teaching a friend's child to ride my pony

Firehorse

Firehorse

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i was asked by my friend today if i would give her 8 yr old daughter lessons on my pony. i'm not an instructor but hve been teaching my kids to ride the last 3 yrs and my pony is quiet enough for beginners in the school paddock and is an angel on the lead or lunge. he's also the most gentle creature alive, to handle, groom and fuss.

i dont mind doing it at all as i realise how lucky i am to hve a pony and also remember my ponymad, ponyless days as a child. begging rides for mucking out etc!!

i was jst worried about the ins and outs of it really. insurance, the what-ifs etc.... the mother would be there all the time. i've already told her i'd be terrified if the child fell off. its bad enough when my own kids fall off, never mind someone else's, but as they progress its always inevitable. she understands all that and the child has had a handfull of lessons at a school already.
 
Get the childs mother to sign a disclaimer.
Riding should be fun, teaching should be fun and with this you can breathe a bit easier as your not legally responisble IF something should happen.
(I hope Iam talking some sense!)
 
hmmm, thx but i'm not sure a self-written dislaimer would be any good. when i set up my business, i looked into this and found that unless something is written by a solicitor, its not worth the paper its written on. should i perhaps insist she gets rider insurance instead?
 
Rider insurance may be a good place to start but I think most personal accident insurances only have small payouts for children. You could always check with your third party insurance as they may already cover you and the child. I'm with NFU and I understand that they cover anyone else riding and handling my horses. I also think I'be heard somewhere that if you accept payment for teaching the child (or anyone) then you would possibly be considered an instructor and liable if something you did caused an accident.
 
Sorry, I would not do it unless you have instructor's insurance or you ensure the rider/parent has the appropriate PL / PA cover. Sadly no matter a good friend this person is should something happen (ie the child falls off your horse and injures herself you could and quite likely would be held liable and potentially that 'friend' could sue.

It's a sad world we live in but I would make sure you are covered one way or another.It's not the some these days as it used to be when you could just take a kid out for a lesson on your pony.
 
If you teach someone else to ride on your own pony/horse, you are effectively setting yourself up as a riding school, and you need a licence, insurance, and if you use your own school, then you need to pay business rates!

If someone takes out insurance to ride, and they fall off your pony while you are teaching them and hurt themselves badly, they can claim on their insurance which is great for them, BUT the company will come looking to you to get its money back. So if you are not qualified, they will try to prove that you were negligent.

Lots of people do teach on their own horses without adequate insurance, but it's a minefield and I really wouldn't go there. You could I suppose give free advice while the child is riding your pony, but as soon as they give you something in return you are back where you started. Tricky but I think you would be better to just say sorry, no can do.

ETA: don't feel bad saying no, the way I see it is I pay the going rate for a lesson with my instructor, which is £35 for 45 mins, and the people who ask me to teach their child only ever seem to want it on the cheap! So they can *** off in the nicest possible way!
 
[ QUOTE ]
If you teach someone else to ride on your own pony/horse, you are effectively setting yourself up as a riding school, and you need a licence, insurance, and if you use your own school, then you need to pay business rates!


[/ QUOTE ]

Only if you charge for lessons! If you teach a friend to ride - on your horse - as a favour - then you're not doing it 'for hire or reward' and you would be covered by your normal public liability insurance in the event the rider was hurt and you were sued for negligence. If - instead of taking payment for lessons - your friend CHOSE to give you a gift that would be fine too - as long as the gift was NOT a condition of you giving lessons!

It would still be a good idea to insist that any friend you teach has their own personal accident insurance.
 
I think it depends on what sort of friend she is - I taught my mum's friend's daughter to ride (she loaned my first pony) and there were never any accidents - i made sure both my pony and the girl had insurance though, just in case.

It seems a shame to have to worry about being sued over everything these days. When I was learning as a kid, anyone and everybody gave me wanted (and unwanted) advice & 'lessons'
 
thanks guys. it is a minefield and it really takes the enjoyment out of so many things. i remember someone at my local yard telling me they had to inform women riders not to wear underwired bras incase the wire pops out in a fall and stabs them! its a crazy world.

i'm not sure whether to do it or not now. i hve a few friends who kids i let ride my pony, but they are GOOD friends i've known for yrs. the mum's are also horsey and regularly pay for their kids to hve proper lessons. this mother, i'm not all that friendly with her, other than i know her through school. i think she's just after some cheap lessons for her kid, altho she didnt even mention paying me. it would be using my time, which i dont hve a lot of, being a single mum and my spare time is for me to be riding. i think i might just let her have a leadrein plod round the field once in a while, and leave it at that. too much to risk reading all the above.

thanks guys!
 
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