Do i consider cancelling my Horse Insurance and just get rider/public liability insurance?

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PONYPC

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Good morning, my horse has just turned 18 years old and my insurance has gone upto to £121 a month. He did suffer from laminitus last year which i did not claim for, but he had a big leg op 5 years ago that i did claim in full on, so he may only have 2 legs covered now. If they only pay upto the first £5,000 and he is at an age where we are just hacking and schooling now, i guess i am only insured for £3,500 a year if i am already paying almost £1,500 for cover a year. Has anyone else just decided to put the money in he bank just in case of an issue? As cover seems to be diminishing as the premium continues to rise?


many thanks
 
He won't be covered for laminitis, even if you didn't claim, as it would be a pre-existing condition at renewal. If you could afford a large vet bill in a couple of months time, I'd cancel. If you can't, I'd put that in place beforehand as it would be sod's law to have something happen. I have an emergency credit card for this purpose as my ponies were old, so not insurance and the ones I have now are just essentially pets. I'd hate to have to choose whether to treat something purely based on cost, so I'd always have some means of paying.
 
would you go through colic surgery (which would need more than 5K anyway)
do you want every minor problem to have every vet exam and test possible or are you prepared, at his age, to give them rest and a bit of time to start with
do you have a credit card with a spare available balance of 5k or more. (not expecting you to answer that publicly)

£1500 for the first year would pay for some vet treatment (other that routine stuff)
whatever you claim for now will no doubt be excluded so your cover will be even less for next yr, the year after etc.

I don't insure but I could pay whatever I decided to having saved.

ETA this question has been asked many many times before if you search. The answer has come down to every person and their horse being different with different financial circumstances and different views as to what they would treat and how much insurance would reassure them and make them happy. You have to work that bit out first. :D
 
I went halfway and opted for accidental only cover. I get external injuries, public liability personal accident, tack and death, theft straying for £18 a month.

However I had a lot of exclusions so not much covered with a full policy.

At 18 you may soon be moved to a veteran policy which could be the time to look at other options
 
Would you put him through colic surgery or leg surgery, if the answers no its probably not worth it. I would save the money and use a credit card and shift the bill to a 0% deal for a big bill. The biggest bills for my oldies are vaccs and teeth that insurance wouldn't cover. I had one on Peroglide and that would have worked out at £350 a year.
 
meleeka said:
He won't be covered for laminitis, even if you didn't claim, as it would be a pre-existing condition at renewal. If you could afford a large vet bill in a couple of months time, I'd cancel. If you can't, I'd put that in place beforehand as it would be sod's law to have something happen. I have an emergency credit card for this purpose as my ponies were old, so not insurance and the ones I have now are just essentially pets. I'd hate to have to choose whether to treat something purely based on cost, so I'd always have some means of paying.
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paddy555 said:
would you go through colic surgery (which would need more than 5K anyway)
do you want every minor problem to have every vet exam and test possible or are you prepared, at his age, to give them rest and a bit of time to start with
do you have a credit card with a spare available balance of 5k or more. (not expecting you to answer that publicly)

£1500 for the first year would pay for some vet treatment (other that routine stuff)
whatever you claim for now will no doubt be excluded so your cover will be even less for next yr, the year after etc.

I don't insure but I could pay whatever I decided to having saved.

ETA this question has been asked many many times before if you search. The answer has come down to every person and their horse being different with different financial circumstances and different views as to what they would treat and how much insurance would reassure them and make them happy. You have to work that bit out first. :D
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Yes thank you, i have always allowed for plenty box rest if slightly off and time off and always warm up for an exstended period. After a 10k claim 5 years ago, and paying the balance, i guess i would always pay and go without a holiday or whatever ect, i guess they are family. So Colic would be the only real claim i could be making on the insurance, so i guess i am on the cusp and may look at accidental cover as someone mentioned. Thank you
 
I have public liability only, I stopped cover at 16 when the price went through the roof. I'd had her 8 years by that point so knew she wasn't prone to fighting with other horses or deliberately putting herself in harm's way.
 
I stopped insuring both my big horses (both now deceased) for vets fees at 16 when what the insurance company would cover was materially reduced compared to what I was paying in premiums (due to their age rather than previous claims). Now I have current non-ridden/companion ponies and insure them public liability only too - one is 14 and one is 22. I have had a couple of vets bills over recent years which have come out of my savings (effectively what I've saved in not paying annual premiums), and I am at peace that anything major requiring thousands of pounds of investigations or e.g. colic surgery would be a PTS decision instead.

I am aware you can get catastrophe cover these days, but its nothing something I have looked at so don't know how this compares to costs of policies covering all vets bills.
 
94lunagem said:
I am aware you can get catastrophe cover these days, but its nothing something I have looked at so don't know how this compares to costs of policies covering all vets bills
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OP said they were paying £121 a month, I'm paying £18 with seib. There are options with Harry Hall and WHW which were cheaper.

I cancelled my bhs to membership get public liability which is currently£8.50.
 
