I know that Equine and Livestock or E&L is probably the worst.!
With all insurances you must always dot the i's and cross the t's .
all insurance companies will try to get out of paying up if they can find a fault.!
Not E&L & at the moment with the vast increase in premiums NFU aren't flavour of the month either.
There are loads of companies out there who all offer good service, just get several quotes & go for the most reasonably priced. There have been numerous posts regarding this topic, do a search & you'll find plenty to read.
I have been insured with E&L since I have owned Archie, 5 1/2 years. I have found them to be efficient. They also made a goodwill payment to me for his teeth when, at the end of the day, they did not have to. On the other hand they refused a payout to me and giving their findings and reading their reasons I had to agree with them. I didn't like it but they were in right. I had forgotten some details and they duly reminded me of them in the paperwork they held on file. Again efficient, I thought.
They do their job. No insurer wants to pay out and many will find a reason not to. That does not mean they are bad insurers, I take it as a positive that they are being thorough and in the long run my premiums will be kept relatively low because of this.
I take as I find and for now am quite happy with them. The premiums are reasonable for the cover I have.
However, if I had unlimited funds I would probably go with Petplan. This is purely because of their reputation and not from personal experience.
E&L get a lot of bad press but in my experience they have been very good.