Do you insure? Or not? and why?

[Equi]

I did once for a year, didnt have the money to redo it as the company shut down and everyone else was 99343947839 more. Approx.

Now i don't cause the money i would spend would probably cover most of the injuries that i would be willing to do anything on. Im not going to operate for colic, im not going to fix a broken leg, and if a mare needs a cesarean id have to think really very hard about that one. Many won't cover my brood mares at an affordable price, won't cover my gelding cause of his leg issue, and im not sure if they cover colts or not but i haven't looked. Id feel bad having one insured not the rest...lol

 

[Sussexbythesea]

I’ve had my money’s worth. One horse had nearly £5000 of vets bills plus paid out £4000 in loss of use that was for wobblers. That was with NFU. My current horse had nearly £5000 worth of investigations and treatments for SI injury and then a few years later annular ligament surgery on both hinds which in total came to over £4000. That was with Petplan. I cancelled after that as Horse now 23yrs and premiums went up to nearly £100 a month. Have BHS gold membership for third party liability.

I’ve got my premiums back plus more so in one sense I’ve been lucky but I’d rather have had a sound and fit Horse with no issues.

 

[Flyermc]

My horse was insured for the whole time i had him (17.5 years) and never claimed until i lost him. The people i have spoken too at the insurance comp have been lovely and there have been no issues so far, however i would never insure again, just because i (personally) found PTS my amazing pony hard enough, without having to go through the whole thing, over and over again.

i lost him in Oct last year and yet its still not sorted and i dont really want to go over and over it again, its hard enough.

 

[Honey08]

I stopped insuring my horses and dogs about seven years ago. Since then I've spent about £1000 on X Ray's for a dog and a horse plus drugs. Unfortunately one horse had to be operated on last month, I'm still waiting for the bill, but it could be between £3k and £5k, which will give a good dent to the emergency funds. However, on the plus side I would have spent £8k if I'd still been paying insurance premiums, plus £700 in excess fees for the three incidents, so amazingly I'm still winning.

I have BHS gold membership for the horses and Dogs Trust membership for the dogs so we're all covered for 3rd party.

 

[debbielinder]

I have recently cancelled my insurance. I've had my current horse for 10 years now never made a claim. I got my renewal which had increased to £700 a year. I pondered about what to do for a while. Horse is only insured for vets fees and for a minimal amount to keep costs down. So i had a chat with my friend who is also a vet and actually vetted my horse and treated him as a youngster. He is seriously vet phobic due to a bad experience as a young horse (with a different vet) even a flu jab is an ordeal and the thought of putting him through hospitalisation or any major rehab does worry me and realistically i dont think it would be fair to put him through it or the vets, so that is how a came to my decision. Any scans and xrays can be done at home if needed. I opened another bank account put a small amount in there and each month put £100 in there just in case. Also to add myself and my horse are BD registered so we get public liability through that.

 

[Quigleyandme]

My horse is uninsured. When I discovered how costly the premiums were going to be I opened a savings account for him and put £150 in per month. Unfortunately he has two teeth, one either side of his jaw, which have not formed properly and he will require approximately 2K of dental treatment but I doubt insurance company would pay out anyway as it is genetic.

 

[DabDab]

No I don't.

Because I have a savings pot and I can get my hands quickly on more credit than an insurance policy would pay out anyway. My vets know that I don't insure and quote me for work up front (I've never asked them to, they just do), which means I get an awful lot less shock bills than friends. I also see a huge amount spent on endless diagnostics, which wasn't really ever going to change the outcome/isn't really in the horse's best interests, but you've got to keep going to find something that the insurance will pay out on

 

[DJ]

Ditto.

I then have the choice to pts if in the animals interest, rather than subject to lengthy treatments etc that insurance co might well require.
So far it's worked out, over keeping mine for nearly 40 yrs....

Thank you all for your replies. This reply in particular stood out for me after the events of the last 2 months. I feel I would have called it sooner, he was suffering, but I had to play along to the fiddle of the insurance company. Having that control to make decisions taken away from me has been the absolute worst feeling, and waiting for people in an office somewhere to say yes or no for treatments whilst your in limbo with a horse who you know is in pain has simply been intolerable. I won`t do it again.


It seems so many things get excluded from policies too. I`d insured him for 2 years with them, and never claimed for anything, so in that respect it wasn`t an issue, but so many people I know have had problems. I don`t have a lot of savings, but I have some and I have set up a separate account now that I will pay into monthly. I also have a clear credit card and will keep that for use if need as a back up.

I do appreciate the replies and it`s given me food for thought.

 

[criso]

I don't my retired one, after a long history of claims when he was in work, his premiums are pushing £1000 so I spend that instead on any minor treatment he needs over the year.

I do my working one. Having been in the situation where I had a horse on loan that needed routine and virtually guaranteed surgery but that needed GA, I like the safety net of knowing I don't have to find a few thousand to cover something like that. Yes I could put it on a credit card but that would have to be paid back.

