Liability
Insurance - do you have enough?
by Leslie Smith Dow
Do you have enough
liability insurance? If you offer coaching, teaching, training or
shipping services, you might need more than you think.
Do you have enough
insurance in case of a horseback riding accident? The short answer
is, that depends.
Many provincial equestrian federations offer a value-packed equestrian
insurance package well worth the $35 average annual cost of membership.
Marcia Barrett, Ontario Equestrian Federation executive director says
membership in the OEF automatically provides $5 million in personal
liability insurance through Intercity Insurance in Aurora, ON, covering
“most incidents arising out of the personal use of the horse(s)
worldwide.” Further non-commercial trailering coverage of $5,000
per horse and $10,000 per accident is included to “protect you
against law suits for the death or injury of a horse that belongs
to someone else while you are transporting that horse.” Should
you suffer accident, death or dismemberment as a result of injury
caused by horses, a further $30,000 policy is in effect.
You should check
with your provincial equestrian association for complete details on
specific insurance programs provided to members. Long-time Capri Insurance
Services Ltd. partner David Cline, author of the Equine Association
Program, will not specifically say how much liability insurance is
enough, though equine associations insured by Capri have chosen $5
million. You may want higher limits when you consider accidents involving
more than one person or accidents that could end up in the jurisdiction
of American courts. The cost of premiums varies from province to province
and according to individual risk.
Vicki Pauze, administrator
of the British Columbia Horse Council (HCBC) says her organization
was the first to offer this type of insurance as a member benefit.
Coaching insurance, she says, is available to members through Capri
Insurance Services Ltd. of Kelowna, B.C., for an extra (though reasonable)
annual fee. (Non-certified coaches can expect to pay more). HCBC benefits
– which the organization is currently working on upgrading –
are similar to those offered by the OEF.
Under the terms
of many federation policies, another horse federation member in good
standing may ride your horse occasionally and still be covered in
case of liability. A member may lease their horse to someone, or lease
a horse themselves and enjoy the same coverage. Capri’s Equine
Association Program covers members regardless of horse “ownership,”
notes Cline, “because many members use horses belonging to other
people. The coverage responds not only to ‘ownership’ but
also to ‘use’ and to ‘custody’ of a horse or horses.”
That means private individuals or families who are members of a horse
federation are automatically insured, but may not rent their horses
out to others for lessons or rides and remain covered in case of accident
under the $5 million personal liability insurance automatically available
to individual horse federation members covered by Capri (though this
does NOT mean injured parties would automatically receive the maximum
sum).
Receiving money, payment in kind or other compensation puts one in
the “equine professionals” category, requiring commercial
general liability insurance.
Says Cline, “If
a coach was using his/her own horse (or someone else’s horse)
for the coach’s private, personal, pleasure purposes (not for
coaching purposes), then the Equine Association Program $5 million
coverage would apply to resulting accidents. If, on the other hand,
a coach is using his/her own horse (or someone else’s) as part
of their coaching activities, then the Equine Association Program
$5 million coverage would not apply to resulting accidents. In these
cases the coach would have to have purchased the separate Coaching
coverage.” Cline warns, “Any member who is using a horse
for commercial/business purposes, needs to make separate insurance
arrangements from those taken for the automatic coverage provided
to members under the Equine Association Program,” which can be
arranged through equine insurance specialists including Capri, Intercity,
Ducharme Fortier, Henry Equestrian Insurance and B.F. Lorenzetti.
Equine Association
Program insurance (as stated in the ‘fine print’) does not
cover “commercial use of your horse or trailer, or use of your
horse by anyone NOT a member in good standing of an equine association
or who is NOT ‘an equine professional.’” In other words,
professional shippers, coaches or riding stable operators are not
automatically insured for commercial purposes when they join a horse
federation, but they can apply for coverage, and savings, under the
insurance benefits program. Cost for this insurance depends on perceived
risk to the insurance firm.
One such risk
factor, says Cline, is whether a coach is currently certified. “We’ve
made quite a distinction between certified and non-certified coaches.
We make the distinction that a certified coach at least has a standard
that can be measured. A non-certified coach may have been coaching
for years and could coach rings around someone but we can’t measure
that.
“We charge
more if the coach owns an equestrian facility or boards horses of
others year round or conducts week long summer camps, hosts competitions
or provides more than five school horses to students at any one time,”
he adds.
Don’t assume
your home or farm insurance policy will cover you for personal or
commercial liability if you coach or run a riding stable, advised
Cline. “Many insurance companies in Canada absolutely dread equine
risk. Not every home or farm policy will extend insurance to a horse.
If you look in the fine print of farm insurance you will see (it)
does not necessarily define an equine facility as farming - you may
have to go to commercial insurance. Assume the worst and check with
your insurance broker.”
Officials may
also purchase commercial liability insurance to covers themselves
on the job. Some competitors may also want to insure their horses
and themselves — particularly if they compete in other countries
— against performance-inhibiting injury or illness.
The big thing,
Cline says, is for coaches, trainers and stable owners to do all they
can to minimize liability at the outset. That can mean hiring qualified,
experienced instructors, interviewing students carefully about their
abilities, harping on safety practices, not overmounting students,
ensuring safe teaching and hacking areas, and keeping stable, pastures
and riding areas free of anything which could potentially cause an
accident. Capri has put together a risk management manual in co-operation
with provincial equine associations, available on-line at www.capri.ca/eai/riskmanual/toc.
Intercity’s website, www.intercityinsurance.com also features
equine insurance information.
Adds Cline, “We
encourage people to carry as much liability insurance as they can
reasonably afford. Every person must and will judge for themselves
what limit of liability insurance and what degree of risk is appropriate
to their situation and level of comfort.”
reprinted with permission
of Horse-Canada
