EC Drops Professional Liability Insurance Requirement

In 2019, Equestrian Canada required that all professional coaches purchased both Professional Liability and General Liability insurance. Last week, however, EC announced that most coaches would no longer be required to hold Professional Liability insurance; only High Performance (HP) coaches will still need to carry this coverage. Under this new policy, EC will only require that non-HP coaches have $2,000,000 in General Liability insurance and will only recommend Professional Liability insurance.

Rachel Huebert, Director of Sport Operations at Equestrian Canada, offered this explanation as to why the requirement was lifted:

“When the Equestrian Canada Coach Licencing program first launched, coaches were required to purchase both Commercial General Liability insurance as well as Professional Liability coverage. Equestrian Canada provided Legal Expense coverage (Abuse Legal Defence) as part of the licencing fee. Over the past 18-24 months, we received information from the community that some coaches were having difficulty obtaining Professional Liability Insurance as part of the requirement to be an EC Licenced Coach, or that their brokers were questioning the necessity of the PL Coverage.

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“We reached out to our official insurance provider Henry Equestrian, who advised us upon review, our requirement of Professional Liability for coaches other than National Team coaches could safely be removed (without adding risk to coach or participants) and that the remaining required Commercial General Liability (CGL) would be sufficient in most circumstances.

“Equestrian Canada will continue to provide Legal Expense coverage (Abuse Legal Defence) to Licenced Coaches, and still requires EC Licensed Coaches carry Commercial General Liability insurance.”

Huebert advised, “Equestrian Canada recommends every coach speak with their individual insurance broker to discuss their specific situation and customize their insurance plan based on the needs of their business and participants. EC believes coaches should have appropriate insurance, our goal in changing the requirements is to allow for coaches who do not require professional liability insurance to move forward with becoming licenced.”

The announcement has been met with disappointment by some participants, but the provinces, who administer the coaching program on behalf of EC, are not concerned.

“We don’t believe that the change EC has made to insurance requirements will have a huge impact on our coaches at this point,” remarked Kenda Lubeck, Communications & Engagement Manager of the Alberta Equestrian Federation. “Most of the coaches we talked to intend to continue their professional liability coverage, as they recognize the benefits provided. For AEF it means increasing our messaging around the importance of risk management solutions, and encouraging each individual – be it coach, student, or facility – to contact their insurance provider and choose the best option for them.”

Commercial General Liability insurance covers bodily injury and property damage claims. Professional Liability insurance covers errors and omissions that the coach may make that lead to an alleged financial loss suffered by the claimant.

Professional Liability insurance would respond to lawsuits where a coach’s professionally opinion was questioned. An example might be if a coach recommended that a client purchase a horse that ended up not performing as expected and the value of the horse decreased as a result. The client might then claim that the coach should have known better and sue for the financial loss claiming poor professional advice. As there is no injury or bodily harm, the Commercial General Liability insurance would not come into play, only the Professional Liability insurance would defend them against this action. Another example might be if a coach recommended that a client purchase a horse that was shortly thereafter diagnosed with a chronic or degenerative illness. The client might sue the coach on the grounds that they should have recommended a more extensive Pre-Purchase exam. As there was no injury, only the Professional Liability insurance would defend the coach if the client decided to challenge the professional opinion and come after them legally.

“Removing this coverage will not offer any savings to our insured coaches,” noted Mike King, a Partner at Acera insurance. “We do think that Equestrian Canada is taking the industry a step backward by not mandating that all coaches who practice in the sport be fully insured, including Professional Liability coverage. In our experience, it’s affordable, it’s accessible and there is no excuse not to have it.”

King noted that a coach insured with Acera can obtain $5,000,000 of Commercial General Liability insurance, $100,000 Professional Liability insurance, $10,000 Property insurance (to cover their tack etc.) and other coverages for a package price of $385/year. This works out to roughly $32 per month – surely a small price to pay for security and peace of mind.