Legalities of riding on the roads.

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joeanne

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I have a friend who regularly rides her horses on the roads.
Now one of her horses is a very spooky youngster and has been known to jump out into the road if he thinks there is something going to eat him in the hedgerows:rolleyes:
But.....she has no insurance whatsoever.
Her attitude is there is no point, and if he were injured, in the current climate she would have him PTS and replace him.
But she has no 3rd party liability either. Again she says its a waste of money.
Is it illegal to take an uninsured horse/pony on the road?
Should it be illegal to take an uninsured horse on a road?
 
Agree with Amymay.

But also think road riding a horse that is unpredictable and a danger to traffic is pretty irresponsible anyway. No insurance can compenstate for the distress of an accident for the horse, rider and drivers.
 
It's mad not to have third party insurance if there was an accident nah your friend was liable she could lose everything she owns she barking not to have insurance.
 
It definitely isnt a legal requirement but I also agree it should be. Mind you the premiums might rise as all the nutters who refuse to insure atm will then be in the risk pool. (if not in the intelligent gene pool :-)))

She could lose everything she owns if her horse causes an accident.

If she realises that and carries on, there's nothing anyone can do currently to stop her.
 
I wouldn't go out on the road without 3rd party insurance.

Ours had a lovely habit when we got him of turning his bum into road whilst trying to grab something to eat out of hedge. I quickly got him out of it but he could of easily damaged a car whilst doing it xx
 
Agree entirely with the others. And whilst drivers should give enough clearance incase a horse jumps out, to hack a horse out knowing its a regular thing is careless, insurance or not. If you have a horse like that, its your duty to work on de-sensitizing at home, control, & with a bombproof horse on the outside when necessary when you do hack out.
 
As a horse owner you are liable for any damage your horse does,even if say a random walker let it out of the field. Your horse, your liability. Tell her to get something like the BHS membership which is a cheap way of getting this cover ( which is not expensive anyway).
 
Luci07 said:
As a horse owner you are liable for any damage your horse does,even if say a random walker let it out of the field. Your horse, your liability. Tell her to get something like the BHS membership which is a cheap way of getting this cover ( which is not expensive anyway).
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Oh and having read some of the other posts on here...I had a chat with my YO, who is making it mandatory for all her liveries to have this. There is very strong chance that any third party would go after your YO if your friend does not have cover. Might want to point that out to her! It is such a risk that my YO has also got cover just in case this does happen to her...
 
She has her own place so nobody to force her into anything.
I did say BHS gold was a good thing to have but she said she had better things to spend £60 on.....
 
Mine was insured briefly when I was leading her about a bit on the last livery yard and working with her as they had nothing to stop her from going straight on to a main road (and the little miss had already proven she could jump straight over her field gate out).

Now she's back on mine she currently isn't. I have her in a secure field that if she got out of she'd have a further 2 gates and electric fence before getting on to a road, she is also a lot calmer here.
When working with her (just pottering around the yard), OH has put up electric fencing to limit us to just school and her field with walk in between, still 2 gates when walking to and from, 3 when in school.

As soon as I decide to start actually working her (not just pottering around on a leadrope) I will insure us with BHS. Once doing anything off the yard she will be insured too. I personally don't ride on the roads as i am fortunate to have miles of offroad hacking (and I'm terrified of roads!) but can't say that she could never take off on a hack on to one, or injure a walker/cyclist off road.

I think it should absolutely be a legality if they are anywhere off private land/yard, or if they ever have access to escape off it (ie hacking on private fields with no secure fencing). I could understand not bothering for retirees etc, but anything that is taken out should be insured.

Pan
 
joeanne said:
She has her own place so nobody to force her into anything.
I did say BHS gold was a good thing to have but she said she had better things to spend £60 on.....
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If she is aware of her horse actually having an issue and it causes an accident she will also be in a lot more trouble than someone with a usually fine horse. She's basically taking a loaded weapon on the road. That is just as irresponsible as no insurance.

Pan
 
So.....where would you stand if you kept your horse securely......didn't have 3rd party cover.....and someone let your horses out/nicked your gates and they escaped and caused an accident?

Surely you would still be liable as its your horse....even if you took steps to stop it getting out and it wasn't your fault it did?
 
joeanne said:
She has her own place so nobody to force her into anything.
I did say BHS gold was a good thing to have but she said she had better things to spend £60 on.....
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She sounds like a hopeless case tbh. Just out of interest then, as she has her own place would that be taken into account when a third party is recovering costs for an accident? She sounds rather self centred and arrogant tbh and well overdue for a wake up call.
 
Hippona said:
So.....where would you stand if you kept your horse securely......didn't have 3rd party cover.....and someone let your horses out/nicked your gates and they escaped and caused an accident?

Surely you would still be liable as its your horse....even if you took steps to stop it getting out and it wasn't your fault it did?
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Yes I think you are right. Makes no odds if someone lets your horse out or not, if its out and causes an accident, you are liable.
 
