Considerations for yard owners

Having a stable yard at home would be a dream to many.  Whether you’re lucky enough to have your own stables at home, you rent a yard away from home, or you run a livery yard, there should be no doubt that you need robust insurance in place to protect your investment.

If you have five stables, or 20, an indoor school, menage or lunge pen, every yard will look different to the next, but they are all equally as important to their owners. Can you imagine the outcome if you were broken into, or rain caused your yard to flood, or a horse was injured in your care? Would you have the financial backing in place to get you and any clients back on their feet again? 

Our specialist equestrian insurance brokers have put together some simple advice for those with stables, on what equestrian property insurance is both available and needed.

Private Yards

You might think your own property insurance will cover stables if you have them at home with just your own horses in.  However, so often not having specialist cover means you might not get the compensation or understanding you need.

Alongside covering your stables for perils such as fire, theft, flooding, and storm damage other areas can also be covered such as equestrian contents.  Did you know you can insure your yard’s contents in the same way you would insure your home’s contents? Cover for tools, jumps and equipment, saddlery, and accidental damage – which with horses around is always needed!

With the rising costs of feed, bedding and hay is it any wonder more people are choosing to make sure this is covered. Imagine the financial implications if you weren’t covered and your stockpiled hay went up in smoke, let alone the stress of them finding a farmer to replace it all.

There is so much to consider when insuring your yard and we know a lot is irreplaceable but at least by having a tailored individual plan in place you can start to get back to normality as quickly as possible.

Livery Yards

Alongside the standard insurance considerations outlined above, if you run a livery, competition or production yard as well as protecting your premises you need to consider how to best protect yourself, the horses in your care and any employees you might have. Specialist livery yard insurance should be a high priority.

Employers Liability is not only a legal requirement but is one of the most common claims* made from yards, most likely down to the unpredictable nature of horses.  This insurance covers you for any personal injury claims made against you, for instance if your groom got kicked by one of the horses in your care. It is worth noting as well that even if your employees are not paid (working on a volunteer basis), legally you must still have this cover.

You are liable for your premises, whatever the size and having the correct insurance in place means that if someone is injured on your premises or their property gets damaged, you could be covered for what otherwise could prove a very costly visit.

Within running a yard, it is likely you will receive some sort of payment for looking after somebody else’s horse. Even by bringing them in from the field you become partly responsible for their welfare and could be held liable if anything was to happen. A Care, Control and Custody policy, or policy extension, can help protect you against any claims and has become increasingly popular with full livery/competition and stud yards, where you might find yourself looking after high value horses.  

Although not a legal requirement Public Liability cover is important for those running yards as it can cover you for a multitude of claims that could arise. It could be as simple as someone walking through your yard and tripping on a piece of equipment or whilst out hacking the horse you are riding kicks and damages a car. All these scenarios could see you being liable and left open to possible compensation pay-outs if you aren’t adequately protected.

Although sometimes it can be tempting to just take the cheapest and quickest insurance option available, this doesn’t always offer you the best protection. It is likely your yard has taken years to establish itself and a lot of effort and love goes into maintaining and running it, so why settle for something that isn’t up to scratch?

At Shearwater we don’t care if you have 20 stables or two, each policy we provide is created for the individual needs of that yard. Our specialist team know equestrian properties inside out and can provide quotes which offer the protection truly needed, we can even send along a member of the team so assess your yard especially for those larger venues who might present a variety of insurance needs.