 

[scats]

I do insure, although both now have exclusions and I do wonder if it’s a bit pointless. I have a card for emergencies and wouldn’t put them through any invasive treatment or prolonged box rest. I stopped hooligans cover as he had far more excluded than included and the premiums had rocketed. I had third party cover through the BHS and felt that if he had anything that couldn’t be treated easily at the field, he would be put to sleep.

I may well do the same with the girls, depending on how sky high the premiums have gone this year.

Insurance has served me well in the past though.

 

[Nari]

I do, for the peace of mind that the cover is there if I need it. I've insured with NFU for years and have never had a problem claiming, in fact they've told me to claim for things I wouldn't have thought of & then paid out!

 

[McFluff]

I have two and I only have BHS gold cover.

My experience with insurance isn’t positive. IME the premiums are high, with an excess that lots of treatments don’t reach (yet at renewal a new exclusion appears!), and a general approach to use small print to avoid paying. I’ve paid far more in premiums than I’ve had paid out (and that would still be the case even if they’d paid out the claim that was refused).

I also discovered that I prefer to be in control. Not all horses suit treatment at all costs, and for some it is better to PTS. Yet insurance want you to diagnose and try treatment before they’ll consider PTS. I got through the loss of my mare with support of my vet, but he really had to fight to not put her through treatment that we knew wouldn’t suit her.

I’ve discovered that if vets know you’re not insured they’ll suggest different approaches (eg turn away and give time). I have national savings put aside if I need it, that way the decisions are all mine.

I can see why some do insure, and if you have a high value horse it can make sense, but I’ve personally had poor experience and that’s put me off.

 

[MuddyMonster]

My competition horse is insured, the young one has to prove herself a bit first - at this stage if she had a significant injury that needed expensive treatment I don't think I'd stump up the cash. I had multiple payouts on my now retired horse so it has worked for me. It's really the vets bills that I want covered, rather than a payout for the horse. The last one was on loan anyway so I wouldn't have received a penny if something terrible had happened, but it did mean I didn't have unexpected huge bills for treatment to deal with.

I only insure for big vet bill's too. I've had two horses PTS before & am yet to meet the BEVA guidelines for an insurance pay out had I claimed.

Even with insurance, I wouldn't blindly go ahead with any work just because he's insured. But it provides me with a comfortable means to pay for it, should we go ahead with a treatment based on what's best for the horse.

 

[9tails]

I did insure for eight years, with no claims. Then my premium jumped from £35 a month to £84 because she had turned 16. As she's a leisure horse and hasn't yet shown any self harming tendencies, I decided that it wasn't worth continuing. She's now 19 and I have BHS Gold cover. I also have credit cards should the worst happen. I pick her field mates very carefully though.

 

[pippixox]

It’s always a bit of a gamble and I nearly cancelled after many years of insurance. As for 2 it is now £100 a month for quite a high level of cover. I reduced it by increasing my excess and I’m going to remove colic cover as decided I do not want to put hem through an operation so no point in paying for cover.
My old tb is not insured as barely covered anymore and retired. He did have a brain abscess 2 years ago and a scope to investigate and medication did add up but we coped. As were not going to go as far as a CT scan!
However, having nearly cancelled my pony has just been diagnosed with liver damage, had biopsy and now on a lot of drugs, so insurance will cover 18 months of treatment. After that time if he is doing well he can continue with maintenance which should be cheaper and if not we will sadly have to call it a day as steroids as not really a long term option. My mare also has developed sweet itch this year but will have to look if it is worth claiming once I’ve paid excess.

One year she had a mysterious leg injury we ended up scanning and X-ray. Luckily soft tissue. Cost was fractionally more than I would pay in premiums that year.

 

[Slightlyconfused]

Will not be reinsuring the big one this year as once his claim for the suspensory ends he will only have his ears and tail insured.
The other one i will for a while as he is only ten and i have a huge bill from his keratoma op to pay off.
I would like and will be aiming to with the family to start up a vet fund so in the future we have the option not to insure.

 

[Queen Dotty]

I have done nothing but fight with my insurance company over my recent claim. First they tried to tell me that I was in the wrong activity group for prelim dressage (I wasn't!) and completely refused my claim. Then they told me they had evidence of me competing in elementary competitions which was a complete lie. Next they tried to exclude my horses complete front legs because he had an abscess 2 years ago. They then tried to tell me that sedation was not included in any claim which is rubbish as well. The bill will come to over £5,000 so I am glad that I have the insurance but the stress it has caused me to get them to pay is huge.

He had a bout of colic when on box rest so it is likely that colic, all 4 legs and his back will be excluded when it comes to renewal so it is not really going to be worth insuring from now on anyway. I am working on getting together a £5,000 pot in a savings account that I never touch unless it is for a vets bill. It is easier said than done saving that kind of money though.

 

[Louby]

Ditto.

I then have the choice to pts if in the animals interest, rather than subject to lengthy treatments etc that insurance co might well require.
So far it's worked out, over keeping mine for nearly 40 yrs....

