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FAQs About Liability
Coverages
Liability policies are available in all U.S. states except Washington, Alaska, and Hawaii.
Equine Personal Liability and Care, Custody & Control are not available as stand-alone policies in New Hampshire.
Whatever your equine activity, you should consider obtaining liability coverage.
Equine Limited Liability Laws may help you provide a defense in the event of an equine incident, but they will not prevent you from being sued. Liability policies are designed to help protect you if you are sued by a third party who is injured or whose property is damaged. The policy covers defense costs and pays claims for which you are legally liable up to the policy limits.
| 1. Equine Personal Liability |
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Many horse owners assume they have coverage for their equestrian activities under their homeowner's policy; however, this might not be true. Always double check with your agent.
The Equine Personal Liability coverage provides financial protection by providing coverage for bodily injury or property damage caused by your personal horse to a third party. Equine Personal Liability Coverage is an excellent way to provide protection for your horse owner activities whether showing, trail riding, or simply enjoying your horses in your own backyard.
For lease situations, the lessee must take out the policy, but can name the horse owner so that both parties are covered. The owner of the horse cannot be the one to take out the policy if the horse is leased out.
See the application for the available limits and premiums. Policies include coverage for up to five named horses with the option of adding more.
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| 2. Equine Commercial
General Liability Coverage |
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If you are a professional equestrian (a person who performs a horse-related service for a fee or for barter, such as boarding, instruction, training, buying/selling, breeding, officiating, organizing or hosting shows and clinics, etc), you should have an Equine Commercial General Liability (CGL) policy.
This policy protects you in the event a third party sues you for bodily injury or property damage. A third party is generally someone who is not a family member or employee. If you have employees, you should obtain workman's compensation or employer's liability coverage. Also, you should make sure that any independent contractors or vendors that work out of your facility show proof of their own liability insurance and ask that you be named as an Additional Insured on their policy.
Coverage under the CGL policy provides for defense costs and pays claims for which you are legally liable up to the policy limits. Occurrence limits are available at $300,000, $500,000 and $1,000,000. Double aggregates, triple aggregates, and excess coverage are also available.
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| 3. What is a double aggregate?
Triple aggregate? |
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The double or triple aggregate increases the amount of coverage that is available during the policy period but does not increase the per occurrence limit.
For example, if you have a $1 million per occurrence limit and select the double aggregate, the policy will pay a maximum of $1 million for any one occurrence, and a maximum of $2 million per year. In this instance, you could have two separate $1 million claims paid in the same year, or four separate $500,000 claims. But if you had a single $2 million claim, only $1 million would be paid by the policy for that occurrence. This is why you should consider excess coverage.
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| 4. What is excess coverage? |
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If you decide on the $1 million occurrence limit, with either the double or triple aggregate, you may also purchase an excess policy. This has the same coverage terms, with additional per occurrence coverage and is available in $1 million increments.
For example, you could have $1 million per occurrence, $2 million aggregate per year, and then add $1 million excess which allows you a maximum of $2 million to be paid on any one occurrence, and a maximum of $3 million aggregate paid in any one year.
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| 5. What is Equine Professional Liability on the CGL application? |
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This coverage will protect you in the event you are sued in respect of a claim directly resulting from any negligent act, error, or omission arising from your professional equestrian activities. For example, if you are a judge and make a ruling or decision to the detriment of a competitor and they sue you, this coverage provides for your defense fees and pay claims for which you are legally liable for up to your policy limits.
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| 6. What is Equine Personal Liability on the CGL application? |
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If you own or lease horses that are for your own personal pleasure or show and are not involved in your business, you can add this endorsement to your CGL policy. It protects you in the event one of your personal horses injures a third party or damages their property and you are sued. As with the other liability coverages, it will pay for your defense costs as well as pay any claims up to the policy limits.
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| 7. I own a boarding facility
and allow several independent instructors and trainers
to work here. I do not pay them, they are paid directly
by their clients. Do I need liability coverage for
this? Should I insist they have liability coverage?
Can I add them to my policy? |
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Yes, you should get coverage for the riding instruction or horse training that takes place at your facility, even if you are not directly involved. Unfortunately, if there is an accident and a rider or bystander is injured or their property is damaged, you could be sued along with the instructor even though you may have had nothing to do with causing the accident.
You should also insist that any instructors and trainers who are using your facility to conduct their own business have their own liability coverage. If they do, you should ask to be named as an Additional Insured on their policy. You should also request a Certificate of Insurance showing that they have a policy in force and that you have been named as an Additional Insured.
If they do not have their own policy, you can add an independent instructor or trainer to your policy. This will only provide coverage for them when they are working at your facility, but not if they leave your premises. If they want off-premises coverage, they should get their own policy.
Independents are paid directly by their clients and do not have anything to do with your business. Employees who are paid through your business and/or your volunteers do not need to be specifically named on the policy.
