Livery agreements?

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jane1234

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My yard are introducing livery agreements and the one they are asking people to sign seems very one sided and has a clause to say that they are not responsible for anything that happens to you or your horse on their property, WHATEVER THE CAUSE OR CIRCUMSTANCES. This seems a stupid thing to ask people to sign away any rights they have. Is anyone willing to PM me a copy of their livery agreement so I can compare? Removing any names of course....
 
I would think that is to cover them should your horse get kicked out in the field.........does it say something about 'provided they (the YOs) have not acted negligently'?
 
Technically even if you sign this they can still be sued if found to severely negligent- e.g if they new a stable to be dangerous/about to fall down but did not fence it off- then it fell and killed a horse/child etc
 
It sounds to me jane that the yard is quite sensibly trying to prevent frivolent claims. For example, if a stupid horse accident happened to a visitor to a yard (and the definition of an accident is it was an ACCIDENT ffs) they may then decide after watching one of those parasitic no win no fee ads, that they could sue the horse owner. Many owners do not have the necessary insurance in which case said NWNF companies would advise following the trail back until they found someone who DID have suitable insurance. Sadly, this is often the poor YO who had nothing to do with the accident in the first place.

As Shadowmonkey says, a hastily drawn up document may not be worth the paper it's written on if it is flagrantly one sided, but you can't blame a YO for trying to protect their livelihood. Do the BHS have a model livery agreement? If so, perhaps you could print one off and gently suggest to your YO that this might be better protection for her AND her paying customers?
 
Hi Maisy,

Here are the bits I am questioning, no mention of negligence.

"The yard" takes no responsibility for any illness, injury or vet fees however caused.

and

This is a waiver of liability in which the horse owner agrees to waiver "the yards" liability for personal injuries or injuries/illness of the horse.
 
before you sign an agreement check that they have a care and custody insurance (which they should have). Also if your horse gets injured because they haven't maintained stabling or fencing etc then your insurance company may hold them responsible therefore check that they hold adequate insurance cover.
A contract should ideally be negotiable by both parties though.
 
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