Hi
I am wondering if someone can advise me.
I am letting three friends put their shetland ponies in my field. There are three ponies and each one has an owner. The owners are going to take charge of the electric fencing and its upkeep. I am letting them use the field free. AXA has told me I must pay 7 euros a month to insure against accidents involving a third party - because I own the field. Two of the owners I know have their ponies insured. Do I need the third person to insure his or will my insurance be enough to cover any accident involving one of the ponies. It seems crazy that there will be three of us insuring for the same thing! Is there any more advice someone could give me to protect myself against a claim in the light of an injured third party? The ponies are only here for part of the year. Does any one know an insurance company that will insure for short periods? Axa do it on a yearly basis. Thanks!!
Lovely.
Yes I cant wait!!
Thankyou for the reply. Can you tell me how to contact fabien? I see half the email - @fabien but several come up when I tap this in?
Top left of the page is an insurance tab for Fabien, it gives you all his services and contact details
and as @fabien has been tagged, he will be notified about the topic and usually provides a response once he gets to his desk.
Hi Fiona,
Iâll answer each topic individually. The first one is the possibility of temporary insurance. Although technically doable, the premium is way too low for it to be profitable so no one will do this and all policies or options will be on a yearly basis.
In regard to the need for insurance for each party, yes everyone needs to be insured: you for having ponies on your field, them for âtheir belongingâs third party insuranceâ in that particular case the ponies, and donât forget the fence, even if built by others thatâs on your field so you need to insure this as well (public liability) mostly if itâs electrified (if not thatâs just part of the standard land insurance probably already included on your home&content insurance).
You should make sure everyoneâs pony is insured before accepting it on your land otherwise the blame will fall back in you (with twice the strength) in case anything goes wrong.
Finally the fact that âthree of us insuring for the same thingâ. Well youâre not really insuring the same thing. Sure youâre insuring the same âitemâ but not for the same risks or level of risks. This is your land so anything that happens on it is your responsibility (yes, even if the guys on it are burglars), if something on your property is not insured and if something happens then thatâs straight to big trouble and potentially to court so this is no joke. You should know that if anything happens to the poney then they can blame you (even if things go well right now Iâve seen a situation similar to yours were the landlordâs dog bite a horse which turned into an infection and they had to put the horse down⊠I guess you can imagine how it ended? A clue: they were not friends anymore and didnât hi to each other in trial).
The 3 ponies need to be insured by each owner just in case they damage your property or others (and again, even a burglar). If someone walks onto your field and get rammed by a pony (highly unlikely but still possible) then the first person thatâs going to be sued is you⊠without insurance you would be considered at fault immediately so you want to avoid that. Then if youâre insured and your friends arenât the blame will fall back on you (because you didnât check they were insured so theyâll consider thatâs your fault) and you would not be insured for that particular âuse of the poniesâ so you would not be covered and therefore, back to big troubles.
Sorry about the long read but itâs important to understand the technicalities of this to get a better understanding of why we ask for insurance for each. Itâs also why sometimes you want to help and âitâs okay if weâre not insuredâ but you would be the only one at risk as in France the owner bears the full responsibility if there is an insurance gap.
Let me know if you have any other questions?
I notice that nowhere has the health of these three ponies been mentioned. Have they been wormed etc.
I think it is important that all three owners and yourself know that the health of these ponies is up to scratch before they share a field.
You do say that they will not be on the land all year round, but land can get âhorse sickâ if it is only ponies or horses kept on the same piece of land.
Also who will be going round doing the picking up?
For ridding most people take a licence FFE. Thats a copy of a page of my licence
. My protection civile included in my house insurance covers me for other aspects Ă©quin if they escape for exemple and trash the vines or hit a car ! Plus the horses are mentioned in my house insurance policy.
I am also registred as a horse Keeper with the Haras National. They need to know where horses are in case of outbreaks of diseases. They are also allowed to come and check they are looked after properly ie Shelter, food drink and can ask for dates of last worming product given.
Look at the Haras National website also they are very clear if you phone them up.
Most people ask owners to sign a contract which sets out who is responsable for what. If one is sick and you cannot contact the owner and you call out the Ă©quin vet, who pays the bill for exemple?.
Good Luck.
I think Fiona has had good advice so I hope everyone wonât mind if I ask a related question which her question and @fabienâs answer has alerted me to.
