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At
Equine Legal Solutions, we frequently receive
calls from horse property owners asking what
they should do if they have a trainer who
wants to give lessons or train horses at their
facility.
Here is what we tell those callers.
Insurance
Every trainer, no matter how small
their business is, should have
liability
insurance.
That liability insurance should name
the facility and its owners as additional
insureds.
Contrary to popular opinion, adding
additional insureds to your policy is not
typically costly.
Horse training is a low margin
business, and insurance can be expensive, so
it is common enough for trainers to say that
they have insurance when in fact they do not.
Therefore, you should require the
trainer to provide you with proof of coverage
showing the amount of insurance and a current
coverage period, and showing you listed as an
additional insured.
We recommend that our trainer clients
have coverage of at least $1M per occurrence
and $3M in the aggregate.
In light of those recommendations,
consider whether the trainer that will be
coming to your facility is adequately insured.
Liability
Releases
Each person who comes onto your
premises should sign your
liability release.
If the trainer has their own liability
release, chances are excellent that it will
provide absolutely no protection for you.
Most trainers’ releases do not name
the facility and its owners among the parties
being released.
Even if the release does happen to name
the proper parties, it may not be well drafted
enough to be enforceable.
Furthermore, the trainer may not have
gotten around to having each client sign the
release, or they may not be able to find the
signed releases when you need them.
The only way to make sure that you are
adequately covered by a liability release is
to use your own release and keep your own
records.
Written
Agreements
For
trainers who will be regularly using your
facilities, we highly recommend having a
written agreement (separate from your regular
boarding agreement) that spells out, in
detail, the terms of your relationship.
For example, will the trainer have priority
over other users for arena time? What if
you have more than one trainer and they both
want to use the facilities at the same time?
Will the trainer compensate you for the use of
your facilities, and if so, how will that
compensation be calculated? Under what
circumstances can you terminate the agreement,
and what notice will be required?
Equine Legal Solutions offers equine
facility lease agreement forms as well as
an equine
facility use agreement form.
Impact
on Your Facility
Trainers tend to use the facilities
more often and for longer periods of time than
a typical boarder, so consider whether your
facility can comfortably handle the increased
usage, and consider its impact upon your
existing boarders.
You should have a written, posted
policy describing how competing uses of the
facilities will be resolved – for example,
what will happen if the trainer is giving a
lesson in the arena and someone else wants to
ride?
Business
Conduct and Your Reputation
This trainer will be doing business out of
your facility.
What do you know about them and how
they conduct their business?
Nothing will drive away your boarders
more quickly than a trainer who conducts their
business in a manner that is inconsiderate or
unethical.
A horse facility’s reputation tends
to be very closely tied to the reputations of
the trainers who work out of the facility.
If the trainer uses unsafe training
methods, it could also create liability for
you.
Additional Information:
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