Does anyone not insure?

[sandr]

My apologise if this has been asked a million times

Basically, my horse has a SI problems that rears it head around every 12 months, and he has cartrophen injections which 'cure' him for the next year.

Insurers have been happy to pay out previous, but they haven now decided that as it is incurable they will no longer cover it.

The treatment totals around £450.

I have never had the vet out for anything else (touch wood

), so I'm wondering if i should not bother renewing it in the next few months if they wont pay out?

What would you do? How do you pay for bills, particularly big bills? Do you worry about not having back up?

 

[scotsmare]

I have my horses insured but not my companion pony (stupid really cos stuff could just as easily go wrong with her

)

I suppose you could be very disciplined and set money aside every month in case you needed surgery for something but frankly, for me, the temptation of having £3k sat in an account would be a disaster

 

[dwi]

I don't insure because of the cost of it. As a coloured cob mare Daisy is in a fairly high insurance group because of the risk of her getting stolen. In the three years I've had her we've had a few vets bills but definitely much less than I would have paid out in insurance. If she was a very expensive horse I would but it seemed ridiculous to be paying out a quarter of her value in insurance every year.

 

[wilde2]

Our yard owners have liability insurance only, and for their own horses used the insurance premium money to buy premium bonds instead. I guess its a bit of a risk early on, but long term they have worked out much better off - I am tempted to do the same.

 

[DW Team]

All (6) of mine are insured bar the old lady who at 26 I could not find anyone to cover her for anything but external injuries. The premiums were getting to be more than the mare was worth so stopped insuring her. She does have liability insurance through my BHS membership though.

 

[martlin]

I have basic farm insurance on my livestock and horses:
theft, fire, lightning and public liability
Don't have LOU or vet fees cover, BUT if push comes to shove I can afford treatment. If I was in a position of not being able to afford £3-£4K of vets fees I would certainly consider an insurance policy.

 

[ladyt25]

At the very least you should have PL cover. With the amount of claims I read I don't think I would be without the basic PL cover to be honest. Anyone would be daft not to have it.

 

[sandr]

That was my other worry, he is 16 this year, so will his policy change anyway?

 

[Silverspring]

I have liability only but my girl is 23 so very few insurance co's would want to insure her anyway (esp given her history of running into things!)

 

[Ani]

I only have the liability insurance that comes with BHS gold membership. i have a seperate bank account which i direct debit money in to every month. this is my emergiency fund for vet stuff. and it means if i don't have any vet bills i still have the money to use on other things should i need it.

 

[Grey_Eventer]

we dont. im insured through SUPA, HPA,BSJA and pony club for various things not sure what though. but we have never insured. we used to own 15+ and insuring that was going to cost the earth, and my dad was happy to pay out if need be, as rarely things went wrong.

 

[Weezy]

No, as a rule I do not insure, but I know I can always find the money if I need to. I have PL through various organisations. However, OH now wants me to insure Ted as he is kind of special LOL!!

 

[tasel]

I would definitely insure... vet bills are ridiculous these days!!!

 

[Pearlsasinger]

[ QUOTE ]
vet bills are ridiculous these days!!!

[/ QUOTE ]

Especially if the vet knows you have insurance IME.

We don't insure any of our animals. When you have as many as we do, you could buy another one every month (OK slight exaggeration

) with the premiums and in the majority of cases they only fall ill when very young or very old.

We have BHS Gold membership and know that we could pay vet bill if necessary, particularly as we would be unlikely to agree to operation and long box rest for anything.
As for LOU or pts, we have had the unfortunate experience of paying out more than a mare was worth in 4 yrs, then being unable to claim because of various getout clauses

 

[charlie_brown1]

[ QUOTE ]
I don't insure because of the cost of it. As a coloured cob mare Daisy is in a fairly high insurance group because of the risk of her getting stolen. In the three years I've had her we've had a few vets bills but definitely much less than I would have paid out in insurance. If she was a very expensive horse I would but it seemed ridiculous to be paying out a quarter of her value in insurance every year.

[/ QUOTE ]

I had no idea that coloured cobs would be a higher insurance group!! How surprising!! Live and learn!

Mandy

 

[LadyRascasse]

vets will do more if you have insurance, and if you don't they try to keep it to a minium which i think is really nice, both of mine are insure and i would never not insure a horse now as i have had vets bills totaling over 4k in the last 12 months and i would have not been able to pay them if it wasn't for insurance.

