Purchase Breeding Insurance So You Don’t Have To Worry About Liability Or Losses

With a horse business, you’re bound to have visitors. No matter how much a visitor may love horses, it doesn’t mean they have experience with horses. Horses are large animals that can sometimes act unpredictably. No matter how well you train your horses, protect yourself against a claim, or worse a lawsuit in Ontario.

What you’ll discover in this report:

The difference between Breeding Insurance and a farmowners policy
Common claims that people make against breeders
How you can plan ahead
The coverage offered by a Commercial General Liability Policy
Other types of insurance you should consider

How Is This Insurance Different From A Farmowners Policy?

Your farmowners policy isn’t that different from your homeowners policy, except that it covers you for raising, keeping and selling anything you have on your farm including livestock. When you make money from breeding horses, it means you have a commercial business and that requires a different kind of liability insurance.

When breeding horses, you’re exposed to visitors to your farm, exhibiting and showing, riding or driving your horses for promotion on your property and off, horse sales, open house events and even advertising and promotion.

What Are The Most Common Claim Incidents?

A mare owner is injured while at your farm to view your stallion.
While riding a horse you’re trying to sell, the prospect gets hurt.
A horse you own or board gets loose through a damaged fence or open barrier gate and runs into traffic and causes an accident.
You’re caring for a horse you don’t own and it gets hurt or dies within your care or on your property due to negligence on your part.

How Can I Plan Ahead?

We know that you care about the horses and the people that come to your farm. There are steps to take to make sure that an accident never happens in the first place.

Enforce barn rules
Look around and develop rules for your environment for both horses and people. Also write procedures. Then train every staff member to make sure they understand your rules and procedures.
Plan for emergencies
Emergencies happen, but the better prepared you are, the better chance you have of providing the proper care to all the horses. If you’re prepared you can minimize the severity of any accident.
Develop semi-annual inspections of your property
By inspecting your premises for potential hazards, you can take care of them before an incident occurs.
Prepare a written waiver and review Ontario’s Occupiers’ Liability Act
Anyone who participates in any horse activities on your premises needs to complete and sign the waiver. Make sure that you keep the signed forms on file and safely stored. The Occupiers’ Liability Act states that the stable owner/operator owes a duty of care to the people who enter their premises. This assures that any property they bring on your premises with them is also reasonably safe. You are free to restrict, modify or exclude this duty of care through your written waiver.
Follow Ontario’s Horse Riding Safety Act
This legislation states that it’s mandatory that anyone under the age of 18 years of age must wear a helmet that meets ASTM, BSI or European Safety Standards and hard-soled footwear with a heel of no less than 1.5 cm.
Purchase an Equine Liability Insurance Policy
Protect you and your business with an insurance company that knows horses and your business. You want to make sure that any legal feels are covered, claim costs and settlements to ensure that in the case of an accident, your business doesn’t suffer a financial loss.

What’s Included In The Commercial General Liability Policy?

This policy protects you from legal costs, claims and settlements from a customer, guest or anyone that visits your business property.

Bodily injury: Protect yourself from financial loss due to an injury suffered by a mare owner, visitor or even a trespasser.
Property damage: Avoid having to pay damages to the property of others that happens in relation to breeding, boarding, horse sales or other business activities.

The policy gives you maximum limits or amounts of liability insurance for:

Medical expenses: You can be sure a claimant’s low cost medical expenses are covered without a lot of questions about liability or responsibility.
Legal defense costs: You can save your business the financial burden of court costs if you’re sued, whether the case has merit or not.
Claims or settlement costs: Without this policy you could be held responsible for bodily injury and property damage claims.

Are There Other Coverages I Should Consider?

If you stand a stallion at public stud, there are other considerations as well. You may be caring for mares and foals that others own, and if you’re providing foaling services, you’re also exposed to additional liabilities.

Care, Custody & Control Liability: This policy will protect you from expenditures for loss, illness or injury that could happen to a non-owned horse in your care.
Horse Boarding: When you’re caring for horses owned by others, you want to protect your business from liabilities such as injuries to the horse, the owner or their visitors.
Tack, Equipment and Machinery: Protect your tools of the trade and your business by insuring your tack, equipment and machinery against loss or damage.

At Henry Equestrian Insurance Brokers Ltd., we understand horses and we make sure that we protect you and your breeding business. Contact us today to learn more or click on Get a Free Quote for an obligation-free quote.