Insurance question and friends child riding my pony?

B

Beatrice5

Well-Known Member
Joined
20 November 2009
Messages
1,276
Location
Somerset
Visit site
I have been approached by a friend with a pony mad child to ask if her daughter can come and help do weekend chores in return for having a sit on my pony.

I have BHS gold membership which I believe covers me and my 3 horses on the roads and if they escaped from our field etc but I am not sure how it works for anyone who rides my pony.

My worry is what if pony dumps child and injures her, or stands on her foot or any number of one off whoopsies. With my own kids its a known risk that they and I take but how do I deal with this in respect of my friends child.

What would you do ??
 
I was asked if i would give somebodys child a few rides round the field once a fortnight as they wanted to make sure she wasnt going to get bored before forking out for lessons. I also have gold bhs membership but insisted they had to get rider insurance for their daughter and even shopped round and got them a quote online as they asked how much it was going to be. When i told them it was only £7 a month, which i thought was brilliant considering i wasnt charging anything for the rides, they werent interested. but for so little a month, id probably insist they have their own riders insurance, it would give them piece of mind too.
 
I have BHS gold but not sure if it covers other peoples children riding my pony. Also wondered if I need to get them to sign a disclaimer as I dont want to get sued if the pony shies and the child falls off and injures herself. I have always avoided other people riding my horses for this reason.
 
Beatrice5 said:
I have BHS gold but not sure if it covers other peoples children riding my pony. Also wondered if I need to get them to sign a disclaimer as I dont want to get sued if the pony shies and the child falls off and injures herself. I have always avoided other people riding my horses for this reason.
Click to expand...

They would have to sign up,themselves...
 
The BHS insurance, gold or otherwise, only covers you for third party and not for personal injury, which is the cover you are going to need ideally.

So if the child falls off and is badly injured, which is unlikely but not impossible, then they could decide to sue you and even if you get them to sign a disclaimer, they can still decide to sue. It is such a big risk because we do live in a litigious society now.

Even if they take out their own insurance, and say something dreadful happens and the child is badly injured, their insurance will pay out but then come looking to you to compensate them. So all in all it's a very tricky area.
 
Personal injury insurance for a child isn't worth the paper it's printed on. Seriously, what's the chances of the kind of injuries which are covered (loss of a limb, permanent blindness etc.). Even if the worst happens, it's usually a ludicrously low figure (~£10k or so) for death, as there are rules about taking out life insurance on children to stop parents murdering their kids for money.

What you're really trying to cover is the liability for lifetime care following a major brain injury (a fairly real and forseeable event). Because it's likely (ish), no insurance policy will cover it.

No real friend would sue you for it if you're not insured. If they do, better hope your home insurance will pay legal defence, and the judge throws it out as a known risk - unless you really were negligent and the pony was a known nutter.
 
Thank you all for your help. It is such a mine field but yes they are good friends and yes although not horsey they are animal people and know the risks. Said pony is a saint but nothing is bomb proof and the only time he has spooked in the whole 5 years I have had him was when a pheasant flew up under his belly and he whooshed to the side and his rider came out the side door so these things do happen unfortunately.

Will look into Pony club insurance as that sounds a good idea too
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top