Boarding

I have 200 acres with 6 ponds, all brand new fences, indoor and outdoor riding arena, office, kitchen, bathroom, with tack room, and stalls. We are located beside the forrestry and there are more than 12 hours of trail riding off farm access. The issue is I want to board some horses for a few people and we called the insurance guy and he said we would have to have a $3 million dollar policy to run an equine business. If anyone knows what I'm talking about how can I get around this without getting my farm taken away from me if someone got hurt. I simply just want to board a few horses with them riding a few times and not get charged an arm and a leg to do it. I know tons of trainers and boarders...how do they do it without paying $2000 plus a month like I would? ANY help and advice would be great.

What company did you contact? Do you use all 200 acres for your boarding business? How many horses will you be boarding?

I have a friend who purchased a 1 million dollar policy and she teaches and what not and it costs her $800 a year. This is Horse Insurance Specialist Inc.

I opened my boarding facility a few months ago and still don't have insurance... but they all sign a plethora of forms and I have signs EVERYWHERE. My facility is also as safe as a facility can be...

We would be using mostly 95 acres but the other 105 acres would be a back up. Would acres be included into the cost? I will only be boarding 2 horses this year just to try it out. Thanks for the info on Horse Ins. Specialist...I'm going to go check it out now. Do you mind telling me more about your forms or if you could actually send them as documents on email. Our facility is very safe also, but there can always be a freak accident. Thank you very much! My email is mcguirefarms@hotmail.com if you don't mind telling me a little bit more.

You would probably be better off just not having boarders. My family owns a boarding facility. Its on 75 acres, 15 stalls, office, feed room, tack room, indoor, and outdoor ring. We have a million dollar insurance policy. I am a 'what if' kinda person. If I was in your situation I would say its better to be safe than sorry.

I've been thinking of doing the same thing with my 36 acres. I've got some buddies that I ride with that really want to board there horses at my place. I was just thinking of having my lawyer draw up an agreement that says I'm not responsible and take it from there. Would this not work?

A piece of paper is only as good as the attorney who can defend it in court.

Just because you have a well written waiver doesn't mean you'll never be sued. There are a lot of sue-happy idiots out there. I would never ever open up a boarding facility to the public without all of the proper insurance. We have close to 60 horses being kept on our facility for $450-600 a month and no one is getting rich off boarding.

Simple answer - there is NO way to "get around" it. That's what the insurance policy is for. Any shortcut you take now could cost you everything in a lawsuit.

Even with a written agreement/liability waiver, people can still sue (and get a good settlement or win). Remember, the plaintiff hires their lawyer on contingency (they work for a percentage of the award). The defendent hires a lawyer on a fee basis, which can potentially bankrupt you even if you win!

Don't even THINK of doing something like this without insurance (and all the proper legal steps. For example, you may want to incorporate if you are running boarding business to further protect yourself from personal liability. Talk to a lawer.) The risk is just too great.

On the bright side, $2,000/month sounds way to high for what you describe. You should shop around more. Ideally, you should find a local agent that knows what they are doing so you could be classified properly and get a more realistic rate.