Stable Owner Gets 90 Days to Meet Insurance Rules

Horses were available for rent Thursday at scenic River Trails Park, despite a stable owner’s inability to meet the city’s liability insurance requirements.

The Norco City Council granted Ralph Price an 11th-hour reprieve from the city’s $1-million liability coverage requirement, giving him 90 days more to find a policy that will allow him to continue leasing space at the city-owned park.

Price will be allowed to stay in business with $1 million in coverage for horses boarded at River Trails Park but only $500,000 in coverage on the rental stock, said John Donlevy, Norco’s city manager. He needs $1 million of coverage for each part of his business.

“The feeling of the majority of the council was the stable operation was of benefit to the city and the surrounding area, and they wanted to give it a chance to stay in business,” Donlevy said.

Norco requires anyone running equestrian activities on city property to have $1 million of liability coverage and to name the city as an insured party in the policy, said Ray Odell, director of parks and recreation.

But Price has been struggling for weeks to find an insurer willing to boost his liability coverage above the $500,000 he already had, after the city boosted its insurance requirement, thus threatening the survival of his popular rental service at the northern edge of the city.

Price has a string of about 40 horses available for rent, but lines often form on weekends as riders arrive to explore the trails winding through the bamboo forest that straddles the Santa Ana River in the 271-acre city park.

If the stables were to close, use of the park would be virtually shut off to people who do not own their own horses. Price pays the city $600 a month to lease the stable site, just off Hamner Avenue.

Nationwide, liability insurance has grown increasingly expensive, if not unattainable, for many businesses, professionals and governments. In Norco, Odell said, it has also forced some horse show organizers to cancel their activities in the city’s Ingalls Park equestrian center.