Insurance to ride bitless

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Tinypony

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This comes up from time to time - "if you are riding without a bit you won't be insured". I've got several friends who have cover under the normal companies people use, but for those who are interested, I've found one that specifically covers. Have a look at the Horse Agility Club. £75 a year for bitless peace of mind.

This is not advertising, I've no association with the company, I'm just sharing a useful product with others.

Was chatting with an American friend on-line last night about this last night. I've just come back from a clinic where there were a mixture of bit and bitless riders. Some of the lovely friendly people at our host yard were very new to this idea, and their reaction to a lady hacking out in a rope hackamore was "rather her than me!". My American friend finds all this hilarious, riding in various bitless options is so much more common over there, it wouldn't occur to her to think that the rider might not be in control. Anyway, that's a diversion, the point of this thread is to confirm that it is possible to be hacking out bitless and have public liability cover.
 
They've increased the cover to £2 mill I notice, which they promised to do when the take-up was high enough.
 
Highway Code Rule 52 mentions bridle but not bit. I would interpret that as covering bitless bridles.


Riding
52
Before you take a horse on to a road, you should

ensure all tack fits well and is in good condition
make sure you can control the horse.
Always ride with other, less nervous horses if you think that your horse will be nervous of traffic. Never ride a horse without both a saddle and bridle.
 
Suechoccy said:
Highway Code Rule 52 mentions bridle but not bit. I would interpret that as covering bitless bridles.


Riding
52
Before you take a horse on to a road, you should

ensure all tack fits well and is in good condition
make sure you can control the horse.
Always ride with other, less nervous horses if you think that your horse will be nervous of traffic. Never ride a horse without both a saddle and bridle.
Click to expand...

Agreed. But there's always been this sort of grey area about bitless, and when anyone talks about riding bitless on here there's always someone comes on saying that the rider won't be insured. I ride in a rope halter, and have used a sidepull in the past. I'll soon be adding a bosal to the mix. I've been insured with SEIB and NFU in the past (confirmed by them in writing) to ride bitless using my rope halter, but this insurance policy is completely specific from the start, which I find comforting. I was going to take out BHS Gold, but when I asked about bitless riding they used "weasel words" and weren't keen on committing themselves in writing, so I didn't feel 100% sure that they would support me if I needed it.
 
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