Public Liability Insurance

Hi,

We're competing in a BHS Trec competition at the end of the month and asked the organisers whether I could compete bitless. They said fine, but they require you to have Public Liability Insurance and they said the PLI had to cover bitless riding. I've read a little about this but can anyone tell me if normal PLI DOESN'T cover bitless riding and competing? And how easy it would be to add to a policy? I haven't got it to hand as my pony's owner is the policy holder.

Any help would be vastly appreciated!

As bitless bridles are allowed in TREC competitions and as a rule all riders need to have PLI for TREC Competitons it is interesting that they made the distinction. I do think we are going to hear a lot more about bitless bridles and insurance in the future.

The rules can be downloaded from
http://www.bhs.org.uk/content/Ods-More.asp?id=2312&pg=Competitions&spg=Information&area=7

So your Horse's owner will have to check with the insurance company, they should also check what class of use the horse is covered for as TREC is often not covered automatically in basic policies.

The major insurance companies in the UK are absolutely fine with bitless. I rang mine - NFU Mutual - about a year ago and bless them, they told me the 'bitless=no insurance' thing was an urban myth that does the rounds now and again.

Having said that, some companies aren't so enlightened and have odd caveats - for example I believe Simon Mulholland had to change insurers as his wouldn't let him drive bitless.

The only way to be sure is to ring the owner to ring the insurer and check (as Wendy says) TREC is covered in the first place and that they don't have any weird rules. Or ring them yourself but as the policy is in anothers name you might have trouble getting information (you could make a general inquiry though). I doubt the policy paperwork will mention bitless, none of them do...! I don't think you can insure something twice so if they are difficult about it it's probably best to change insurers (serves em right too )

Cheers guys!

Didn't know Trec wasn't automatically covered... dammit...

Thanks Boho. You used to be able to insure twice if you wanted I think... in fact, you could insure something that didn't belong to you, or even someone else's life, without them knowing about it!!!!! Still, that'd be a right pain in the rear end (am I allowed to use the Irish spelling of another word for this anatomical area Wendy??? That wan't v. satisfying!)... Don't feel I can ask the owner to change insurers, I'm lucky I don't have to pay for it as it is...

Where do you live?

Here in ontario we have something called Ontario Equestrian Federation. They offer insurance for a reaaaalllly good rate. It's pretty much automatically asked if you have OEF insurance.

It covers a lot of things basically for 50$ a year. Mostly this is a public liability insurance thing. If your horse hurts someone you are covered for up to 5 million. Other things (I paid for) like trailer accident, fire, barn collapse, natural disaster can be included.

We're all in the UK Sydney

Our equivalent would probably be the British Horse Society's PLI for members. http://www.bhs.org.uk/content/spt-join.asp

Might be worth getting more information - after all they run Trec! Mind you, they will probably also tell you to check your original policy.

Get the owner to give you the company name, contact no and policy number - you really need that anyway. I keep my ins details accessible to people at my yard in case something has happened to me.

... oh and what a shame you can't take out life ins policies on others... (narrows eyes at husband)

The Trec guys say BHS member insurance doesn't cover bitless... if I'm remembering right.No that we're members anyway. Have now got the policy and we're not covered for Trec either dammit!

Gonna have to fork out to upgrade 'Type of Use'... *sigh*

[quote="lightertouch"]The Trec guys say BHS member insurance doesn't cover bitless...quote]

typical joined-up thinking from the BHS there...

Lol Boho Have finally got it all sorted at a cost of £42 *sigh* Still, I can compete now!