Crash Highlights The Need For Insurance

Without public liability cover, the rider would have faced huge costs after her spooked horse collided with a car

- Eleanor Jones

A HORSE owner who said she would have had to remortgage her house had she not had public liability insurance is urging others to ensure they have cover.

Pauline Watson’s horse Jack collided with a car after he was spooked by dogs in Durham at the end of May.

Neither the driver nor Pauline, who had fallen off, was seriously hurt. But the bill looks set to run into thousands, for which Pauline as the horse’s owner is liable.

“It’s a lesson on the importance of public liability insurance,” she told H&H. “Luckily, I have it through my British Dressage membership but if I hadn’t, I’d have had to remortgage my house.

“You think it will never happen to you but even if you never go to competitions or hack on public roads, something like this can have such huge ramifications.”