Eligible · W-2 employees
Standard appetite — quote & bind
- Sport horse boarding facilities
- Breeding operations
- Training and lesson facilities
- New ventures with no prior payroll
- Human-only therapeutic riding programs
Opening hours: Mon - Fri 09:00am - 05:00pm EST
Workers Compensation
Admitted workers' comp, written specifically for equine operations.
On this page
Boarding, breeding, training, lessons, therapeutic riding programs — if you employ W-2 staff to work around horses, you need workers comp from a carrier that understands the work. Available as a standalone product, multi-state, with risk mitigation tools and a return-to-work program built around the realities of stable work.
Eligible classes
Tighter than the equivalent farm carrier list — deliberately.
Workers comp is a specialism, not an afterthought. We write the operations we know how to underwrite, and we say so up front. Coverage applies to operations with W-2 employees on the payroll.
Talk to your agent
Alternative coverage paths
- Operations structured entirely around 1099 contractors
- Operations in states where therapeutic riding isn't yet available
What you get
Five things every Bascule workers' comp policy brings to the stable.
A-rated carrier paper. A claims line that rings a desk, not a call center. Tools and a return-to-work program written for stable work — because closing a claim in months instead of years is the difference between a sustainable account and a painful one.
Carrier & claimsA-rated carrier backing
Responsive claims assistance — our workers' comp claims team is reachable directly, not through a call center. Mortality and Farm & Ranch claims are handled by their own dedicated teams, so you're always routed to the specialists for that line of coverage.
New venturesFirst-time operations welcome
We'll write first-time operations, and we'd rather review a new venture before it hires employees than turn it away.
Multi-stateCoverage across state lines
We can write operations spanning multiple states — common for show-circuit and traveling-clinic businesses, where staff move with the horses and the same policy needs to follow them.
Risk mitigationTools written for stable work
Guidance and resources to help reduce workplace injuries — written for mucking out, handling green horses and loading a trailer in the dark, not generic agriculture. The line items that actually drive losses on a working stable.
Return-to-workA program built around the stable
Designed to help injured employees return to work as soon and as safely as possible. Often the difference between a claim that closes in months and one that drags on for years — for the worker, the operation, and the renewal premium.
Both. Many of our clients carry mortality, Farm & Ranch and workers' comp — and that's often the cleanest way to handle a working stable.
But workers' comp can be written entirely on its own through any of our independent agents. No requirement to bundle.
Yes. Unlike most equine workers' comp markets, Bascule will write new ventures with no prior payroll — we can write these.
Talk to your agent about the documentation needed — typically a clean description of the operation, projected payroll, and the work being done on the stable. We'd rather review a new venture before it hires employees than turn it away.
Workers' comp covers W-2 employees by definition. If your team is 1099, your agent will help you think through general liability and accident coverage instead.
We don't allow a mix of coverage. From a 1099 standpoint it's all-or-nothing — they must either all be included or none at all.
This doesn't include independent contractors that carry their own coverage (i.e. farriers, veterinarians, etc.).
Yes — for human-only therapeutic riding programs. Your agent will confirm state availability and the eligibility profile we look for.
We work with the operation, the employee and the treating clinician to identify modified-duty roles that get the injured worker back at the stable at a reduced capacity — turnout, light tack room work, office support — while they recover.
The data is consistent across the industry: claims close faster, total costs come down, and employees return to full duty more reliably when the path back is structured rather than open-ended.
This applies to W-2 employees only — volunteers are not covered under workers' comp.
Get a quote
Find a Bascule-appointed agent near you, or talk to us directly.
Workers' comp is written through our independent agents — standalone, or alongside mortality and Farm & Ranch on the same account. Call us and we'll connect you to the agent nearest your operation. Claims handled directly, not through a call center.