I have a long term foster dog living with me, the latest of many. I pay for his food and supply all his other needs, apart from vet costs, just as if he was mine and I assume that he is covered in the normal way (not being legally âdangerousâ) by my own house insurance. But should I make sure that he is also covered by the rescue association that owns him too?
Youâre the textbook example of perfectly insured, great job 
Morning David, cats & dogs are almost always automatically covered on the home insurance policy but that wouldnât hurt to double check just in case youâre in the 1% or 2% of the policies that donât cover that.
In terms of dogs, all breed are covered except for â1st & 2nd category dogsâ (chien de 1Ăšre et 2Ăšme catĂ©gorie) which are basically attack dogs. They need to be separately insured.
Technically speaking, if the dog isnât yours (not adopted and no vet bills under your name) then youâre not really liable for him/her but this a legally blur area so better safe than sorry and I would advise insurance anyway although itâs probably already included on your home insurance.
Kind regards,
Thank you Fabien, I do know that my own dogs are covered by my multi risque but may I take small issue with you regarding âdangerous dogsâ?
Until he died 18 months ago at 12 and a half years of age, my gentle Rottweiler, Boss, was required to have separate insurance, which was difficult to obtain and very expensive when I managed it, despite being not an âattack dogâ of categorie 1, but a garde dog of categorie 2.
indeed
Not quite correct,2nd category dogs (defense) do not come under household insurance either. I have Rottweilers and have to provide numerous paperwork including confirmation of rabies vaccine to enable me to be covered.
Yes David quite correct. My boys are insured separately however, I found an insurance company that issues the certificate of insurance free of charge within your main insurance for the house, Groupama⊠I also insure the land and horses for responsibility civil and insure my car, so donât know if this is why zero charge.
Yes, I was merely pointing at the fact that dogs from a certain âcategoryâ are not covered by the home insurance but as Iâm seing many comments about this Iâve edited my answer to avoid ambiguity 
And Iâve also confirmed Davidâs statement 
I wish Iâd found Groupama, but I am almost sure I did and got no joy. If you got a deal from them very well done. I had been insured for everything for years with Aviva and asked them to cover Boss, but they said only if he was level 1 of âdangerosityâ. I went to 2 vets, the first canât have thought he was dangerous as she asked me to let him off the lead un-muzzled in the public road outside but still gave him level 2. Thus Aviva refused point blank. The 2nd vet commented how gentle he was and definitely would be level 1 but then, when the documents came though the post. Level 2 again. I got the distinct impression that both of them did not have the courage of their convictions. Eventually a firm called ECA agreed but only if I took out complete insurance for him at âŹ300 pa. 
I had no choice, I needed it to get the attestation from the Maire, but when the documents came through the actual cost of his 3rd party, the only thing I wanted (I have never insured my dogs, mainly because they have all been older and I have preferred to pay for them myself at the vets), was only âŹ60 pa. Total rip off.
I didnât renew for the 2nd year and hoped that the Maire did not come to check, he didnât, but then he had come to the house, met the dog and knew full well that he was no threat to anything, neither man nor beast. Even a stray cat came into the house one day and, after staring at each other for a minute, both advanced to touch noses. 
Itâs a shame the Rottweiler breed is frowned upon in France, Iâve had them for 40 years, and my choice of breed in the right hands. The last 2 Iâve had were destined to be put down, as they couldnât be placed so I took them in. The owners were ordered by the Judge to hand them over. They have been rehabilitated and both scored 1 (the best) when they went for their evaluation, which is mandatory, and think thatâs what you were referring to? You also need a certificate of Dâaptitude which will be given entitling you to keep dangerous dogs 1 and level 2 (Rottweilers) after completing a course and considered competent to handle them. The Mairie will then issue an authorization to keep the animal after seeing the passport with chip and confirmation of the rabies vaccination. All this is needed for the insurance so if you didnât get that lot that may be why you paid so much. Incidentally, we returned to the UK winter last and stayed at my sonsâ, my boy adapted well and loved his walks in the forest meeting up with others, all were friendly and he loved the cuddles. Here, Iâm given a wide berth and French friends (not all) will only visit if I put him out the back, they are petrified. Luckily I have a lot of land so he can have a run. I donât take him to public places here other than in the car as they have to be muzzled which he hates.