Riding other people's horses - liability

pootleperkin

pootleperkin

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I posted a day or two ago about public liability insurance and how much it should cost to put it in place to allow me to look after owners horses when they are on holiday and to do the odd bit of freelance exercising and training - the cheapest policy I could find for 2 million pounds worth of cover was about £430 - quite a lot when you are not sure how much custom you are going to drum up.

So my question was, if you are riding horses that are insured for public liability by their owners, will they continue to be insured while under your care if you are receiving money for providing the service? Would the owner have to mention you by name on their policy?

Obviously, if I don't have my own insurance and the horse is injured in my care, then the owner could turn around and sue me, so it doesn't really seem to be an option not to have it, but I'm interested in knowing the situation with the public liability anyway.
 
You have to be insured. I believe that the owners insurance would only cover them for claims against them by you.

I looked in to this last year as I was concerned that I was paying someone to ride my horse, and wanted insurance for it to cover my backside. The cost was very high - although what cost piece of mind? - and I abandoned the idea.
 
You can get Riders insurance, although since you are being paid to do the job it gets more complicated. Try the NFU and see what they can offer as they must deal with self-employed people handing animals all the time.
 
I'm intersted in this too. I have a funny set up where I have a horse on full loan, which is insured by woners and they also pay all the costs. I plan to compete this horse this year and have BRC memebership, would this be enough insuranv=ce for me? BRC membership is linked to BHS but not sure where or how?
 
Im sure BHS Gold membership includes public liability for your own horses and any others you ride or care for. Not sure if this is invalidated if you recieve payment. Membership is about £55 a year.
 
If you have a horse on loan then you are a private person and covered by the BHS insurance. The owners are insuring it as they have the legal "interest" although you could reimberse them (when mine was on loan the loanee gave me a contribution to the insurance as it was a full loss of use/vets fees, etc).

Not sure about the Riding Club insurance - you would be covered for public liability while doing riding club things for sure. The BHS Gold membership covers you all the time - but only for public liability not the value of the horse. Insurance is quite a complicated thing and you really do need to read the small print. Insurance is for covering the unexpected.
 
I dont get paid to ride my loan horse. Whenever Ive loaned before Ive paid the insurance, hence why Im confused now as owner is paying all the bills?
 
Perhaps they want to pay as they know it has been done. Perhaps they loaned a horse in the past the the loanee was supposed to insure it and didn't - these things happen. It is one less expense for you!
 
£2,000,000 is not enough. You need at least £10,000,000 cover.

You will need to check with the owners policy to see if it covers you if you are being paid by them to ride the horse. Again you need to check that their cover is £10,000,00.

The £10,000,000 comes as a result of a legal case about two years ago where the owners of a horse where find liable for an accident caused by their horses.
 
NFU might be a good idea.....I have spoken to KBIS and SEIB, who the BHS recommended, and SEIB was cheapest. They lump 'grooms' (suitable in this instance) and freelance instructors all in together - strange I think, because you are obviously at more risk as an instructor than as a groom.
 
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Perhaps they want to pay as they know it has been done. Perhaps they loaned a horse in the past the the loanee was supposed to insure it and didn't - these things happen. It is one less expense for you!

[/ QUOTE ]
Its great but I dont know whether I need insurance or not for me?
 
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