Keeping Your Yard Covered
It is an ideal situation as a horse owner to own your own yard and something many of us can only dream about, but whether you are lucky enough to have stables at your house or to rent your own space somewhere else or even run a yard, there is no doubt you are keen to make sure that they are protected.
If you have five stables, or 20, an indoor school, sand school or lunge pen every yard will look different to the next, but they are all equally as important to their owners. So, what would happen if you were broken into, or rain caused your yard to flood or a horse was injured in your care? Would you have the support in place to get you and any clients back on their feet?
Private Yards
If you have your own yard and just keep your horses there, you might think your own property insurance will cover the stables if the worse should happen, but so often not having specialist cover means you might not get the compensation or understanding you need.
Alongside covering your stables for perils such as fire, theft, flooding and storm damage other areas can also be covered like tools, jumps and equipment, saddlery and accidental damage – which with horses around is always needed!
With the rising costs of feed, bedding and hay is it any wonder more people are choosing to make sure this is covered. Imagine the financial implications if you weren’t covered and your stockpiled hay went up in smoke, let alone the stress of them finding a farmer to replace it all.
There is so much to consider when covering your yard and we know a lot is irreplaceable but at least by having a tailored individual plan in place you can start to get back to normality as quickly as possible.
Livery Yards
Alongside the more standard insurance considerations outlined above if you run a livery, competition or production yard as well as protecting your premises you need to consider how to best protect yourself, the horses in your care and any employees you might have.
You are liable for your premises, whatever the size and having the correct insurance in place means that if someone is injured on your premises or their property gets damaged, you could be covered for what otherwise could prove a very costly visit.
Employees Liability is one of the most common claims* made from yards, most likely down to the unpredictable nature of horses. A legal requirement, this insurance covers you for any personal injury claims made against you, for instance if your groom got kicked by one of the horses in your care. It is worth noting as well that even if your employees are not paid, legally you must still have this cover.
Within running a yard, it is likely you will receive some sort of payment for looking after somebody else’s horse. Even if it is just bringing them in from the field you become partly responsible for their welfare and could be held liable if anything was to happen. A Care, Control and Custody policy can help protect you against any claims and has become increasingly popular with full livery / competition and stud yards, where you might find yourself looking after high value horses.
Although not a legal requirement Public Liability cover is really important for those running yards as it can cover you for a multitude of claims that could arise. It could be as simple as someone walking through your yard and tripping on a piece of equipment or whilst out hacking the horse you are riding kicks and damages a car. All of these scenarios could see you being liable and left open to possible compensation payouts, if you aren’t adequately protected.
Although sometimes it can be tempting to just take the cheapest and quickest insurance option available, this doesn’t always offer you the best protection. It is likely your yard has taken years to establish itself and a lot of effort and love goes into maintaining and running it, so why settle for something that isn’t up to scratch?
At Shearwater we don’t care if you have 20 stables or two, each policy we provide is created for the individual needs of that yard. Our specialist team know equestrian properties inside out and are able to provide quotes which offer the protection truly needed, we can even send along a member of the team so assess your yard especially for those larger venues who might present a variety of insurance needs.