| Q:
My husband and I have a small horse property and keep
our 3 horses at home. Eventually,
I would like my friend of many years to bring her 2
horses to live here as well. Because she would pay to
keep her horses here, would I need to carry all the
liability insurance that a boarding stable would? Does
is make any difference if she were to pay just the cost
of keeping her horse here, and we didn't make any
profit?
A: Any
time that you are charging someone to use your property,
your regular homeowner's insurance probably will not
cover your liability associated with that use. However,
you should definitely check, as it could save you money
if your homeowner's insurance does cover your home
boarding situation! Unfortunately, whether you are
making a profit or just covering your costs is
immaterial when it comes to liability. Even 501(c)(3)
non-profit businesses have liability for their actions.
However,
because your boarding operation will be extremely small,
the price of care, custody and control and general
liability insurance will probably be quite affordable.
You may wish to build the cost of that insurance into
what you are charging for board, as it is an expense
that you would not have if you were not boarding someone
else's horse. Even though you may be confident that your
friend will never sue you, she will have friends over to
ride, see the horse, etc. and something could happen to
one of those folks.
You may
wish to review the insurance page at Equine Legal
Solutions for more information on choosing equine
insurance products.
In
general, I advise my clients to take a belt and
suspenders approach to running a horse-related business,
no matter how small - have agreements in place to cover
the situations you can anticipate and then have
insurance to cover the situations you can't anticipate.
The first step is to put good quality written agreements
in place and make sure they are consistently executed.
Even with a close friend, a written agreement that
covers the roles and responsibilities in the boarding
relationship can go a long way toward preventing
misunderstandings, thereby helping to preserve your
valuable friendship. I'd also suggest obtaining a
liability release for visitors, so that when your friend
brings others onto the property, she can have them sign
this release. For more information about boarding stable
agreements and liability releases, visit Equine Legal
Solutions.
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