My rising 2 year old is insured (he currently loves to stick himself in places where he should not go but the daft lad is yet to learn apparently....) but my retired 19 year old I don't have insured and with both my boys anything that requires thousand's of pounds of investigations with no certainty of a favourable result/ anything colic/ broken limb would be an immediate PTS....I've been at the heartbreak of watching a horse recover fully from colic surgery only to shatter his shoulder in the recovery stable - a total freak accident but it was a possibility that sadly came true none the less :(

Edited to add - I have some small savings and an emergency credit card with a realistic credit limit on there (£6,000 for anyone who is wanting to know) and that's what I use if needed. It also helps bring the good ol' credit rating up/stable (pardon the pun!) when (I would say if but let's be honest - horses are the masters of self maiming and various other insane injuries!) it gets used :)
 
I didn’t use my mare’s insurance until she was over 18.
To date: kissing spines probably £4k
Hocks: £2500
Nodule in stomach: £5000
All in the past two years!
 
At all costs you MUST keep your public liability cover .PLEASE , just dont even go there ! Seen It happen ,seen the accident .New horse ,not covered , jumped a car lenghthways !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Mine is £150ish a month but the horse is in quite a high activity category, early to mid teens horse.

I guess you need to ask yourself honestly,
What would you put the horse through?
How would you afford it?

It’s easy to say we wouldn’t treat if over £1000, £2000 etc and imagine something with low recovery odds but what if it’s something very treatable but expensive? I had a horse cut its foot in the field, no idea how, that was £1400 in total after a vet hospital stay of a few days after it got too infected and he needed iv antibiotics. Ironically the horse had just been turned away to be retired but there was no way I could PTS over a cut foot. The bill would have been considerably more (atleast double) if I hadn’t of been able to bring horse home and ‘hospitalise’ at home early on - I’m an RVN - and if my farrier partner wasn’t around as it required a hospital plate later on and corrective shoeing to stop the heel collapsing whilst the large gauge healed.

Also the horse is still in work, at some point something is likely to happen to mean the horse becomes retired, perhaps lameness or a change in performance. Are you willing to accept this and retire or would you like to investigate so you can manage the condition to potentially keep riding longer or manage throughout retirement?

Just playing devils advocate.
 
SOS said:
Mine is £150ish a month but the horse is in quite a high activity category, early to mid teens horse.

I guess you need to ask yourself honestly,
What would you put the horse through?
How would you afford it?

It’s easy to say we wouldn’t treat if over £1000, £2000 etc and imagine something with low recovery odds but what if it’s something very treatable but expensive? I had a horse cut its foot in the field, no idea how, that was £1400 in total after a vet hospital stay of a few days after it got too infected and he needed iv antibiotics. Ironically the horse had just been turned away to be retired but there was no way I could PTS over a cut foot. The bill would have been considerably more (atleast double) if I hadn’t of been able to bring horse home and ‘hospitalise’ at home early on - I’m an RVN - and if my farrier partner wasn’t around as it required a hospital plate later on and corrective shoeing to stop the heel collapsing whilst the large gauge healed.

Also the horse is still in work, at some point something is likely to happen to mean the horse becomes retired, perhaps lameness or a change in performance. Are you willing to accept this and retire or would you like to investigate so you can manage the condition to potentially keep riding longer or manage throughout retirement?

Just playing devils advocate.
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Whether you insure or not, you should have something in place for emergencies, insurance often doesn't cover everything and payouts are capped. If you couldn't find £1400 for a vet bill, perhaps you shouldn't have a horse?
 
marmalade76 said:
Whether you insure or not, you should have something in place for emergencies, insurance often doesn't cover everything and payouts are capped. If you couldn't find £1400 for a vet bill, perhaps you shouldn't have a horse?
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Perhaps you need have another read? I did pay £1400 for the vet bill, but as I had insurance I was able to claim it back.

Many people on the post mentioned they got to a point they may not put their horse through certain surgeries or big bills. I was pointing out that even fairly minor injuries can quickly add up.

Out of interest what amount should people have in their bank account waiting for vet bills - according to you of course - and therefore making them eligible for a horse?

I have insurance for the big bills but hey if you’re flush for cash you’re always welcome to send some this way ;)
 
SOS said:
Perhaps you need have another read? I did pay £1400 for the vet bill, but as I had insurance I was able to claim it back.

Many people on the post mentioned they got to a point they may not put their horse through certain surgeries or big bills. I was pointing out that even fairly minor injuries can quickly add up.

Out of interest what amount should people have in their bank account waiting for vet bills - according to you of course - and therefore making them eligible for a horse?

I have insurance for the big bills but hey if you’re flush for cash you’re always welcome to send some this way ;)
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You wanted to play devil's advocate and I'm game.
It was a collective you, not you personally, you clearly stated that you paid your bill. £1400 is not a particularly big vet bill by today's standards so yes, I'd expect most horse owners to have the means to come up with that sort of sum, horses are expensive, we all know that, and we all know that they could find ways of hurting themselves in a padded cell but with premiums in the £100s and caps on payouts, you're (and that's a collective you're) just as well saving it than lining the pockets of an insurance company.
 
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