate policies or all on one? If the latter, who are you with?

Sorry for all the questions!

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It covers all horses in my care (and also covers my staff for THEIR liability, if any). I don't have to specify individual horses, just give approximate numbers of each type of horse - so 15 broodmares, 20 youngstock, 10-20 short-term schooling liveries etc.

It's all through SEIB who are very helpful. It's one policy, and you select the various parts you want - for example, I don't need cover for people having riding lessons on my horses as I'm not a riding school. Also have - as part of the same policy - my stables, tractors etc. - but not tack as I have a timber built tackroom and they'll only cover those if you have a live connection to the police station (total waste of time in rural Shropshire - I rely on my dogs, my inaccessibility from the road for burglars, and my shotgun!
grin.gif
 
Hi JanetGeorge, would love to know more about your policy (and price) with SEIB as its the exact policy we've been looking for and have ended up having to take out separate bits and pieces for various policies with other companies. I did approach SEIB last year and whoever it was I spoke to, wasn't very helpful in what I was asking for. Would you be prepared to PM me with further details please. Thanks.
 
Thank you both that is really useful. I know I can ring round a few companies but is handy to hear what other people can and can't have first, as sometimes the person on the other end of the phone isn't very clued up!

Right, must go get some sleep!
 
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Hi JanetGeorge, would love to know more about your policy (and price) with SEIB as its the exact policy we've been looking for and have ended up having to take out separate bits and pieces for various policies with other companies. I did approach SEIB last year and whoever it was I spoke to, wasn't very helpful in what I was asking for. Would you be prepared to PM me with further details please. Thanks.

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This has been my experience so far i.e. having to take out several separate policies. As we are a bit new to all this I'm worried that I'll forget something vital!
 
[ QUOTE ]
Hi JanetGeorge, would love to know more about your policy (and price) with SEIB as its the exact policy we've been looking for and have ended up having to take out separate bits and pieces for various policies with other companies. I did approach SEIB last year and whoever it was I spoke to, wasn't very helpful in what I was asking for. Would you be prepared to PM me with further details please. Thanks.

[/ QUOTE ]

Seems a few are interested so I'll bung 'em here. I deal with Joanne Goodrich in the Commercial Department at SEIB - e-mail jgoodrich@seib.co.uk. It's an Equestrian Commercial Combined Schedule through QBE. You pick what bits you want - I have
1. Property Damage to business premises and other property
2. Specified Items - Business all risks
3. Employer's Liability
4. Public Liability including - Care Custody & Control (of other people's horses)

I could also have (for an extra cost) Business Interruption or Money & Assault (if you get robbed or beaten up!)

Cost obviously depends on the bits you have and the amount of cover - and the number of staff/horses involved.

I have £10 Million Employer's Liability - 2 full time, 2 part-time staff
£2 million Public Liability
£2 million Products Liability

The Care Custody & Control has a limit of £10,000 on any one animal - not my own.

Excess on Public Liability is £1000 - and £500 on the Care Custody & Control.

About £60,000 of buildings insurance - and about 60 horses/youngstock etc.

Total cost for that lot is just over £3,000 pa

So far I haven't had to claim - but while I'm prepared to 'self insure' for tack, my own horses, and vet's bills - you can't take a chance on Public Liability and it's illegal not to have Employer Liability.
 
The UK insurance market is extraordinarily backward, whilst getting fat on the profits. You ALL need to start looking around and being more demanding with your insurers.

We had what we believed to be fully "comprehensive" insurance for our broodmares costing just over 5% sum insired. One mare broke out of a field and had a horrible accident with a car. We were pretty relaxed because of course we had third party liability.....................au contraire Blackadder!!!! We got screwed 4000€ for damage to the car, can you even imagine if the driver had been injured or killed???????????????

That was SEIB, so you all need to get on to the phones TODAY and find out what you are really covered for, because you're going to get a shock, trust me.

In my opinion, you should all be looking at Catherine de Buyl. She's based in Belgium, but all the staff speak better English than we do. She's a breeder, a top international owner and a rider, so she fully understands that market. The policies are underwritten at Lloyds of London. They very professional, and you will see the second you go on their site, that they know what they're talking about, rather than kids off the street who couldn't give a toss about customer care.

here's the link, try it, you may find it saves you money whilst getting you better cover: http://www.debuylinsurance.com

If you're looking for recommendations, just look at some of the riders who insure with them.
 
I have exactly the same cover as Janet (minus the employee liability as hubby and I do all the work!) through Shearwater. It is simply too prohibitively expensive to insure individual horses. I might insure something individually that I really couldn't afford to lose.
 
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