Horse riding accident claims – legal help
Horse riding in Scotland has never been more popular. Over 200,000 people ride horses every week in Scotland and there are over 100,000 horses in Scotland being used for recreation or sport.
The majority of this takes place safely but it is a sad fact that accidents involving horse riding does happen. Horse riders are also vulnerable to serious injury when involved in an accident. It is therefore essential that, if something does go wrong, victims are represented by a lawyer with an expertise in horse riding accidents.
Often as a result of an accident you may sustain personal injury; loss of earnings; if the accident happened to a child their education may be affected; you may suffer psychological injury and if riding your own horse substantial vets fees and the replacement of expensive tack and equipment such as your riding hat may leave you out of pocket.
Common causes of horse riding accidents
Car overtaking too closely
There are various ways in which an accident can occur when riding. An example would be if whilst out riding on the road, a car overtakes you too close or too fast and causes your horse to spook, either you or both you and your horse could fall and sustain injury.
Even if the car fails to stop, if you report the incident to the police or have witnesses we can help.
Riding school standard of safety
Accidents can occur whilst riding at a riding school either in an arena or out on a hack.
Riding establishments are under a duty to take reasonable care of their clients; to provide them with the correct horse for their ability, correctly fitting and safe tack, qualified and experienced instructors, a riding hat of the correct and current British Standard and a safe environment in which to ride.
Transporting horses
When you are transporting horses, this can also pose risks; for example if you are using a professional transporter you must ensure that they have the correct Certificate of Competence, and appropriate insurance.
There are many important questions you need to address such as:
- Are you going to load the horse or the transporter – what are the consequences if you do?
- What happens if you are transporting your horse with a friends and your horse injures the other or vice versa whilst in your box?
- Do you know the weight your vehicle can tow or do you need to have taken your towing test?
- Could your trailer become detached from your vehicle?
Competing
There are various ways you can suffer injury and often the cause is related to lack of/ or insufficient risk assessments by the organisers.
But it could be the behaviour of another rider and in these case investigations would be required into what insurance they had, as organisers insist on individual rider insurance.
Riding out with others
There is risk of getting kicked or bitten by another horse when out riding. Every road user has a duty to other road users which also means if someone is injured as a result of your horse kicking out, or biting, then you could be found at fault.
Low flying aircrafts
When out riding accidents can also occur as a result of Gas Guns or Bird Scarers and there are legal controls for the use of these.
Low flying aircrafts are a common cause of accidents and the Ministry of Defence take it very seriously when accidents happen as a direct result of their flying activities and have worked closely with the British Horse Society to try to avoid these.
Accident at work in horse industry
It may be that you may work in the horse industry and have suffered an accident at work. This may have been caused by lack of training or perhaps you were not provided with the correct Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).
No win, no fee personal injury solicitors
The expression “No win, no fee” is often used in personal injury cases. It is used as a way of funding a compensation claim where the accident victim does not have the means to pay for the costs involved as the case progresses.
A number of solicitors are prepared to handle personal injury cases on a “No Win – No Fee” basis but very few are able to offer their clients complete protection if the case is unsuccessful.
In that event, the client could end up being liable for many thousands of pounds in legal expenses or the case won't be fully investigated and therefore likely to under-settle.
Compensate 'no win, no fee' funding
Digby Brown has its own funding company, Compensate, which provides the funding to allow the case to be fully investigated, employ the best experts surrounding the circumstances of the accident and/or injuries sustained and where and if necessary go to court.
If for whatever reason the case is unsuccessful, Compensate pays all your legal expenses and those of your opponent – you pay nothing.
On average our clients receive over 3 times the pre-litigation offer
Because of Compensate funding Digby Brown's success rate is extremely high and on average our clients receive three times the pre-litigation offer.
In the event the case is successful, a small percentage of your damages will be deducted with VAT to pay for this service. The percentage which Compensate will charge depends on the degree of risk involved. We believe that this is the fairest method of giving clients access to justice whilst ensuring their cases are fully investigated, prepared and funded.
Don’t take our word for it, just read many of the court decisions and case studies on our website.
Beware of compensation offers which may be too good
We know you will have seen many adverts offering 100% compensation or telling you that you will not lose any of your compensation, however we believe there are a number of problems with companies that do this.
- How do they make their money if they don’t charge you anything?
- If they aren’t taking any money from you, the client, what incentive do they have to ensure you receive the right level of compensation, appropriate to the injuries you have sustained?
- Fully preparing a case, finding out exactly what happened and what the consequences of your injuries may mean in the long term, is expensive, how do they do this properly?
- If they aren’t fully preparing these cases will they just accept the first offer they are given on your behalf by the Insurance company?
- It makes simple business sense, the less work they do the higher their profit margin is - they simply have no incentive to work harder on your behalf.
- These adverts in the main are from English firms on national television which operates in a different way and therefore wouldn’t apply to a Scottish person.
We know from the many client cases we mandate from other firms of solicitors (in the main at the request of the client who is extremely unsatisfied with the service received for the other firm) that many shortcuts are taken in preparation and that the first offer received is being recommended for acceptance, regardless of the value.
Getting something for nothing is usually the first sign of poor service.
Correct level of compensation with Digby Brown
Our experience and statistics show time and time again we will achieve the correct level of compensation which will be substantially more than the insurer is initially prepared to offer.
Even after we have deducted our percentage as a success fee you will gain considerably more than you would have achieved using a 100% compensation model.
Contact Digby Brown's personal injury solicitors
We have offices across Scotland in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee, Kirkcaldy, Inverness, Aberdeen and Ayr.
For further information about no win, no fee, or anything else, call us on 0333 200 5925 or fill in our enquiry form below and someone will get back in touch with you.
Horse riding accident claims
At Digby Brown we have the expert knowledge and requisite experience to deal with both straightforward and complex cases involving horse accident claims.
We can provide you with the information and support you need by giving you expert advice on a potential injury claim for compensation.
If you have been injured in a horse riding accident then please contact us.
0333 200 5926
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Saturday and Sunday: 12pm - 4pm
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