The Seven Deadly Sins Of Equine
Insurance
Tragic & Costly Mistakes Horse Owners
Make about Protecting Their Horses and Their Own Financial
Security!
COSTLY MISTAKE #1: Not Using an
Equine Insurance Specialist!
Doctors get their medical insurance from
specialists. Lawyers get their legal insurance from specialists. If
you care about your own financial protection, you must do the same!
Liability suits involving horses can drain a family and kill a
business. Huge, painful multi-million dollar claims are as common as
accidents, injuries and mishaps. The field of Equine Insurance is
complex, confusing and rapidly changing.
Action:
Be completely positive you trust your Equine Insurance to an Equine
Insurance Specialist!
COSTLY MISTAKE
#2: Relying on your Homeowner
Policy for Business Coverage
Ouch! Big mistakes lead to big claims,
big lawsuits and lots of suffering! Sure, if casual visitor gets
injured at your home, then your homeowners insurance will probably
protect you. But if you have any business operations, you
must discuss your business liability with your Equine
Insurance Specialist!
Action:
If you do have an equine business of any sort, discuss this
immediately with your Equine Insurance Specialist! The saddest
words we ever heard: “ I thought I was covered!!!”
COSTLY MISTAKE #3: A Common “Little Mistake
That Leads To Big Disasters- Failing To Have Correct Named Insured On
The Policy
It may seem like a teeny little piece of
paper work, but ‘failing to name the correct person(s) and/or
organization(s) on your policy’ may mean that you (or someone who
could end up suing you) might have NO INSURANCE PROTECTION! For
example, lets say that you operate your business under a separate
corporate name and that entity is not listed as a named insured,
your entity would not be protected under the policy. Or lets say
that you’re in business with others. You must show all the
legal entitles as named insures. Or, consider a situation where you
might rely on a business partner to obtain the insurance protection
needed and that partner failed to name you and/or your partnership as
a named insured. The result of the failure to name you and/or your
partnership is there would be no protection! There are other examples
too numerous to mention.
Action:
Immediately seek the advice of an Equine Insurance
Specialist.
COSTLY MISTAKE #4: Failing To Obtain Proper
Coverage When Caring for Horses Owned by Others
Your business insurance probably does
not protect you if board or care for animals- and one of them gets
hurt! For example, let’s assume that you’re training a $25,000
horse…then he gets hurt and needs to be destroyed. Would your
commercial liability policy cover the cost to replace the horse?
Probably not, unless you also carry an important coverage referred to
in the insurance industry as “care, custody or control”
insurance. Property not owned by you but in your care, custody or
control is excluded from the basic commercial liability policy.
So you may be reaching into your own pocket to replace that
$25,000!
Action:
Have an Equine Insurance Audit performed to make sure you have
proper-and complete-coverage!
COSTLY MISTAKE #5: Failure to Notify
Your Insurance Company on Time!
Seems like a silly ”administrative
detail”- but miss this deadline and you could miss out completely! All
Morality Insurance policies have a provision that requires you to
notify the company promptly if you horse is injured, lame or sick,
whether there is an immediate claim or not. If you don’t notify
the insurance company and later file a claim under the policy, there
is possibility coverage might be denied for failure to notify promptly
as required be the policy terms.
Action:
Be sure to review all of you Equine Insurance Policies with your
specialist so that you5r Equine Insurance Policies with your
Specialist so that you understand what your personal requirements are!
COSTLY MISTAKE #6: Failure to Notify Company
of Injury or Illness of the Horse
Owning and managing horses is such a
pleasure-that’s why we “horse people” love to do it! But…it comes with
certain responsibilities, too. One of them is to “notify the insurance
company or their authorized representative when a horse is injured or
ill.”
Check with your insurance agent BEFORE
you need to file a claim so you are prepared if and when you need to
give notice of a claim. Posting the information on the stall door of
each horse in your stable is a good idea. This may not be necessary if
one company insures all the horses in your stable. However, if you
have a stable of horses owned by others you will want to obtaining
formation about the mortality coverage carried on their horse from
each owner.
Action:
Review the above item with your equine Insurance Specialist-and is
prepared!
COSTLY MISTAKE #7: Failure to Require
Independent Contractors To Provide Evidence of Insurance on Their
Operations Conducted on Your Premises
