How many of you insure for Loss of Use??

Boater

Boater

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Was having a chat with a couple of other liveries and they both have their horses insured for Loss of Use. One cost £4000 as a four year old, is used for hacking and occassional unaffiliated dressage, the other cost £1800 and is also used for hacking and small local shows. Their premiums are pretty high. I had always thought only competition horses costing in the region of 5 figures would have been favourites for this and was suprised to say the least!
 
Dizzy is insured for LOU, but the other two aren't. She cost more than the pair of them put together. I bought her to do a job (almost doubled my budget to get her) and if she can't do it, then I would want to get another one that can, though I would keep the Dizz :).
 
We were advised by the insurance company (SEIB) that LoU insurance is only any good for a horse with a closely defined job.

We have a13 yr old 6K PC pony capable of SJ to1.20 tracks, affilliated with money on his card. But he is also used for hacking, the odd ODE, PC camp, general rallies, a bit of fun showing etc.

We were advised not to bother with lack of use as anything which prevented him from doing the lower grade bits of his job would be so serious that it would fall under his vets fees anyway. Obviously there will come a time when he can't jump those tracks anymore - but he'll be able to toddle about doing first pony and lead rein for a lot longer! In those circumstances LoU is just a waste of money.

A freind has a horse she bought to event. He didn't cost 5 figures - but he wasn't cheap. He has LoU insuarnce becuase his job is to event. Nothing else. If he can't event he is no use to her and she would have to replace him.

For general "low grade" activities it probably is a bit of a waste of money.
 
Lil isn't insured for LOU because when I bought her she was out of work and had no competition experience. My understanding is that you can only get LOU for the work that a horse is doing, if they are being kept as a pet then you haven't got any 'use' to lose.

I'm planning on having another look at her insurance at the end of the year once she's been out competing as then she'll be worth alot more than I bought her for. If heaven forbid, anything happened, I'd want to be able to buy another horse at a similar level.
 
I don't. Perhaps if I was competing at a very high level, and had put an extortionate amount of money into the horse to get it to that level then I probably would, but I just compete locally at RC level and do a bit of unaff dressage and jumping, and a bit of this and that. I will never sell my horse, no matter what happened to him (obviously wouldn't ever let him suffer though), so he's also insured for far less than what I paid for him - but he's priceless to me!
 
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I've never had loss of use cover until my last horse was put to sleep as i thought for humane reasons. It was only when the vet said it was loss of use i cried even more as he wasn't covered.

I now have my horse covered for loss of use and am trying to claim on it as he's unrideable due to kissing spines. He put me in hospital 2 months ago when he bucked like a demon and got me off. He's 13 years old and has had this problem most of his life according to his xrays but loss of use claims are notoriously hard (as i'm currently finding out) and long winded.

Insurance companies are very quick to take our money but don't like to pay out - makes me wonder why we bother at all.
 
Yes and I've succesfully claimed for it in the case of my retired chap.

It was an easy claim and we weren't at any great heights, he was my dressage school master and he developed navicular which meant he couldn't be ridden any more so my loss of use claim went straight through. I call it his pension as it paid for his retirement livery for quite sometime.

New horse is insured 100% for LOU and he's just a general hack/show/low level dressage chap although as an Andalusian has a higher value than you might expect.

LOU for me is so I can keep my horses in retirement should illness or injury ever cause them to become unrideable. It doesn't cover all the bills but sure helps.

Also you can claim for vets fees to try and treat something and then claim LOU if the treatment doesn't work although I think you have to have found that out within 12 months of the problem occurring.

My old lad is happily living the life off reilly without any medication and I could never begrudge him these years. I acutally only had him for 3 years before this happened but he was such fun and taught me so much.
 
Pilfer was insured for LOU for the first 4 years i had him.

he was bought to go eventing and had he had an injury that prevented him competing BE i would have wanted to buy something else to do the job.

however, now he is a bit older and i have other horses to ride i took the LOU off.

I would certainly have it again if i only had one horse and couldn't afford to buy another if it was injured.
 
Me and currently claiming for it as my beautiful (and valuable) mare is no longer rideable. I'm very glad I do have it as it will fund my next horse. I'd be screwed without it!
 
No, I don't insure anyway.

If a horse can't do the job it is here for then it can't and that's my loss. I'll keep, sell on, or pts depending on the circumstances, and then go out and buy another one.
 
I've insured mine for LOU even though he was only bought for hacking and to take lessons on - he is lame on and off at the moment so this thread is of interest to me! My excess is high and premiums low so I decided to have it just in case. I couldn't afford to have two horses and I'd never get rid of him if I could no longer ride him so for me as others have said it would mean I could keep him and get another to do what I want on...
 
I have had my last 3 insured for loss of use the first 1 developed a sacroiliac problem along with other problems but she would be ok 2 breed from (so vet said) i got 80 or 90% of her value only took 3 months from the start till getting the cheque all vets fees etc paid for too, then used that money with a bit more and bought a 4year old hanoverian mare insured her for the works she was going to be a star!! I had her 1 month she was in her stable and my next door neighbour spooked her she fell fractured her pelvis we thought she would recover tho not 2 sj (in which case lou would have covered her) but wasnt to be she sadly had to be pts 1week later insurance paid out very fast and were very helpfull. I now have a 4 year old westphalian gelding he is insured for the whole lot! I wouldnt be without loss of use!
 
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