How does lockdown 2.0 affect you?

For our equestrian clients in England, we appreciate that there has been a lot of confusing and conflicting information regarding what you can and can't do during Lockdown 2.0.  Here we look to offer some reassurance as to what areas of insurance cover are operating as normal and what areas may be affected.

Fundamentally horse owners should abide by Government legislation and should also look to the British Horse Society (BHS) and British Equestrian (on behalf of the member bodies) for a breakdown of how the legislation affects the equestrian industry.

In the most simplistic of terms it has been confirmed that:

• Horses may be ridden for exercise, including travelling to exercise
• You can travel to care and exercise a horse that you own or care for
• You can ride with members of your household, support bubble or 1 other person
• Coaches can continue to travel to work where they can’t work from home, but coaching must be delivered in a 1-2-1 basis
• Livery yards can remain open for horse owners, loaners and sharers to care for and exercise their horse
• Riding centres and schools may remain open and deliver formal education and training under the requirements of the legislation, and clients are permitted to travel to take part
• Farriery, veterinary, dentistry, physiotherapy and other equine practitioners can continue to operate
• Elite athletes, on a World Class Performance Programme, are able to travel for training purposes

All of the above is on the proviso that COVID-19 protocols and social-distancing are maintained.

Based on the above we are able to confirm that our British Dressage Personal Accident and Public Liability policies are operating as normal as long as members are acting within the BHS/BE and Government guidelines.

Personal Accident, Coaches & Freelance, Liability and Horse policies are all operating as normal as long as the insured are acting within the BHS/BE and Government guidelines.  It should be noted that both the BHS and BE recommend coaches undertake a risk assessment prior to each coaching session.

It has also been confirmed that you cannot:

• Travel to a venue and pay to ride on the premises, including farm rides, arena hire, cross-country courses, gallops etc. All venue hire should be suspended for the period of the lockdown

Those acting against this directive will invalidate insurance.

The remaining grey area of 'can riders travel their horses to coaches own facilities for the purpose of training' is still being clarified with the Government by the BHS/BE.  The key requirement by the legislation is that horses are travelled for welfare reasons.  Therefore, owners would need to be able to justify that they are travelling their horses for training/exercise is purely for reasons of the horses welfare.  Owners should take on board that until this is fully clarified by the BHS/BE/Government then travelling horses for recreational purposes may invalidate their horsebox/motor/trailer/liability insurance.

All advice and guidance is subject to change following further advice from the Government.

For coaches and riding stables we would recommend checking with your local authority and insurance provider for confirmation, prior commencing activities.

Useful Links:

https://www.britishequestrian.org.uk/news/covid-19-update-09-11-20 

https://www.britishequestrian.org.uk/coronavirus/covid-19-faqs

https://www.bhs.org.uk/advice-and-information/coronavirus-covid-19