If a young person wants to teach the occasional riding lesson, or exercise some horses for me, do I need to have insurance for the person? If they are an amateur, must the be registered with USEF as a professional? Are they responsible for their own insurance?
Likely Yes. You are getting paid for a service, so if someone you are teaching gets hurt, you could be considered liable. We have our liability insurance through Capri (in Canada) as they offer discounts based on association membership. I would see who your local association recommends.
If I am representing the stable, as a trainer of theirs - who would be liable?
I have an assistant who ONLY teaches here, so she is covered by our commercial insurance, but if she teaches anywhere else she would not be covered here. As you teach at multiple locations, I think the same would apply. Likely if someone sued based on an injury (their insurance company or themselves) they would sue both you and the barn depending on the situation.
Ok thanks
[QUOTE=jumper528;7537114]
Ok thanks[/QUOTE]
You both get sued, and the one with deep pockets pays. Get insurance - it’s cheap and well worth the cost
I decided to buy liability insurance when I began to accumulate assets - a car that was not a junker, a house, etc. Prior to that, someone who was injured on my watch could have sued me but wouldn’t have gotten much. When I got older I didn’t want to risk losing my house over some lesson kid going kerplunk off her pony and breaking her arm…and when there is an accident, the insurance companies try to hold as many parties liable as possible. Didn’t want that to be me!
You need liability insurance. Mine is underwritten by American Bankers Insurance Company through a local agent. As others have said, an injured party will sue everyone involved. Protect yourself!
What company do you believe provides the best policy and service?
Yes. You need liability insurance and also a very well written general release that you have every student or their parent sign. If you are representing a stable, you are still the one who would have committed an alleged act of negligence, so you would be sued personally as well as the stable. Get your own insurance and have those releases signed.
I recently ran across a case where barn owner was held liable for the “negligent” hiring of a (negligent) instructor…
