text: Insurance bill hope for riding stables - Wales Online
  Insurance bill hope for riding stables
  RIDING stables will today be offered a lifeline from soaring insurance bills caused by a controversial legal ruling that leaves them liable for accidents caused by "spooked" horses.
  Tory MP for Preseli Pembrokeshire Stephen Crabb is seeking to clarify the law after hundreds of riding schools had to close because of a rise in their premiums.
  Under a new interpretation of the Animals Act 1971, livestock owners can be held to blame for an accident caused by an animal bolting, even if they were not shown to be negligent.
  Mr Crabb's private Bill, which would reverse that House of Lords interpretation, gets a second reading in the House of Commons today, with Ministers understood to be sympathetic to his aims.
  The Association of British Riding Schools says that increased insurance costs have led to the closure of 650 schools in the past four years.