Question about vanning
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Question about vanning
A friend of mine had her broodmare moved from one farm to another. The person who moved the mare doesn't own one of those commercial rigs, just a two-horse trailer pulled by a pickup truck. Anyway, when they went to pick up the mare (she was in a big pasture) they tried loading her into the trailer, which was partitioned for 2 horses. But the mare, who is in-foal and fairly big, did not want to go into one of those stalls and became unruly, not only injuring herself (nothing serious, just superficial cuts to her chest and back legs) but doing serious damage to the inside of the trailer (she was not wearing shoes). She even broke her halter. Now the person who shipped this mare wants to charge my friend not only the fee to ship her, but to pay for all damages to the trailer. There was not a signed contract or anything ... this mare has been moved many times before with never a problem. Should my friend be liable for all the damage?
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Derby Lyn
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I am no expert here.. but is the driver legal to ship horses commercially? If so, the driver should have insurance to cover these types of damages. The shipper is also responsible for the horses injury-that is why commercial shippers carry insurance on your horse while in transport.
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If there was no written agreement, and no money changed hands for actually moving the mare (not gas $, but money for the service), and no one said "Hey, what happens if your mare goes bonkers and wrecks something", then I say the person with the trailer's outta luck. I saw something like this on Judge Judy before, I think.
Hi Bohemia -
It isn't a question that can be answered on a forum like this - everyone's responsible for their own actions, meaning if it is the mare's fault, her owner should pay & if it is the trailer driver's fault, the driver should pay, and if they're both partly to blame, each should pay his or her proportionate share of the damages. And if someone working for the farm had a hand in it, both they and the farm might bear some share of the responsibility.
Who is responsible is really a fact question & we don't have all the facts - did the pregnant mare act hormonally & out of character? Did the driver & farm workers try to force her onto a trailer she wasn't prepared to board for a reason that's perfectly logical to a horse, i.e., small stall, extra-large mare? Did something else happen that your friend didn't notice but that had some bearing on what happened?
They are all questions that would need to be answered if this went forward as a case before a judge - but it would probably be much less expensive to fix the trailer & come to some agreement.
We used to haul commercially and while there is insurance, it is really pricey & generally covers liability to others on the road; some times your own rig & almost never to the animals being hauled - only the big outfits who can deal with a Lloyd's of London type insurer can afford to also insure the horses on the rig because it is such a niche market. Most folks with a 2-horse are insured only so far as their personal horses are concerned by their automobile policy & have no insurance beyond that, or if they are a trainer, might have added e&o insurance to cover the horse while it is on the trailer, only if they also train the horse (hard case to make with a broodmare) because that insurance needs some kind of relationship between insured and animal to kick in.
And the truth is, it would cost more to buy the insurance than it will probably take to repair the trailer.
It isn't a question that can be answered on a forum like this - everyone's responsible for their own actions, meaning if it is the mare's fault, her owner should pay & if it is the trailer driver's fault, the driver should pay, and if they're both partly to blame, each should pay his or her proportionate share of the damages. And if someone working for the farm had a hand in it, both they and the farm might bear some share of the responsibility.
Who is responsible is really a fact question & we don't have all the facts - did the pregnant mare act hormonally & out of character? Did the driver & farm workers try to force her onto a trailer she wasn't prepared to board for a reason that's perfectly logical to a horse, i.e., small stall, extra-large mare? Did something else happen that your friend didn't notice but that had some bearing on what happened?
They are all questions that would need to be answered if this went forward as a case before a judge - but it would probably be much less expensive to fix the trailer & come to some agreement.
We used to haul commercially and while there is insurance, it is really pricey & generally covers liability to others on the road; some times your own rig & almost never to the animals being hauled - only the big outfits who can deal with a Lloyd's of London type insurer can afford to also insure the horses on the rig because it is such a niche market. Most folks with a 2-horse are insured only so far as their personal horses are concerned by their automobile policy & have no insurance beyond that, or if they are a trainer, might have added e&o insurance to cover the horse while it is on the trailer, only if they also train the horse (hard case to make with a broodmare) because that insurance needs some kind of relationship between insured and animal to kick in.
And the truth is, it would cost more to buy the insurance than it will probably take to repair the trailer.
I carry only liability and have only had 2 incidents with trailer damage and only one with a horse injury. The horse injury was significant but not life threatening and she was a broodmare, so a bad cut on the leg just needed time. It certainly not my fault. I was injured and missed sometime but I never dreamed of asking for money. I felt so bad I waited for the vet to come and take care of the horse before I went and had my self looked at.