Insurance on Riding Schools.....

[DragonSlayer]

Heard on the local radio news this morning, a local riding school has had it's insurance premiums increased from about £1,000 a year to around £6,000.

The owner blames the 'it's your fault I fell off' culture, someone always wants someone to blame....

Their future then, hangs in the balance.

A very nice venue that I have supported over the last few years on occassion, will be able to function as a livery yard and competition centre I'm sure...but is this the beginning of the end for riding schools?

Where WILL people learn to ride once they have all been driven out of business?

 

[HappyHorses:)]

It is the 'always someones else to blame' culture, also known as the allaboutme.com's. Sad fact.

What will happen is more and more inexperienced people will buy horses as it will be cheaper to own than to have lessons if there is anywhere left to have lessons that is

 

[Shutterbug]

Oh it infuriates me that one. We had a school group come to our yard a number of years ago - it was a regular thing they did - the school had all the parents sign a form saying they gave permission for them to ride and it was a risk sport and they understood the risks blah blah - all the horses are school horses, were all on lead reins with a staff member on the ground all perfectly safe but one of the safest horses on the yard spooked, the young girl slid off and banged her arm off the wall breaking it in the process. The yard did everything right, administered first aid, called an ambulance etc, she was treated at hospital and other than a broken arm she was fine - the parents still tried to sue the yard. I think they did it purely to see if they could get any money out of the yard with no regard for how they would affect someones business and livelihood. Fortunately nothing came of it but I was gobsmacked.

 

[planete]

I know there are people making ridiculous claims. But I heard something equally disturbing yesterday. I thought all riding schools would be insured until I was told that an acquaintance's friend has had a very bad accident while being lunged by unqualified stable staff and it turns out the school has no insurance. It sounds very much like negligence and she is likely to have some degree of disability for the rest of her life. I would never have dreamt of checking whether a school has valid insurance but am now thinking perhaps we should.

 

[Kat]

It seems more likely that the riding school were insured but that they had invalidated their insurance so the insurers have declined cover. I think that the licensing of riding schools includes them having insurance.

I know at the place we used to go for lessons their insurers included various conditions and if they weren't complied with the insurance would be invalid. It was a problem when they looked at doing a part loan scheme for example.

Personally while I dislike the culture of it never being an accident there is always someone at fault I do think that riding schools need to become more savvy about protecting themselves and minimising risks. I say that as someone who has worked in the insurance field and who has ridden at riding schools.

 

[Paddydou]

I fell off broke several bones etc while learning to ride. I am sure that even though I can ride that I am not the best and will fall off again in the future. Its part of riding and no no one wants to fall off and no one wants to get hurt but its part and parcel of the process of learning to ride and part of the risk involved in riding.

While Riding Schools can take certain precautions they are there to teach people how to balance and ride as safely as possible. People will fall off the same way as people fall off of their bycycles or sink a few times while they learn to swim or ride a bike. That is the risk that people take when they ride. Unless a yard has been truely negligent (ie bunging a beginner/ inexperianced rider on a know bucker/ rearer/ spooker) I am very against these claims and I do believe that it is going to put riding schools out of business and make the sport even more "exclusive". Don't forget that these "naughty" horses also teach alot when the time is right too!

What is needed more than ever is a bit of old fashioned common sense. On all sides.