What vet fees do sharers pay?

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vicm2509

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I own my horse who is fully insured for everything he does, including vet bills.

I also have a sharer, she is my best friend and has been for many many years, I trust her 100% and she treats my horse as her own.

Dont shoot me down but I DO NOT have a contact with her.
She gives me a set amount every week. We do almost everything with him together. We each have our set days but we go to all the comps together, discuss him all the time, I ask her opinion on everything I buy etc etc.

Now she knows that if she injured my horse through her own negligence or stupidity I expect her to pay, she says thats fine. I feel really cheeky getting her to sign a cotract to this effect, but after reading the post below 'With Friends Like This', I think perhaps its about time I did.

As she doesn't pay the insurance I have a feeling that if things ever got nasty (which I expect they would if she damaged him through negligence) then she might hand me the excess and expect the insurance to pay the rest.

So is there any legal thing I can copy from somewhere and get her to sign? If it was your best mate would you were being mistrusting by asking them to sign? Or if you were the mate being asked to sign?
 
I wouldn't expect my sharer to pay anything towards insurance. I think if she felt she was to blame, she woudl offer to pay the excess but I wouldn't expect it/ ask for it.
What I did when I had my boy on loan originally though is we had our insurance policy in joint names ie his owner and I were both on the policy. Not sure how that affected the policy but thats what she wanted to do?
 
Oh no I dont expect her to pay insurance at all. I am perfectly happy with her contribution.

What I am saying is, say she did something really stupid, like walk him over a cattle grid (not that she would, thats just an extreme example), and he was seriously injured. I would have to pay excess, possible livery costs if he had to stay at the vets etc etc. Do you not think the person liable for the damage should pay these costs? Or should I be expected to pay, along with any additional costs the injury incurrs?
 
Ah right I see. Tricky one, perhaps you need to write it into a contract although how easy it would be to prove direct negligence I'm not sure?
 
What sort or things are written in a normal sharer contact? Or are these type of contacts for people who have their horse out on full loan?

I mean if your sharer dropped your saddle and broke it would they be expeted to pay for that? Or if they didn't lock it up and it got stolen?

Obviously if he was riding him and he tripped and hurt himself I would take full responsibility for paying the vet bill.

I am just thinking I should try and cover myself for major out of pocket expense that is entirely their fault, or is that not what people do?
 
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What I am saying is, say she did something really stupid, like walk him over a cattle grid (not that she would, thats just an extreme example), and he was seriously injured

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But you wouldn't share your horse with someone that would be reckless with them though.......
 
Well no I dont, but you can never be 100% sure can you? It has just always been one of those 'what if' things in the back of my mind.

She has always treated him really well infact, I would never share my horse with anyone but her.

I am presuming then that is not common to have a contact and I should just leave things the way they are?
 
Definitly get her to sign a contract. It's better that you both know where you stand.

I've had sharers in the past, and my contract has always said ( with words to this effect) if any vets bills that come about due to shareres negligence, the sharer would be expected to pay the excess of the amount, or anything the insurance would not pay for (stabling etc). He doesn't have any exclusions so I wouldn't have that problem.

However because she can't take out insurance on him (you can't have 2 policies on 1 horse) I would take her contribution each month as her part of paying his insurance and therefore she would be covered. I don't know what riders policies include. But if she did injure him I think it's only right you claim on your insurance.

I don't know anyone who DOESN'T have a contract when sharing a horse....
 
When I shared I had it in the contract that I payed half of all vets bills up to £500. However I probably rode the mare more than her owner and certainly was the one who took her out and about.
 
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I don't know anyone who DOESN'T have a contract when sharing a horse....

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Um.... err.... as a sharer I never ever had a contract and because of this it never occured to me that I would need one for my sharer. She has 3 days a week, but the horse is still under my care and I am always up as I have my other to do. One thing I did insist on was that they got riders insurance
 
Accidents are rarely as straight forward as 'sharer did something daft like walk him over a cattle grid' so it's not as as simple as 'whoevers fault it is pays' when there is no way of attributing 'blame.'

A lot of the time, it's just bad luck and not a case of one person ballsing up.
 
I never had a contract when I shared C. I wish I had as I paid 1/2 for his vets bill when he had colic and I can assure you all that was not my fault! I still think about it & feel well & truly shafted over that!
 
I dont have a contract and Im a sharer. But I know that the owners of my horse would never expect me to pay anything towrads vet bills of any sort...... as at the end of the day ITS NOT MY HORSE!

If however I damaged it through negligence, which I think if you have your head screwed on, would be fairly difficult, i would offer to pay!
 
Thanks all for your input. I think I will just leave things as they are.

I would not ever expect my mate to do anything meaningfully stupid, and at the end of the day he is covered for everything. I think I can trust her enough to offer a contribution should she damage him through her own negligence (not that I think that would ever happen).

It just got me thinking as I often read about people having sharer contracts on here.

She is my best mate after all and I could not really wish for a better friend, or a better person to share my horse. I just thought that most people had some sort of written agreement for this sort of thing and I was one of the only ones that didnt.
 
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You're not the only one, I've had 2 shares now and I've never signed anything! I got rider insurance after I fell off the 1st one though!! I have no objection to signing anything and I think I will sign one for my next share. Is she pregnant yet?! Lol!
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i share/loan 2 horses 1 day a week and pay no weekly amount, pay no vet fees, nothing towards shoes/feed/insurance, and i can ride them in my lessons if i have permission
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but what i do is just help them out, they can swap my day one week, add an extra day, and when they go on holiday i take full responsibility for them (they are on DIY and i do all jobs on loan days)

i am very lucky to be offered this deal, but the owners need one night off a week so thats why i do it
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if i cause an accident/injury to their horse while the horse is in my care i dont know what they'd do. never talked about it. although the horses are both covered with anyone riding them, i have my own insurance (i have to, riding so many different horses) and pay £30 a year which covers me and some of the costs of the horse i believe
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Lucy x
 
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You're not the only one, I've had 2 shares now and I've never signed anything! I got rider insurance after I fell off the 1st one though!! I have no objection to signing anything and I think I will sign one for my next share. Is she pregnant yet?! Lol!
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No not yet, I think its temprarily on hold
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I'll admit to not having a contract with my sharer!

I trust her implicitly and if she did the dirty on me (which I very much doubt she would) then it's my own fault for not having things in writing and I would foot the bill accordingly.

My sharer doesn't pay any vets / insurance costs, although I have factored this in when agreeing a monthly payment amount. I don't expect her to pay anything in addition to her monthly contribution, whatever happens.
 
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