If you decide to board horses at your farm, you’ll need to consider some of the financial risks of boarding non-owned horses.
That’s where Henry Equestrian comes in. We’ll walk you through what insurance coverage you need to start your horse boarding business, including:
- Standards to follow for operating an equine facility
- Coverages to protect all your interests
- If a friend wants to keep their horse on your farm
- If a boarder brings a friend to ride their horse
- If your boarders’ horses are covered in your horse trailer
Equine Facility Operation Standards
Depending on the equestrian commercial venture you’re going to operate on your farm, there are minimum safety standards to meet for activities such as coaching, trail rides, equine assisted learning and pony rides.
You also need to be aware of your province’s regulations regarding minors and safety equipment while riding. Many of them require minors to:
- Wear a helmet that meets ASTM, BSI or European Safety Standards
- Wear hard-soled footwear with a heel of no less than 1.5 cm and/or safety stirrups (breakaway or hooded)
- Use tack properly fitted on the horse
Equestrian Facility Insurance
When you use your property for a business, you need an equestrian facility insurance plan.
Some key elements you’ll need include:
- Liability limits starting at $1 million, with the option to increase up to $10 million. This protects you from claims and lawsuits for bodily injury, loss of life or property damage allegedly caused by you, your employees, or animals in your care or under your supervision
- Care, custody, and control liability for boarded horses. This responds to illness, injury or death caused unintentionally for horses not owned by you. We can also provide horse insurance for horses you own
- Property insurance for your buildings, outbuildings, barns, arenas and other structures. We can also ensure the policy covers the buildings’ contents including equipment, tack, feed stores and other materials
- Professional liability coverage for individual trainers and consultants against allegations of professional incompetence, mistakes and erroneous advice
- Loss of income coverage if your operation is disrupted due to insured perils
- Additional special risk equine facility insurance for one-off or special events, including those held off-site
- Commercial and farm vehicle insurance
Liability for a Friend’s Horse
If anyone other than yourself is keeping horses in your facilities (for a fee or otherwise) you need to extend your farm coverage to boarding of horses. This ensures you’re covered for medical expenses, legal defense costs and any claims or settlement costs.
You also need care, custody and control coverage. This secondary type of insurance protects you from the financial burden if anything happens to your friend’s horse.
Liability for Visitors to the Farm
If one of your boarders brings a friend to your property, you’ll want to make sure you follow your province’s rules regarding those under 18 wearing a helmet and proper shoes.
But that’s just following the law. It doesn’t protect you from being held liable if your boarder’s guest gets hurt while on your property. You’ll want to make sure your liability insurance extends to cover your boarders’ friends when they’re on your property, as well as having the friend sign a waiver.
Transportation Coverage
If you will be shipping your own and boarded horses in your trailer, we would strongly recommend discussing truck and horse trailer package coverage with a Henry Equestrian insurance broker.
Contact Us Today
At Henry Equestrian, Powered by NFP, we understand horses and we want to make sure you and the horses your board are protected. Contact us today to learn more or click below for a free, no-obligation quote.