does race horses have to be insured?

rk16

hi there

just wondering if anyone can help, i know someone who had a share in a race horse, it did race a good few times and won or 2nd or 3rd and a few non places, however they have been told that the horse was put down broken leg when a car hit it out working out on road way one morning, and now has been told that the horse wasnt insured.. now i dont belive this, muist add though that this share in the horse was inherited upon someone's death and they just feel like they cant do anything about it. Am i right in thinking that all horses must be insured prior to running in any race?? advice would be much appreciated.

Whyno

Its not mandatory to have them insured. But i recommend anyone that has a horse good enough to be on the track should be insured.

knighted_1

horse insurance is quite expensive but your friend is responsible for making sure his own horse or share of his horse is insured -no one elses responsiblity-just like your car insurance

however when a horse is returned in training it comes under the liability insurance that every registered race horse tainer must hold on there yard and charges -this is only third party to protect work riders stablestaff and the general public (public liability) in the event the horse injures them or causes them harm -if your horse was killed by the car you cant claim the value of the horse ,its just your loss if you havent got it insured against death or injury privately

Cantoris

Mortality insurance ranges from 4-8% depending on what it is doing. flat racing is 4% but the riskier the code it is running in, the more you have to pay. Interestingly, the Association of Irish Racehorse Owners recently included public liability over and beyond that of a trainer to cover a possible Chris Kinane situation in Ireland where a person injured by a horse may claim against the owner and the trainer. While it would be more difficult in Ireland as we have different laws to the UK, I don't think in the current climate where litigations are bound to increase, that owners want the potential expsoure. The trainers were originally against it but have now come around and the membership of AIRO has nearly doubled in only a few months.

finbarrk

Not many people insure racehorses because of the expense of it. It is 10 - 12% of their value annuallyfor N.H. anyway. And there are so many clauses in it such as the horse has to get killed on the racetrack, etc.
Just hard luck on what happened, but thats the racing game.