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| 8. I am an Independent Instructor
and teach out of many facilities. What kind of a
policy do I need? |
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You can get a CGL policy for your riding instruction. This type of policy will follow you wherever you teach and coach (i.e. various facilities, horse shows and events). If the dates are declared, this policy can also cover you for any clinics you may give.
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| 9. The owners of the facilities
where I work have asked that they be named as Additional
Insureds on my policy. What is an Additional Insured,
and how much does it cost to add one? |
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An Additional Insured is a person who has a connection to your equestrian activities and therefore wants coverage under your policy in the event they are sued due to your actions.
For example, an owner of a facility where you are an independent instructor could be named as an Additional Insured. If you are giving a lesson and a student or bystander is injured, they most likely will also name the owner of the facility in the lawsuit. By having the facility owner named as an Additional Insured on your policy, the policy will also provide them with a defense and pay claims up to the policy limits.
The cost of naming an Additional Insured to your policy varies with the policy limits, typically ranging from $10-20 per Additional Insured.
Please note, family members and employees cannot be named as Additional Insureds.
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| 10. I have my clients sign
a release of liability. Why do I need a liability
policy? |
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Although it is a good idea to have clients read and sign a release of liability, this does not prevent you from being sued. A CGL policy provides you with coverage for defense costs and will pay any claims up to the policy limits for which you are legally liable.
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| 11. I am a very careful person.
I have never had any incidents. Do I really need
coverage? |
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Hopefully your perfect record will continue, but unfortunately accidents can happen. Even though you may not be at fault, you may still be sued. The coverage provides for your defense fees which can be significant no matter the circumstances of the accident.
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| 12. We have an equine limited
liability law in our state. This protects me from
being sued so I don't need an insurance policy,
right? |
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Though the equine limited liability laws are a good first defense to help prevent frivolous lawsuits or a lawsuit arising from the inherent risk of equestrian activities, they do not protect you from being sued. Also, while most state equine liability laws refer to the inherent risk of riding and working around horses, they are not intended to protect you if your actions were considered negligent. Also, depending on state specifics, there may be required signage on premises, verbiage in contracts, or other state-specific needs that if not followed could void the applicability of the equine statue in your favor. We always recommend working with your attorney to ensure all state provisions are met.
As an example, if you are teaching a lesson to an experienced rider on their own horse using their own tack and they have a fall, most likely the equine limited liability law will help you as they should have understood the inherent risks of riding a horse. But if you have a new student riding a school horse and the horse is too much for them to handle or the tack is unsafe and they are injured because of your negligence by matching them with the wrong horse or not checking the tack, the equine limited liability laws probably will not protect you.
In both of these cases, at the very least you may have to defend yourself, and the insurance policy will pay for this. The defense attorney may utilize the state equine limited liability laws and the liability releases to help defend you. The policy will pay for a claim or settlement up to the coverage limits.
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| 13. I am part of an equestrian association. What type of coverage do we need? |
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Equine Clubs and Associations Liability coverage is available. This is a liability policy that protects the club and its members in the event of a lawsuit by a third party for bodily injury or property damage. The policy will pay for your defense costs as well as pay claims up to the policy limits.
The basic policy covers the organization year-round for club member-only functions and includes coverage for seven listed public event days with additional days available. A public event day is an event the organization runs, such as a horse show or clinic, to which the general public is invited. This policy covers you for the actual event days and includes days for setup and takedown. Public event days are only covered when the company is notified in advance, and they are specifically added to the policy.
You can also add Additional Insureds to the policy as necessary, such as a facility owner or landowner where events take place.
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| 14. I only want liability
coverage for one event. Can I get just a single
event policy? |
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Yes, you can purchase an Equine Event Liability policy. This will cover you for a single horse show, equestrian event, or clinic. You choose the number of event days to be covered, and coverage is also provided for setup and takedown.
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| 15. I board and train horses and someone mentioned I should look into Care, Custody or Control coverage. How is this different from the CGL policy? |
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Care, Custody or Control (CCC) is what protects you in the event a horse that is in your care that you do not own (a boarded horse, horse in training, etc.) is injured or dies, and the owners sue you because they believe you or your employee were at fault. The standard CGL policy does not cover these situations, but you may add CCC coverage to your policy or obtain CCC coverage by itself.
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| 16. All of the horses at my
barn are insured by their owners, so I don't need
CCC coverage, right? |
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Actually, you still need this coverage. If one of those horses dies and the insurance company pays the claim, but they believe you or your employee were negligent in causing the horse's death, you can still be sued by the horse owner or subrogated against by the insurance company of the horse owner. If this happens, the CCC coverage will pay for your defense and pay claims up to the coverage limits.
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| 17. I occasionally trailer
boarded horses to shows for their owners. Will the
CCC cover me for trailering? |
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The CCC policy will cover you for incidental trailering of clients' horses (i.e. to a show, clinic, veterinary hospital) if you are found negligent in causing a horse's injury or death. Coverage is available either within a 100 mile radius from your home address or nationwide.
The company does not provide coverage for any type of commercial hauling.
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Policies are available in all U.S. states except Alaska and Hawaii.
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