Insurance advice

[Ant123]

I have an 11 Irish Draught who lives out 24/7 in a safe field with a 14h pony. He is the first horse that I have owned so I’m new to the world of insuring horses. I current pay around £500 per year with a high excess and everyone tells me it’s a lot. I have had my boy for 2 years and never used the vet once. I’m considering the BHS gold membership which has public and personal liability included for a fraction of the price, but wondered whether it’s foolish not to have insurance for bet bills. Any advice / gut instinct gratefully received

 

[Upthecreek]

Can you afford to pay the vet bills if your horse is unwell or gets injured? If you own horses long enough they will need veterinary treatment for something at some point, so the fact you’ve not used a vet in two years means nothing. You either need to have insurance cover or access to substantial funds to cover vet bills.

 

[PeterNatt]

As log as you have £40,000.00p in the bank to pay for emergency vet bills then you need veterinary insurance.
(Colic surgery can cost £20,000.00p).
You also need Third Party Public liability to no less than £20,000,000 (BHS Gold do this).
What happens if you have an accident? Who will look after your horse and you and pay all your expenses? - You may need accident and critical illness cover etc. and also Private Health Insurance!

 

[milliepops]

it comes down to your approach to risk, your financial circumstances and your preferences if there's an accident or major illness.

I have 7 horses. i insure the 2 that I want to be able to provide the greatest choice for if something awful happens. I don't like the idea of huge unpredictable bills, i prefer to put out a set amount each month and know that there's a decent level of cover available. over the years I've had several thousands paid back on claims, nothing to do with how you keep your horses, a lot of it is down to sheer luck.

If you have access to thousands at the drop of a hat, or if you'd pts instead of embarking on costly treatment, then it makes less sense to insure.
FWIW I don't think £500 is too steep a premium, you could look to shop around to reduce it but it sounds about right to me. the alternative might be to swap to one of the catastrophe policies which cover external injuries and colic usually and would be about £300.

 

[AmyMay]

If you can immediately lay your hands on several grand, then save your money.

 

[brighteyes]

...The alternative might be to swap to one of the catastrophe policies which cover external injuries and colic usually and would be about £300.

I have never heard of that!

 

[fankino04]

When mine was insured she was about £40 per month I think. I absolutely wouldn't have not insured her as I couldn't bear the thought of not having a full range of veterinary treatments available to me IF something happened ( would not consider being restricted by price). Now she's only insured for public liability as she's older and retired so the number of things I would be comfortable putting her through is less, also the credit cards have a fairly hefty amount available if I needed at short notice.

 

[AdorableAlice]

I have never heard of that!

Do read the small print on the policy, they only cover the surgery itself, nothing before and no after care.

 

[EmmaC78]

I don't insure, ultimately insurance companies are there to make money so the likelihood is that they will take more money from you than you get from them. As someone mentioned it all comes down to your approach to risk. Most have a maximum claim of £5000 on vets fees so in the event of the £20,000 colic surgery mentioned above the bulk of that would not be covered anyway.

I have had my horse 7 years and have recently had a £2000 vet bill for him, that is the only significant bill he has cost me so overall I have been better not insuring. I would not put him through anything like colic surgery anyway.

 

[Carrottom]

I don't insure for vet Bill's but make sure I have access to funds to pay up to the amount I consider reasonable for each horse. Sometimes I think that having insurance can lead to surgery that may not be in the best interest for the horse.

 

[Melandmary]

I have bhs gold membership for 3rd party liability.... And I have savings. Personally I would rather put the sum I would be paying the insurance company into a savings account each month. It soon mounts up to cover vet bills due if needed. And a bonus if never needed ?

 

[laura_nash]

It depends on so many things its very individual. I used to insure, don't any more. Things to consider:

- What type of treatment would you want to pursue, i.e. would you do a colic surgery, would your horse cope mentally and/or physically with trips to horsepital and box rest.
- Does your horse have exclusions and if so how likely is it any vets bills will be for excluded issues.
- How quickly can you get hold of money for vets bills if needed (savings, credit card, family who would lend you some if needed).
- Do you prefer to jump in to treating more minor issues up front or try time off in the field, also often impacted by own place vs livery and only horse or not.

