Property, business and equine insurance for Montana ranch

[Spartacus]

Hi everyone,

A family friend has recently purchased a 20 + acre ranch in Montana, where they will be moving their horse training business. They already live in Montana, and this is their first own home. They do not train riders, only horses----mostly working ranch horses. They are looking for insurance for the property (house, barn, equipment, etc), their LLC training business, and liability insurance to cover the client horses. I don’t know anything about insurers in Montana, nor do I know about training-specific insurance in the Western world.

I’m a hunter jumper in another state. Can anyone give advice/suggestions/agent names for me to pass along?

Thanks!

[trubandloki]

I can not see why care, custody, and control insurance would be Western riding versus English riding specific.

They should reach out to whoever covers them with their current business plan to see if they will include that.

[Spartacus]

Thank you! Actually, it apparently differs based the discipline of the horse(s), according to one insurer they have contacted . Perhaps this is due to the value, or perhaps the use, of the horses.

[Bluey]

Maybe if they go to a local rodeo they can ask roping trainers there who they use for their insurance?

That would be the closest to training ranch horses for the public.

[clanter]

back in the old days we had a somewhat similar situation, we had our boarding business at our residence

There were three separate insurance policies one was the home owners for the personal property, the boarding operation was a corporation we owned (we used a C Corp for this) that leased the land and buildings/barns from us it had its liability and asset coverage , and then the company that boarded its horses here was also owned by us but was an independent separate corporation (a S Corp) which had its liability coverage The horses were insured by the owning S Corp.

We did this to ensure separation under advise of our attorney and our CPA. Each had its own banking accounts to ensure no comingling of funds

Never had a problem with any thing, just some paperwork and filing three tax returns

[Spartacus]

Thank you!

[Spartacus]

Thanks!

[clanter]

I believe need to expand some on why we did what what we did and how

The Farm corporation leased the land and buildings from us, it paid a sizable lease payment to us, this payment was not subject Social Security and Medicare (combined 15.3%), the barns and property improvements became a depreciable assets on the personal income taxes since this was a rental property rather than a sunk cost if done personally.

The corporation that owned the horses was using them in sales promotions of the business, I owned that business 100% which was very profitable, the horses were a depreciable business asset, this company had a fool for an owner who paid greatly to board its horses making the Farm very profitable.

Again both businesses paid all their taxes, filed all needed governmental documents in a timely manor and were never questioned.

Also cooperate board meeting expense are deductible business expense. board meetings were held at various horse shows.

The Farm being a C Corp did establish a scholarship program for employees and their families which was used to future our kids’ education. (We used General Motors Corp as model to set this up)

[Spartacus]

This is super helpful; thank you so much!

[findeight]

Their county Agricultural people (forget the name they are usually operating under) can probably help them set up under the appropriate state guidelines.