Buying/insuring a 19 year old horse

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My friend has found the horse of her dreams but he is 19. Do you think that is too old? (she only wants to hack). He appears to be in excellent health but she will of course have him checked over by a vet first. Question for those with oldies, is it possible to insure a 19 year old horse, are there any exemptions due to age and which insurers would you recommend please?
 
you can get veterans insurance - my 20yo is with AFI at £23/month. the only downside is he's only insured for £1500 when he's worth more.

as long as he's sound and in good nick, i dont see anything wrong with buying an older horse
 
As said, yes you can insure - do some research. Some companies will insure for illness up to a higher age limit than others. 19 is getting on a bit BUT it depends entirely on what the person wants the horse for. 19 is certainly not necessarily ready for the scrap heap either. My horse will be 20 this year - I have had him since a 4 yo and he's and done a fair bit competing wise and is still going strog and full of himself. I actually had him 2 stage vetted aged 18 as requested by Petplan as i wanted to add vets fees cover to his insurance and the vet found nothing that he needed to note on the vetting.

If your friend thinks this is 'the one' then they should go for it. If he's got a track record of being sound then there's no reason why he shouldn't carry on that way. Any horse of any age can go wrong andin some ways if an older one has had no problems in some ways i think that says there's probably less chance of them having any soundness issues.
 
My 19 year old is insured with Pet Plan, they seemed to have the best cover we could find for older horses.
 
I also have a 19yo insured with PetPlan. If you take out cover before the horse turns 20 they provide veterinary cover for illness up to the age of 25. Most insurance companies will only provide 'veteran' cover if the policy is taken out when the horse is 16 or over. Veteran cover only provides veterinary cover for visible injury and excludes illness.

I was with NFU, had I stayed with them they would have provided veterinary cover for illness up to the age of 25 as I'd taken out the policy before my horse turned 16. I changed to PetPlan as the NFU premiums were getting rather expensive despite never having to make a claim.

If you go to the PetPlan website you can get a quote online.
 
If it is already insured you might be able to continue with that company. If not NFU might be worth a try.
 
i insured mine with petplan at 18-19ish, they did a cover where if u insured before 20 vet bills would be covered untill 25, i think anyway?? although i did have to make a small claim the first yr and now had gone up every year since!! pony now 22 but still competing and hunting regulary!
 
Interesting Carow, i had mine with NFU since he was 14 and when he reached 20 they would only insure him for accidental injuries and public liability etc. although I had only had one claim previously.
 
alma said:
Interesting Carow, i had mine with NFU since he was 14 and when he reached 20 they would only insure him for accidental injuries and public liability etc. although I had only had one claim previously.
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Yes...I was surprised as I thought illness cover would stop at 20 but when I phoned the local office I was told 25 years. Perhaps they got it wrong??
 
I have my 21 year old insured with Petplan Equine. He is covered for illnesses and injuries up to the age of 25 because I insured him with them before a certain age, but I can't remember what that age is because I bought him as a 12 year old and I've always been with them. Most companies will only insure for injuries - not illnesses after the age of about 20, so please check the policy first. If Petplan will accept you, they are quite pricey, but I've had quite a few claims with them and never had any problems with them.
 
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