Do you have horse insurance or just BHS membership?

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crystalclear

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Hi all

All of my horses are fully insured but I've been having a look round google recently and some people done have separate horse policies but just the BHS Gold membership insurance so public liability and such. Which raises the question is it worth having separate horse policies? Of course they cover vets bills and such but is it true that if you claim for something eg some kind of leg damage, then either your policy goes up or they won't cover that leg at all or the leg for that type of injury again?

Thank you in advance
 
I have seperate horse insurance, I want it mainly for vets fees. It's true that once they have claimed for something, I.e cushings, at the end of the year, or amount limit (which ever is reached sooner), the condition will be exempt from cover.
 
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I also have BHS gold membership which gives me third party liability, death and dental cover.

My youngster has separate insurance for vets fees and loss of use. The older horse in not insured.

I suppose its down to what you can afford to pay for vets bills....and yes insurance companies are very quick to exclude, but that is the risk you take.
 
I have savings to cover vets fees as I am a control freek and want to decide if/how/when/ by whom the boys are treated rather than be bound by insurance co's rules. I also want to be able to make quick decisions not have to wait to talk/agree with insurance co.
 
Only have bhs for the third party cover. If something goes wrong with one of the ponies then I will hit the savings or a credit card. Insurance was costing around £450 a year per pony, that's £900 for my two riders without even looking at paying out of the youngsters! Cheaper to insure my beemer!
 
I am a gold member so have the BHS cover only. He was insured but on the two occasions I had large vet bills they both came in at just under the excess, so I didnt get the benefit of the insurance company but still had the cost. I guess it depends on your personal situation and the money you pay on annual insurance cover can still be put aside in case of vets bills.
 
As a multiple horse owner, and having paid out thousands in the past in premiums but not having had to claim (fortunately) or not being able to claim because of an exclusion, now I just have BHS Gold membership. I've had 2 vet bills recently but both would have been just under the excess and as both were for colic, which she had had previously I doubt if any insurance company would have paid anyway.
I am in a position to be able to pay any vet bills that we are likely to incur though. I shall not be putting any of our horses through invasive surgery followed by prolonged box rest.
 
I have both with vets fees of up to £5,000 and despite a couple of claims in the £250 ish region over the years, there are no exclusions on my insurance. After the last incident I was surprised that there wasn't an exclusion as it was a leg injury, but the horse recovered completely and went on to carry on showing and doing everything he did before, so I put this down on the annual insurance update and it all went through OK.
Luckily the injury occured in the winter and the insurance wasn't due until the following autumn, so I could say truthfully that he had done a full showing season in between.

Every year I ponder about continuing and I have cut down on the cover. The older he gets the more likely it is that the insurance will be needed!

Whether to insure a horse or not is always going to depend on your individual circumstances.
 
Pearlsasinger said:
As a multiple horse owner, and having paid out thousands in the past in premiums but not having had to claim (fortunately) or not being able to claim because of an exclusion, now I just have BHS Gold membership. I've had 2 vet bills recently but both would have been just under the excess and as both were for colic, which she had had previously I doubt if any insurance company would have paid anyway.

I am in a position to be able to pay any vet bills that we are likely to incur though. I shall not be putting any of our horses through invasive surgery followed by prolonged box rest.
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As above. We have 10 horses and it's just not financially viable to insure them all individually. Can't understand why insurance Cos. can't come up with some kind of block policy for multiple horse owners.
 
I have both. My two younger horses are fully insured (£5000 vets fees cover) but it wasn't worth continuing to insure my two older ones - because of their age the vets fees cover was reduced to external injury only and the premium was almost as much as the cover so I just want them covered for public liability which I get with my BHS gold membership.

And yes OP, any injury to, say, a leg will be automatically excluded when the insurance renews. Some companies will exclude the whole leg while some will be more specific with the wording. Not sure how it works with something like colic though.
 
Orangehorse said:
I have both with vets fees of up to £5,000 and despite a couple of claims in the £250 ish region over the years, there are no exclusions on my insurance. After the last incident I was surprised that there wasn't an exclusion as it was a leg injury, but the horse recovered completely and went on to carry on showing and doing everything he did before, so I put this down on the annual insurance update and it all went through OK.
Luckily the injury occured in the winter and the insurance wasn't due until the following autumn, so I could say truthfully that he had done a full showing season in between.

