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Owners are vulnerable to claims under the Animals Act

The now notorious case of Mirvahedy-v-Henley has shown that owners are much more vulnerable to claims under the Animals’ Act for damage or injury caused by their horses than was previously thought. The tragic accident of Chris Kinane has quite rightly left many owners concerned about the risk of a claim – and potentially a multi million pound claim – being brought against them by a third party for which they have no insurance protection or inadequate protection.

The indemnity for this scheme is up to a maximum of £10 million per individual claim. It applies to racehorses that are in full training, horses being prepared to go into training and horses which are out of training on a temporary basis.

Although there is a requirement for trainers to have public liability insurance, there is no mandatory requirement for that cover to extend to owners.