This happened to me. Vet advised PTS, insurance said it wasnt under BEVA guidelines so wouldnt pay out and said to treat the horse despite basically putting off the inevitable and causing stress, suffering along the way. I chose to PTS and lost out on the insurance.
My new horse is insured but with a different company and touch wood they have been great. Every year I contemplate not renewing but it would be sods law something major would happen. I do insure for a minimal value, pay out for PTS is sketchy unless its something like a broken leg but I do like the security of vets fee cover and 3rd party liability.

 

[supsup]

I think it's a very individual decision. What you pay for with an insurance is for someone else to take on your risk. On average and in the long run, you will always pay more if you insure (otherwise insurance companies would go bust), but of course you are very unlikely to have a horse that requires exactly the "average" amount of treatment. More likely, it'll cost way above your premium (at least in the short term), or you'll never claim and have spent money unnecessarily.
I think the real question is what is more affordable/possible to you in your current situation: Having to cope with paying out a large chunk of money in an emergency, or budgeting for smaller, regular payments. If you can afford to "self insure" with savings, then statistically, you're going to save money in the long run, because you're not paying for the service of someone else taking on your risk. But if the prospect of a big bill would send you into a tail spin, then insurance is probably the better option. And of course with multiple horses, the cost of insurance at some point becomes near prohibitive.

I think a separate consideration (from the financial one) is the "peace of mind" argument. I had my horse insured for four years, and when I eventually needed to claim, I found this process (and worrying about exclusions etc.) far more stressful than being free and clear to make my own decisions about when to call the vet and what treatment to go for, without considering insurance. But that was on the background of having a decent chunk of savings. If I were budgeting on the edge, the peace of mind argument could easily go the other way. I stopped insuring after those first four years and having to deal with the claims (despite them paying out without too much hassle), and don't regret that decision even though I spent somewhere in the range of £1700 last year on vets bills out of my own pocket. I still would have been quids-in relative to continuing to pay for insurance at somewhere around £450 a year.

PS: Should add that I have third party liability insurance via BHS Gold.

 

[Mule]

I don't. I have money put aside for health expenses that I use when needed.

 

[ester]

I used to, stopped once we'd had our money back (biggest claim was squamous cell carcinoma treatment), had sufficient exclusions and of an age that meant a large claim was unlikely.
I like the control I have not being insured but I think with any new one I would likely insure to start.

 

[rara007]

I insure. I want immediate access to top class care if they need it and I don’t have big savings. There’s a limit to what I’ll put them through treatment wise (that varies depending on them) but no financial limit- if the money is there to spend. Yes I work them, and reasonably hard, but they’re pets first and foremost. They’re not insured for loss of use (possibly or death, can’t remember!) but I’ll still have full control of when to call it a day.

 

[Allykat]

I use to but don't any more after my premiums just kept increasing every year. I have a savings account that I've put money in. I'd already decided I would not put my horse through any kind of surgery. He's 18 now and it would have to come with a 100% guarantee for me. My horse is currently injured and he's had xrays, scans, shockwave, steroid injection to the hock and a laser treatment. One visit to the vets and 2 visits to the yard and my bills have totalled less than I would have paid in insurance premiums over the last 3 years. He's now out turned away for the summer. I'll have him rescanned at some point after a good few months out unless he shows signs of being in pain or unhappy.

 

[Theocat]

Mine is cancelled as of yesterday. The horse had exclusions for the whole of the pelvis and any associated structures, any lameness, any abcess, any respiratory disorders, and anything arising from injury to a front leg. Exclusions were kicking in at renewal - not after twelve months - and the premium had gone up to £60pm. The horse is in last-chance territory: I won't put her through any surgery, or anything requiring box rest, or put myself- frankly - through any more long drawn out investigations. If she breaks again, or can't stay sound enough for light hacking, I shall have to call it a day.

I am not sure if I shall ever insure again. I have "made a profit" over the last four years, but I haven't had a sound horse, and the best cure to date had been time off in a field without shoes...

 

[Bradsmum]

Another who has cancelled today. I have never claimed but admitted to them that he had had a vet for headshaking and guess what, headshaking excluded this year so bye bye KBIS. My next email was BHS Gold Membership application as third party is a must in my opinion.

 

[TheMule]

I dont generally insure my horses as I keep a bit of savings for vets fees. However, that's because I'm fairly practical and won't spend 1000s on emergency vet care as a general rule.
I do insure my homebred since his sister cost me 6k and ended up being PTS after a stay in vet hospital. Turns out I'm far too soft hearted when it comes to my babies!

 

[Ceriann]

Don’t insure - premiums are crazy, especially when you consider the exclusions you can end up with. I also think it changes some (not all) vets approach to treatment, with investigation and hospital visits often the default the minute you mention your horse is insured. I have options if there is an issue so choose to self insure.

 

[MrsNorris]

Don’t insure my old boy any longer due to exclusions, but I’m looking for a new one now and will 5 stage vet and insure for everything including LOU for the first year. After that, all being well, I will knock off the LOU to reduce my premiums a bit, and keep horse insured until exclusions make it not worth while.