Do you insure your horses?

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Horsegirl25

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Just as the title says, do you insure your horse(s)?
We don’t currently but were at a stay away show this week and there was an insurance stand and got us thinking. Have had the vets a hell of a lot recently for scans/x-rays, lameness assessments etc, so got us thinking maybe wouldn’t be a bad idea to insure.
What’s the pro’s and cons?
 
The pro is that you make your own decisions purely based on what you are prepared to do with/ have done to your horse and your finances.
The con is that you have to fund everything.

But Against insuring is that the insurance company has a say in what happens to your horse and previous illnesses may cause exclusions. There is also the fact that you may pay premiums for years without making a claim. If you had put that money into a savings account you would have earned interest.

We don't insure but know that we could afford any treatment we would be prepared to have. We have decided that colic surgery/extended box-rest are a no for our horses.
 
Horsegirl25 said:
Just as the title says, do you insure your horse(s)?
We don’t currently but were at a stay away show this week and there was an insurance stand and got us thinking. Have had the vets a hell of a lot recently for scans/x-rays, lameness assessments etc, so got us thinking maybe wouldn’t be a bad idea to insure.
What’s the pro’s and cons?
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I would go along with PAS' comments. I have too many to insure but I am quite happy to turn away, rest, give a horse time to heal on it's own. You sound like you prefer to have treatment scans etc quickly.

I wonder from your comments if you would have exclusions based on your vet history of the horse. Perhaps someone knows the answer to that.
If you are not insured you are in charge. I had a vet out too examine, nerve block etc a horse's feet (I think it was) he said if you were insured I would suggest scanning this and that. I asked what difference it would make as I would have paid for a scan. He answered not much difference so we didn't.
 
paddy555 said:
I would go along with PAS' comments. I have too many to insure but I am quite happy to turn away, rest, give a horse time to heal on it's own. You sound like you prefer to have treatment scans etc quickly.

I wonder from your comments if you would have exclusions based on your vet history of the horse. Perhaps someone knows the answer to that.
If you are not insured you are in charge. I had a vet out too examine, nerve block etc a horse's feet (I think it was) he said if you were insured I would suggest scanning this and that. I asked what difference it would make as I would have paid for a scan. He answered not much difference so we didn't.
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Yes I am very much would like a scan/X-rays etc rather than give it some time but I do appreciate that is sometimes extreme in some circumstances!
My horse has asthma so that would be a definite exclusion.

Definitely something to think about.
 
Public liability only here.

I have two companion ponies, one of which is 23. I am fortunate that I can afford emergency treatment as and when it arises, but know what my line in the sand is as to a major expense such as colic surgery. Although this is from a welfare point of view (I wouldn’t put an older animal through it) rather than financial.

When I had big ridden ones I did insure for vets fees up until the age when cover fell off a cliff and became not worth bothering with. And the same point applies re ageing and what lengths of treatment I would be prepared to go to.

I have never insured for loss of use.
 
Always always always make sure that you have public liability insurance that covers your animals - you may find you have cover through household insurance or society membership but do check.

The pros and cons have already been well described but everyone's circumstances are different so are likely to need different policies. Definitely shop around for cover and check out reputations of the insurance companies for the type of horses and uses that you have (I've found a good rule of thumb is if your questions are not answered to your full satisfaction before you buy their product they sure ain't going to be afterwards!)
 
I have four, two horses, two ponies, all insured. I simply couldn’t afford PetPlan any more so switched to Animal Friends. I have a £500 excess. I very nearly cancelled my old ex racer’s insurance when he was on retirement livery when I was moving and between equestrian properties but very glad I didn’t when within two weeks of being home he got an aspirational choke and ran up a bill of £4,800….
 
I only have public liability. With 3 horses, I don’t think it’s worth the premiums.

I put some money away monthly and have a reasonable amount in savings plus a high limit credit card. I also have assets I can sell if it came to it.
 
One of mine is on loan from a rescue centre and it's part of the loan agreement that I must have 3rd party insurance. I get that through WHW membership, and they do check it when they visit.
Other than that I have no insurance for them. They are both old and have so many issues that the exclusion list would be longer than the list of things covered. When one of them had a colic last year the vet said he really wouldn't be a candidate for surgery due to advanced arthritis, he'd be crippled by box rest. I have some savings which are for any bills I can't cover from my income. There is enough there to see these two out.
So insurance doesn't suit us but I do think planete's idea of insuring for the first year is a good one. And I'm sure if I ran a string of competition horses I'd be wanting to insure those.
 
Yes. The cob doesn’t compete at high level so he’s Animal Friends, baby horse is petplan and older boy kbis catastrophe cover. All 3 have had claims this year…! Might swap over to agria when the time comes if I don’t have part way through claims, but they don’t cover anything abroad I don’t think.
 
Yes, one on lifetime insurance through Agria and one with NFU. Not insured for loss of use. Agria paid just under 1k for ulcer treatment and NFU have over the years paid around 11k out for liver disease, investigations/ulcer treatment and partial p*nis removal.
 
My riding horse is always fully insured. I’ve always been able to still choose what treatment or investigations I want or do and for me it means I can just say here he is find out what’s wrong without worrying about how to fund it all.
I do find that a lot of the time throwing money at stuff actually gets you no where but it makes me feel better knowing I can say I tried and did my best. I’d rather loose a horse knowing that than knowing I maybe couldn’t afford to just give things a go.
My ponies and retired horse are not insured properly, I have third party and accidental injury via WHW but I wouldn’t put any of them through a lot of investigations and they have all the time in the world to rest!
 
No, I don't insure horses, dogs, cats or any small animals. It has never made financial sense to do so in 45 years of pet ownership. It's also simpler when decision making for diagnosis and treatment is between me and the vet, without an insurance company electing itself as project manager and head of purchasing.
 
I just have third party. I cancelled my vets fees policy long ago but always have a few thousand in savings I can access if I need to.
 
I insure all of mine 3rd party and those without too many exclusions with Agria as I can get issues investigated early without having to worry about further exclusions. The rest I just pay for treatment as needed.
 
I stopped insuring Lari the year before last. At the time he was only covered for external visible injury, mortality (on humane grounds) and theft and straying. It was £45 a month on a value of £4.5k.

Before that he'd been insured for up to £10k although I bought him for more.

Now he's just covered for third party via BHS Gold membership. That's just to cover him if he escaped and ran on the road or kicked staff or something (not that he would).

I'm the same as Esmae and have several thousand pounds in savings. I'd never put a horse through colic surgery after having a convo with a vet about it, although I'd not criticise anyone that does, but the odds are so s*it for survival or so high for reoccurence to me in a no no.
 
I only have one horse, fully insured since day one but now have many exclusions due to years and years of injuries and lameness. I now have kbis catastrophe insurance , which covers until 20yrs old.
Recently claimed for a kick on the kbis insurance and they were great, no questions asked.
 
My younger lad is fully insured, but my older one has so many exclusions from over the years along with the extortionate renewal prices, I've put money away monthly for him instead & have BHS Gold to cover him at livery. I must say, I think I'll go down the same road with the younger one the way things are going & just stash money monthly instead of the renewals.
 
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