Horse and Car Collisions, Who is at fault?

When a horse escaped from its pasture there is no telling what can happen. The worst case scenario is when they collide with a car. When this happens, who is at fault? The owner, or the Driver?


Driver v. Owner 
The driver of a car suffered damages when the car collided with a horse.  She sues the owner of the horse who counterclaimed to recover for damages for the value of the horse.
The driver stated  " horses just don't wander in the street, keeping the horse contained was under the owners own accord". 
The owner stated "the fencing around the horse was secure, some outside cause may have led the horse to break trough the fencing, furthermore the accident could have been avoided of the driver was driving the car in a safer manner".
 The drivers suit fails for lack of proof as to why the horse was in the road.  The fact that it was there was no absolute proof of negligence. The court held that there were issues of liability of both the driver and owner which prevented finding of summary judgment for either side.


In this case example no one was at fault, usually the court rules in the favor of the driver and blames the owner/facility where the horse was kept of negligence. 


Sources:
http://asci.uvm.edu/equine/law/cases/car/car.htm

Is the farm safe with "ride at own risk"?

"Ride at own risk", it seems too good to be true for some farm owners. Many are led to believe that if they place this sing up on their farm property that they are protected from getting sued if someone is hurt on their property. In actuality the sign cannot really protect the farm unless the waiver/ boarding agreement says so.
I asked Alison Rowe, Equine Attorney at Law ...

 Can a “ride at own risk” signs really protect barn owners when clients get hurt on their property? What happens if the client got hurt while not riding?
 She replied...
Yes.  Sometimes the signs can cover non-riders, depending on the language.  Boarding stables should get signed waivers and post the signs to be fully protected. Any one who enters the property riding or not should also sign the waiver.

Strangles

What is it?
Strangles is a highly contagious and serious infection of horses and other equids caused by the bacterium, Streptococcus equi. The disease is characterized by severe inflammation of the mucosa of the head and throat, with extensive swelling and often rupture of the lymph nodes, which produces large amounts of thick, creamy pus.
Horses of all ages are susceptible, though strangles is most common in animals less than 5 years of age and especially in groups of weanling foals or yearlings. Foals under 4 months of age are usually protected by colostrum-derived passive immunity.Strangles is main-tained in the horse population by carrier horses but does not survive for more than 6–8 weeks in the environment. Although the organism is not very robust, the infection is highly contagious. Transmission is either by direct or indirect contact of susceptible animals with a diseased horse. Direct contact includes contact with a horse that is incubating strangles or has just recovered from the infection, or with an apparently clinically unaffected long-term carrier. Indirect contact occurs when an animal comes in contact with a contaminated stable (buckets, feed, walls, doors) or pasture environment



Treatment

Diagnosis can be confirmed by culturing pus from the nose, from abscessated lymph nodes or from the throat of clinically affected horses.

There is argument among veterinarians as to whether or not to treat an animal with strangles with antibiotics. Many veterinarians think that treatment will impair the development of immunity and may predispose an animal to prolonged infection and to bastard strangles. Treatment of a horse in the early stages of strangles is usually effective. The medication mainly used is penicillin G. If the disease is more advanced, then most veterinarians will not use antibiotics but rather will recommend nursing care and trying to hasten the development of abscesses (which can be drained) by poulticing. Antibiotics may, however, be used if complications arise.

Coverage you should have
Major medical and mortality.  MM  policy might cover costs associated with treating horses.  Mortality would cover value of horse if it died from strangles. This is useful in case your farm has an outbreak boarders cannot sue you if there horse is infected.




Sources:
http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/livestock/horses/facts/03-037.htm

 

Insurance vs lawsuit?

Horse insurance is necessary to protect the owner and the horse from various causes, which cause financial and emotional distress. One may buy a horse for business or personal reasons. Whatever may be the reason the ownership of a horse is a significant investment of money, time and other resources. Insurance will help you to cope up with the medical emergencies and the unexpected incidents that may take place with the horse or because of the horse.
The cost of horse insurance is small compared to the cost of maintaining the horse,or paying a lawsuit. In fact, the cost of entering the horse in a show is expensive than the cost of insurance for horse. The premiums for the insurances vary depending on the age and breed of the horse, its use and its value.
There are two types on horse insurance , Mortality insurance and Major medical coverage. Mortality insurance can be purchased on its own. It is paid after the horse’s death. Most of the companies sell the mortality policies for 100 percent value of the horse. This could be the price or the current value of the horse, determined by the training costs, statements of the trainers and the show records. The age, sex and use of the animal are also considered. The mortality ranges from 3.2 percent to 3.8 percent of the value of the horse. Theft protection is also covered in mortality insurance. The amount covered in this insurance could be 25,000  to 5000 annually. This type of insurance is mainly used for Barns or any other type of equine facility.Though it is wise for horse owners to have this for their own horses too. The major medical coverage is the addition on the mortality coverage. It too can be purchased on its own. This insurance covers surgery, medical treatment and diagnostics. The percentage of the medical coverage varies with each company and has the deductible ranging from 250  to 500  per occurrence. An average cost per year is 350 per Horse. Both of these types of coverages can protect you is your horse accidentally injures someone at the barn. As we all know accidents can and will happen at times and who is to say that someone might not sue you too.
sources-
http://www.excaliburinsurance.com/Insurance.html
http://www.frysequineinsurance.com/faq.htm
http://www.westfieldinsurance.com/farm/horse_insurance.jsp

Helmet Laws, needed or not?

