Is it illegal to not have your horse insured?

[Kat]

Seems reachel illustrates the no insurance = stupidity point quite nicely.

 

[ILuvCowparsely]

When I canceled my horses insurance , because they hardly cover them for anything. I Am gifting them in to the ILPH scheme I chose champion gold cover which I get

public liability
body injury
damage to property
indemnity
and loads more

I prefer this cover to what I had before.

 

[Elbie]

If someone trespasses on your land and gets hurt, you are liable! As stupid as it sounds unfortunately court cases do happen. Always worth having third party insurance. You never know what could happen - especially with today's letigious society with people who will sue for whatever they can.

 

[Pearlsasinger]

My niece's don't come near the horses unless with me, neither of my horses have ever kicked anyone, no car's or delivery trucks go near the yard, my fields are un escapable and my yard is gated in away from everywhere else as I like to be left alone to do my horses, My uncle is my farrier so again would not sue. and on top of that my sister would not let either of her daughters suffer with no quality of life and the life support would be switched off. Believe me when we moved to where we are, EVERY eventuality was thought of and we have done our best to make sure we have the best set up we can, If they injure a trespasser then good as the should not be on my land. Its also not possible to wander onto my yard or through my fields. Gates are security coded and we have guard dogs.

Unfortunately (from your pov), your niece may not sustain life-threatening injuries but life-changing ones instead, which could necessitate major alterations to the house, different car, 24 hr care etc, etc.
Your family would NOT (unless they are multi- millionaires) be able to afford to finance all this, your local authority would probably find that the cheapest option, if they had to provide the care etc, was in an institution.
If you were prepared to pay about £50 per year to BHS Gold membership which includes £10 million 3rd party liability, your sister/niece would be able to sue you for negligence, under the strict liability ruling and get all that paid for, which would allow her to live wherever she chose.
Are you absolutely sure that you do not need 3rd party insurance?

 

[LeneHorse]

Having been recently involved in a road accident with loose horses which resulted in my car being written off i would strongly argue that all horse owners should have third party insurance. The owners of these horses (none of which were injured apart from minor cuts) are allegedly not insured so I will loose my no claims bonus and end up paying a whacking premium when it comes up for renewal. not to mention the costs of hiring a car until I got a replacement. I do not want to get involved in taking them to court over it - it would have been so much easier if they were insured. My own horse is fully insured and I am a WHW member which gives public liability insurance so if it ever arose heaven forbid that my horse caused an accident I would accept the responsibility and hopefully make it easier for the unfortunate victim to deal with the aftermath.
It's not just about personal choice, you have a social responsibility to others to consider.