Insurance to run equestrian events as a business

[delbino7]

Hi there,
Long story short I've ran quite a lot of competitions that my local riding club have let me run through them before (dressage, showing etc) BUT they only run usually march through to October.
Basically next winter I'm wanting to run a dressage series, and hold it at the livery yard we keep our horses at as there's NOTHING on near us, I was even hoping to possibly set up a events business if possible even if it is only for 6 months of the year.
My question is how do I start even doing this, legally. I've 9 months approx to plan this out, it it all goes tits up and falls on its bum I'm ok with that but I want to try give our locals something fun to do over winter.

As I've said I've planned many eventa before for the riding clubs but they're not on board when it comes to my winter dressage idea. So looks like I'm on my own on this one so isn't an option to put it through them again.

The yard I'm wanting to use has public liability insurance and hires the arena out to the public.

Where do I go from here?
any help is appreciated

 

[cally6008]

Ask the yard owner or manager about using arena for competitions and how it would affect their insurance etc
Is the yard accessible in winter ? Parking ok ? Mud levels ? Plenty of space for humans and horses if it's chucking it down ?

Ask riders if they want a winter dressage series, no point in setting it up if the demand isn't there

Ask the riding club if they can give you a reason or any valid points about why they don't fancy a winter dressage series.
Maybe they are thinking you will expect them to help ? Insurance cost ? Other fees ? Too much organisation to set up ?

Contact places that do run a winter dressage series and ask for their comments on how they run one and if they can give you any tips

 

[MissTyc]

Might be worth teaming up with a local RC. We had nothing near us, and then two energetic friends contacted my RC and offered to run a winter series. Got some stewards/helpers on board and that was 3 years ago and it's very successful. Covered by all the usual RC insurance + overheads are covered by RC.

 

[Shay]

OP said in the original post that the local RC are not interested. You could possibly try the local PC and see if they would be interested in a Dengie series class. It won't make a whole show - but might give you some guaranteed entrants. And a level of insurance cover!

You want to think about two types of insurance. The landowner / YO will need to ensure that their insurance is sufficient. Holding an event will impact both their public liability and possibly also their theft / damage cover. You can take additional public liability cover from someone like NFU. The other type of cover to think about is cancellation insurance. Only you know how much of a loss a cancelled show would be.

 

[delbino7]

Thanks for replies everyone I know it would work as the demand is there, our RC doesn't want to know as it's too much stress in winter the yard is also ideal it was just the insurance I was worried about, I do want to attempt to run this as a legitimate business and want everything ran down the correct channels.
Thankuou Again

 

[MissTyc]

Apologies, my morning eyes skipped over the RC bit in your OP.
Wish you were nearer as all nearby RCs here would be open to this discussion.

Having said that when you say you want to run the events as a business, that somewhat changes things as you would want to have the overheads as business expenses. Discuss with RC whether the profit-making side of it affects their insurance. Find out what cover they can offer (not always very much - I hire a local venue for clinics and I took out my own insurance to cover broken jumps and equipment as the venue wouldn't provide cover for these things. If a horse tripped up on their surface, however, they are liable). Do you use your own whiteboards and letters? Would your stewards be paid or volunteers?

Once you know that the venue can offer in terms of cover, give a reputable broker a ring to discuss. Definitely take out personal professional liability insurance for yourself or for the business as appropriate.

 

[be positive]

You also need to check whether the livery yard is allowed to run regular competitions from the planning point of view, many yards will not be allowed to do so, otherwise the best way may be for you to run them in conjunction with the YO, have a profit share rather than hire arrangement, it is not going to make you a fortune and sharing may be the best way for you to set it up with less outgoings and less risk if it does not take off.

 

[Goldenstar]

The yard will need cover for competitions if they don't have it all ready .
You need third party buisness cover ,talk to the NFU and some other brokers about what you would need .