Every year I ponder about continuing and I have cut down on the cover. The older he gets the more likely it is that the insurance will be needed!
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Have you checked your policy wording small print? A friend of mine was surprised her insurance company hadn't put an exclusion on hers this year as she'd had hefty vets bills and she phoned them to check and they said no exclusions but the T&Cs of her policy state that pre-existing conditions are automatically excluded (which another call to her insurer confirmed).
 
My horse always has been insured however as a result of several big claims, 5k psd , a stifle injury and collateral ligaments, £800 sarcoids, 3k hobday and tie back the excesses on my policy now exclude all tendons and ligaments on all 4 limbs ( even the unaffected limb ) all sarcoid, both stifles, and all issues concerning his wind it is no longer worth insuring!

The premium asked was still £780 annually . So did not renew.
Am a member of British eventing though, so covered for public liability.
 
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Thank you all so far, lots of interesting information. Would be interested in how colic works with the insurance. At what age does the horse get to when they lower the insurance?

So the BHS membership would cover any horse you own for third party liability for when you're riding it or if thy (god forbid) escape from the field and cause any damage? All of mine are insured for vets fees and such, I go through a very good broker and I'm paying £100 per month for 4. 2 are in the class for competing etc, how would this affect us if thy had BHS insurance only?
 
It was to event him ( surprisingly after suffering all that he is still able to ) but still ridiculously high, and yes I believe BE cover is very similar .
 
I have three horses and only BHS Gold. I won't stint on calling out the vet if needed, and would take a view on whatever happened and the treatment required. My four year old I would pay out pretty much anything for, whereas the 21 year old and 2 year old despite being dearly loved I would think twice on spending a fortune on.
 
I have BHS Gold only. I used to have full insurance but after claiming £5k, I had so many exclusions and he is getting older. He has laminitis and cushings -all of which are excluded. Generally he looks after himself, he is at the age that I wouldn't put him through any operations and most vet visits are less than his excess.
 
I've just changed my horse to a veteran plan, I was going to drop the insurance completely as she is near 19, has cushings, arthritis, an on going anaemia/viral issue but just could not bring myself to do it even though I do have BHS Gold. She has 1k vet cover which is fine as I would not put her through any massive surgeries or conditions requiring box rest because she is a chronic weaver so not a good recovery prospect.
 
Both for me. We have footpaths across the ground so the BHS cover gives peace of mind should anything happen. Riding horse and one of the 2 year olds are fully insured.
 
crystalclear said:
Thank you all so far, lots of interesting information. Would be interested in how colic works with the insurance. At what age does the horse get to when they lower the insurance?
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My insurer excluded colic surgery from age 19 years and then the following year only covered for up to £600 vets fees for external injury. But worth phoning around because I think it probably varies between insurers (if I'd known they were going to do this I might've looked into changing before they were 19 but TBH I wouldn't put an oldie through colic surgery anyway).

crystalclear said:
So the BHS membership would cover any horse you own for third party liability for when you're riding it or if thy (god forbid) escape from the field and cause any damage?
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Yep, any horse owned or ridden by the insured is covered.
 
Buddy'sMum said:
Have you checked your policy wording small print? A friend of mine was surprised her insurance company hadn't put an exclusion on hers this year as she'd had hefty vets bills and she phoned them to check and they said no exclusions but the T&Cs of her policy state that pre-existing conditions are automatically excluded (which another call to her insurer confirmed).
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Well, I suppose I shall have to wait and see! I don't think it is a "pre existing condition" as there was no tendon strain. Just have to keep my fingers and toes crossed.
 
My youngster has insurance as well.

but I've just cancelled my mares, she's 28, I've had her 13 yrs, shes always been fully insured but nothing was every covered when she got ill as she has always been over 16 so only covers external injuries!! so I don't see why im bothering to pay for insurance when I can just use the public liability cover on BHS for £6.35 a month! I've only just taken out the BHS cover but its saved £15 a month on her insurance and dropped my youngsters down my £7 a month too! :)
 
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