Hippona said:
So.....where would you stand if you kept your horse securely......didn't have 3rd party cover.....and someone let your horses out/nicked your gates and they escaped and caused an accident?

Surely you would still be liable as its your horse....even if you took steps to stop it getting out and it wasn't your fault it did?
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Yes stll liable for any damage or indeed Deaths the horse may cause (a horse going through a car windscreen is likely to kill driver/pasanger)
 
I pay for 3rd party cover each year and always will, BUT my friend had a accident lately where as her horse backed into a car doing quite a bit off damage. Insurance details were exchanged but the insurance won't pay out as horses are unprodictable. ( I know both horse owner and car driver) which I don't think is right. My friend now has to pay to have his car repaired or go through his insurance and my other friend is saying well what do I pay insurance for.
 
Hippona- yes you're still liable. If you knew who had let your horse out, you could, in turn take them to court for your losses though.
 
Bumping and damaging someone's car is one thing. Consider if your horse has caused lifelong disability to perhaps a City Banker or MD of a global company.

Then the payout is all about life long care for the disabled person and compensation to the family who have lost their bread winner. This is when the costs mount up and is why you should have 3rd party.
 
Hippona said:
So.....where would you stand if you kept your horse securely......didn't have 3rd party cover.....and someone let your horses out/nicked your gates and they escaped and caused an accident?

Surely you would still be liable as its your horse....even if you took steps to stop it getting out and it wasn't your fault it did?
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I'd say it comes under our property insurance as it would be a result of a break in and they are an asset.

To do that they'd have to open our house gate (by our bedroom), another gate (by which time police would be called), electric fence and a further gate off the main track. By which time both households would have woken up and several vehicles would be blocking the only entrance/exit. There's always a minimum of two people at the property overnight. There are two houses on a private driveway between horses and field. I'd say we could prove that we had taken precautions and that the circumstances were beyond our control if someone still let them out.

I used to park my car in front of the second gate when there were local break ins... I may start doing that again too.

Pan
 
I do think all riders/horse owners should have 3rd party cover. My old girl is retired but I still maintain my cover. I also think all cyclists should have it too (I have it automatically through my CTC membership). These days people are so litigeous that they will have you in court before you can blink. I had a furious wife leap out of her car and have a go at me in Aldi's car park on Saturday because she was convinced I had hit her car with my car door. It wasn't my car door, it was my handbag and if she hadn't got a massive 4x4 which only just fitted between the lines and therefore left me with only 14 inches to open my own car door. Good job I'm not on the large side. Needless to say all she got out of me was a few home truths but it was clear that if there had been so much as a mark in the dirt on her car I would have copped for it.

The OP's person in question is likely to find themselves living in a B&B hostel if they were subject to a claim. Car accidents can run into the millions.
 
I don't see it matters what happens a accident is a accident and somebody being left with a damaged car ( dented door and bonnet at side) is not good enough when the horse owner was insured. Why am I paying for insurance if some companies won't pay out because horses are unprodictable? I will never be without mine as I won't take the risk but for the car driver it's not good enough when the rider was fully insured
 
thatsmygirl said:
I pay for 3rd party cover each year and always will, BUT my friend had a accident lately where as her horse backed into a car doing quite a bit off damage. Insurance details were exchanged but the insurance won't pay out as horses are unprodictable. ( I know both horse owner and car driver) which I don't think is right. My friend now has to pay to have his car repaired or go through his insurance and my other friend is saying well what do I pay insurance for.
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In your friends shoes I wouldn't pay. The car drivers insurance company should be taking her insurance company to court - at which point they'd win, and the driver would receive compensation.
 
Any claims arising from an accident her horse is involved in could run into millions, due to a decision in the House of Lords a horse keeper or owner is now liable for any injury or damage that his/her horse causes or does to other people regardless, whether s/he is negligent or not.(UK law)

She might find that she is already covered on her household policy anyway, but for the sake of about £50 she could join WHW or BHS, help other horses and protect herself at the same time.

I wouldn't even contemplate putting a horse in a field without 3rd party, never mind riding an unpredictable horse on the road.
 
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Thatsmygirl- I would have thought it depends on the circumstances in that case. If someone drives their car close enough that a few steps back causes a collision, I think its the drivers fault, however if the horse reverses a good distance at speed, yes the owner should pay. On a previous yard, a lazy woman used to park her car across my stable rather than the car park, despite warnings from myself & ym not too. On one occasion I'd tied mine up outside after bringing in & whilst I went to get grooming kit she parked up directly behind. My horse decided to itch her bum on the car, bent the wing mirror back the wrong way & cracked the plastic where it attached & scratched the paintwork lower down. End result was her contacting a solicitor who told her she had no case, it was her own fault. Plus ym threatening to throw her off if she parked there again. Obviously different if my horse had escaped to car park & done the same I imagine.
 
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