 

[JM07]

in answer to your original question....no, i dont insure.

i have, on average, 15 animals at any one time....so no, i dont line the pockets of Ins co's........but put by a certain amout every month to cover vet fee's.....if any animal isn't viable, i have it PTS without the need for excessive vet fee's.

i have a good reltionship with my Vet....99% of the time we agree...as afterall i pay his wages.

 

[JM07]

[ QUOTE ]
I don't insure because of the cost of it. As a coloured cob mare Daisy is in a fairly high insurance group because of the risk of her getting stolen. In the three years I've had her we've had a few vets bills but definitely much less than I would have paid out in insurance. If she was a very expensive horse I would but it seemed ridiculous to be paying out a quarter of her value in insurance every year.

[/ QUOTE ]


coloured cobs are more expensive to insure???

thats a new one on me, i must say

 

[bubbaloonie]

We only have BHS gold membership insurance for our two. Following the illness and PTS of our previous horse my parents decided they weren't going to give any more money to sneaky insurance companies for the new one! (not that anyone would insure our 23yr old laminitic pony). They have sufficient funds for vets fees so insurance just seems a little pointless now. If our new horse was fantastically valuable then perhaps we would think differently....?

 

[connie1288]

No, we dont, 1 we have to many horses, 2 Many moons ago my parents worked it out, and something needs to go seriously wrong every 3 years for it to cover itself.
Finally i think my mare would have too many bits exempt but we wouldnt have always claimed against the insurance, she has broken withers, so that takes out any back issues and she now has problems with her front feet, at the end of the day that doesnt leave a huge amount left.

 

[megwan1]

i didnt insure one of mine then she got kicked £1000 later dad was not amused! all the others have been insured!

our dogs until recently have not been insured but my dad tehn decided he mite as well cos it was cheap low and behold 3 days later the collie fell out a tractor and broke her leg £1600 insuranced paid!!!! Lucky me thinks!

 

[Janette]

I wouldn't be WITHOUT insurance! So far, NFU have paid out about £8000 worth of vets bills (bless them)

Just because your horse is no longer covered for SI (what that is, sorry) doesn't mean he's not covered for other stuff. Star has no insurance for Squamous cell carcinoma, or a tendon injury, but if she ever gets colic or anything else medical (touch wood), or sits on somebody's Mercedes at a show (heaven forbid) or my tack gets stolen - then I'm covered.

 

[burtie]

I have a limited insurance of £5K vets but with a £500 excess. This keeps the premium really low, but should a major operation be needed I have the £5k of cover.

When my horse got kicked in the stifle and had to have a bone chip removed the cost was over £4k, in the end NFU paid £3700 of the costs.

 

[Kenzo]

Parents didn't used to bother insuring the horses, although they had PL and also covered by BHS but if they ever needed vetinary treatment they would always have the money to pay for it. Parents were a bit old fashioned and said why pay £600.00 a year when you can put it in savings account and buy stuff for the horse and if you every need treatment we can afford it...so that was that.
But since moving out and parting with the other horses and moving my two onto a livery yard I we I then ensured them and always will as I can't expect my dad to folk out should a the event every happen, I wouldn't be able to sleep at night if I didn't have insurance now come to think of it.
But I do know people that don't insure their horses and guess what, vet visit after vet visit after vet visit, yes it's sods law and sheer run of bad luck but they wish they had insured them because its now cost them a lot of money.

 

[Arabelle]

I have BHS Gold membership for the PL insurance and nothing else. I have an unused credit card with an available balance of up to £6K so I could afford treatment in an emergency, however I am pragmatic about these things and wouldn't throw money away on an animal with very little hope of a decent outcome. We have had horses for a long time and never insured and it has always worked for us.
A

 

[ladyt25]

My thoughts exactly - and I insure horses!!! We certainly have never loaded a premium because a horse is a coloured cob.

 

[nobbster]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I don't insure because of the cost of it. As a coloured cob mare Daisy is in a fairly high insurance group because of the risk of her getting stolen. In the three years I've had her we've had a few vets bills but definitely much less than I would have paid out in insurance. If she was a very expensive horse I would but it seemed ridiculous to be paying out a quarter of her value in insurance every year.

[/ QUOTE ]


coloured cobs are more expensive to insure???

thats a new one on me, i must say

[/ QUOTE ]

yep same hear i have 2 coloured cobs they are not in any higher group because of this very strange,

and also some insurers do now cover horse until 25 for illness and injury and to be honest i am not in a finacal situation where i could just find money just like that, i belive it all really depends.

 

[sandr]

Thank you everyone, intersting reading. I dont have my tack covered as we dont have a tack room, and he doesnt have LOU or PL either, its just basic vet fee cover.