What Does Your Commercial Equine Insurance Give You?

The Basic Insurance Types

Care Custody & Control Insurance
What it does: Protects the named insured in the event the owner of a horse under their care sues, alleging that the horse was harmed or died as a result of their negligence.

How it is sold: By number of horses, with per-horse limits. For example, you could purchase coverage for 10 boarded horses, and choose a $5,000, $10,000 or $25,000, etc. limit per horse. The cost changes based on the number of horses and the chosen limits.

“It’s an elective coverage,” DeTurk said. “Here’s a scenario: a boarded horse gets loose on the road and causes an automobile accident. It’s typically a serious accident. The car hits the horse and the animal comes through the windshield. The people in the car are badly injured, and the horse is killed.

“General liability insurance is what protects the boarding facility owner against lawsuits for bodily injury (to the people in the car) and property damage (to the car),” she explained. “Care custody and control adds coverage protection for the boarding facility in the event the owner of the boarded horse sues the facility alleging negligence in the care of the horse.”

She emphasized that, “The general liability coverage is the base of it. I wouldn’t recommend buying care custody and control without the general liability piece already there.”