Some people are reckless around horses, and many end up getting hurt because of this. For those whom are not reckless can still get hurt. A helmet is one way Equine Professionals can protect themselves when dealing with a horse. Think about it you are at least one fifth or their overall body weight. if they wanted to hurt you they could and will. Head injuries are the most common cause for riders to be admitted to the hospital for an injury and even death. The head injuries usually include brain damages or injuries to the skull, memory problems, personality changes, and even epilepsy. When theses injuries occur eight out of ten riders weren't wearing their helmets. Many people feel conflicted as to weather or not there should be a helmet law effective in every state.
I sent out a survey based on 2000 NYS legislature, to 30 equine professionals and equine enthusiasts. The questions were as follows
 "Do you think there should be a helmet law in every state?"
ten out of thirty said it was not necessary to be a law but it should be enforced
twenty out of thirty said it should be a law
"  NO PERSON LESS THAN FOURTEEN YEARS OF AGE SHALL RIDE A HORSE UNLESS SUCH PERSON IS WEARING A HELMET MEETING OR EXCEEDING-(excerpt from NYS legislature in 2000), do you think that the law should be changed to all persons riding a horse shall wear a helmet?"
24 out of 30 said no it should not be all ages just those who are not adults
6 out of 30 said yes it should be changed to those of all ages
"     If you are at a barn and there is a sign posted stating “ride at own risk”, do you think that no barn should be allowed to say that without having persons involved wearing their helmets then proceeding to “ride at own risk”?"
25 out of 30 said no it falls into the risk category
5 out of 30 said yes
" Did you know ‘20% of all horse related injuries occur on the ground and not riding”, do you feel it is necessary for all persons whom enter the barn to wear a helmet, riding or not?
12 out of 30 said yes
18 out of 30 said no
The last Question wan an opinion question stating "“I already own a Bicycle helmet so why do I need another one”, what do you think is wrong with this statement."
All 30 stated that a bicycle helmet is not fit for horseback riding and cannot protect you from a horse related injury.
The last question was asked because I once had to explain to one of my students the differences in safety between a riding helmet and a bicycle helmet. A bicycle helmet could not withstand a fall from a horse or a horse kicking you in the head. a fall from 2 ft can cause brain damage and the horse elevates you 8 feet above the ground.
If you are injured when not wearing a helmet you have a 40% chance of sustaining another head injury which you will usually suffer worst than the first injury.
Since most riding injuries occur during pleasure riding all riders should know the dangers of riding a horse, anything can happen , will you be prepared for it?
source: http://www.mcshc.com/helmet_facts.htm

Slaughter.. did we help?

The issue of horse slaughter is always on the minds of toes whom love horses. We all want to protect our riding companions, therefore we shut down the Slaughter houses in Texas and in Illinois in 2006. When those plants were still open they would slaughter on average 105,000 horses for human consumption individually each year. Horrifying to think about isn't it? Well since those plants have shut down in the United Stated we stopped slaughter, right?
our riding companions now face some big challenges when dealing with this. Although slaughter was banned in the U.S., for the present, advocates and horse lovers are uniting to support the federal legislation to ban it permanently. However, this is not stopping people from shipping them out of the state to Canada and Mexico to be slaughtered there. There is now a bill being processed to help ban the trucking of horses out of the country for meat. Ya!
With all of these bills being passes some think that they have saved them from a horrible death? Are they right? Well according to Congressional Research Service, neglect and abuse has gone up. Since people cannot just ship their horses off to slaughter when they are done with them, people are not leaving their horses unattended and have them basically starve to death. A perfect example of this was right in my home town. A woman kept her horses in her garage because she could not afford to keep them at the barn any more. This went unnoticed for a while. Then a few months later the ASPCA was called and what they found was horrifying. The 2 horses were emaciated and extremely sick. this woman never let them out of the garage and was feeding them ONE BALE per month (horses normally eat that much in a day). There was nothing they Vets could do and the horses were unfortunately put down. Cases like theses have been happening all over the U.S.What I don't understand is that is they could not afford to keep them, but it seems like a much better idea to neglect them instead of sending them to a rescue facility or donating them to a college.
There are ways around slaughter and neglect, if people take the time to see this many lives will be saved!

Whom We protect.

Hello Horse Lovers!

When taking care of a horse many people think of only the basics, mucking cleaning, and of course riding. How many people actually know that a horses may not be a hobby for certain people? Not many I would assume. And how many know that one in 125 horses are abused? For those people not in agriculture they are blind to the fact that horses are abused,slaughtered and neglected each and every day. That is why there is such a thing as an equine protection law, this is to not only protect the horses but to protect the equine professionals and riders as well. When this Equine Law was established there came along organizations such as the American Equestrian Alliance,The Pennsylvania Equine Council and the American Horse Council, and many others, to not only help enforce the law but to protect those in the Equine World.

Later - Brianna