Is there any way to really protect yourself if you allow someone to ride your horse?
 

So I now have two horses. My big boy is going well under saddle and could benefit from a few more miles put on him by a good rider. And our new rescued pony has a line a mile long of the kids' friends who want to come and have a pony ride.

However, I have not yet found a safe way to allow other people to ride my horses. My mother is a lawyer and said waivers are not worth the paper they are written on and suggested I look into insurance. So I called several horse insurers looking for liability insurance (not mortality) and was told that no one sells the type I am interested in... basically allowing someone to ride my horses and protecting me and my assets if they get hurt. The only things covered are things like if someone comes up to the fence and gets bitten/kicked or if the horses get out on the road and someone gets injured. My barn owner gave me a copy of her insurance and I am already covered for those situations under her policy.

Is there any safe way to keep my assets safe and allow my horses to be ridden by other people? Everyone at my barn who leases out their horses uses waivers but then we are back to mom the lawyer who just told me in no uncertain terms that if I don't want to end up penniless to just keep everyone at arm's length of my horses...

Nope, people can sue for anything, and if they get hurt even after signing a waiver, you'll be responsible.

Where I am insurance to cover yourself as a rider is fairly cheap and EVERYBODY who owns or leases has it. Unfortunately it doesn't work for people wanting an occasional pony ride, but do you have something like that where you are? If somebody was serious about wanting to ride your horse every so often it would be worth it to purchase...

youd probably have to look at some kinda business or personal umbrella liability insurance. People that do party pony rides gotta have something. Seriously though what kinda assets do you have ? Thats really what liability insurance protects. Lawyers tend to sue on a percent of what they collect. If you are a college student living in a dorm, no land, driving a beater, its not gonna be worth a lawyers effort to suit you. Just make sure you stay in debt and dont ever actually own enough assets to be worth a lawyers time.

I hope this is meant tongue in cheek, otherwise it's possibly the most moronic 'advice' I've ever seen.

It is kind of like being so skinny that even a shark won't want to waste time on you...:D

I know in TN there are laws protecting from that. We have signs posted all over the stable that say some thing along the lines of " horseback riding is inheritently dangerous, and could reslut in injury pr death, ride at your own risk. Etc." I thought most states had similar laws but I guess not. Or maybe they don't really protect from law suits?
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Hey - If it works dont knock it!!!

Not for a business, although a business may be held to a higher standard at times.

For example, in Arizona:

"After the ride, she obtained permission to take Satin from a corral for grazing. She caught Satin in a corral in the company of an unbroken horse. As she was leaving the corral with Satin’s lead rope around her hand, the other horse interfered causing the lead rope to tighten and severely injure Keely. ..

...We do not read s 12-553 as providing blanket immunity for a stable operator, regardless of how, when, and where one of its customers is injured by a horse. Accordingly, the statute does not bar liability against defendants or support summary judgment for them in this particular case."

http://asci.uvm.edu/equine/law/cases/laws/bothell.htm

More reading here:

Equine Activity Laws

Once lawyers get involved, the law can mean just about anything...:evil:

Well, I'll NEVER be too skinny for a shark...:-(