 

[blitznbobs]

I have bhs gold for liability and nothjg else... i have had up to 5 horses over the years (3 atm) despite a full blown colic and some fairly major hock issues im definitely up over the years not paying premiums but i do have the resources so that if i get a big bill i can just pay it with a small wince and then forget about it and have it not effect
My life much

 

[AandK]

I have bhs gold membership for 3rd party liability.... And I have savings. Personally I would rather put the sum I would be paying the insurance company into a savings account each month. It soon mounts up to cover vet bills due if needed. And a bonus if never needed ?

That approach doesn't always work though, if I had done that with my new horse (had him 2yrs now) then I would have had approx £300 saved toward a vet bill that was around £7k in the end, this was a field injury that occurred less than 6 months of owning him, he had to have an op and then got a bad impaction colic due to the GA.
If you (the general you, not the poster I have quoted) have a large amount already saved, then adding what you would pay the insurance company every month would work. But as I don't have much at all in the way of savings, vet fees insurance has been a god send for me with the new boy! (not to mention the other £7k bill from the end of last year due to a keratoma!)
ETA, I no longer insure my retired 24yo, he has had a few big claims in the 18.5yrs I've had him, but I would not put him through any surgery or box rest so it's not worth it. Plus most veteran policies are external injury/accident only.

 

[Sossigpoker]

I've always insured my horses. I had nearly 20 grand paid out in less than two years so worth it I'd say!
I've had my cob now for 6 months, paying about 60 per month. Two months ago he became very unwell, high temperature , racing heart, on a Sat afternoon. The total bill for his care and tests came to about 700 quid.
If you are happy to bung that on a credit card and hope that there are no more issues until it's paid off , that's up to you , but personally I won't risk it so keep mine insured.

 

[Lipglosspukka]

I don't insure (other than 3rd party)

I wouldn't put a horse through colic surgery
I wouldn't put a horse through anything that required prolonged box rest
A lameness would be treated by turning away for a year and seeing if they come right.

I have enough savings that I can pay for a moderate amount of treatment, however I would not throw thousands at a horse to fix him.

 

[The Jokers Girl]

As log as you have £40,000.00p in the bank to pay for emergency vet bills then you need veterinary insurance.
(Colic surgery can cost £20,000.00p).
You also need Third Party Public liability to no less than £20,000,000 (BHS Gold do this).
What happens if you have an accident? Who will look after your horse and you and pay all your expenses? - You may need accident and critical illness cover etc. and also Private Health Insurance!

This doesn't really make sense saying you need £40k in the bank for vet bills, most policies pay out a max of £5 to £7k for any claim limited to 12 months of treatment and then they add all number of exclusions after you've claimed.
I stopped with insurance as my horse has so many exclusions, back excluded, legs excluded, anything to do with colic and digestive system excluded, respiratory system excluded, kidneys excluded. I'm not sure what is left of her to insure.

I certainly don't have 40k in the bank but can't get insurance either, but if she needed some sort of treatment that cost 40k I would imagine it would not be in her interests to put her through the trauma of treatment so would pts, insurance or not.

 

[ownedbyaconnie]

Depends on your financial situ, the horse in question and what exclusions (if any) are on the horse currently.

E.g for me, I have savings but they are for things other than horses and tie in with goals with my OH so whilst he would completely understand me dipping in to it, I think it is unfair.

My horse is used primarily as a riding horse and is 13 so (hopefully) has years left in her, if she was older and I had my youngster I'm planning on getting in a few years then I might feel differently about investigating say random lameness if she was sound to be retired, or I might feel her risk of injury was lower if I wasn't competing her so might take the risk of self insuring.

And currently my mare has one exclusion, for a tooth that was removed. If she had entire legs etc excluded then again might not be worth it.

In summer of 2019 (whilst completing on a house) I had a £1,800 horse vet bill, a £1,800 cat vet bill and then early 2020 a £1,600 dog vet bill. I stupidly had forgotten to get the cat insured but the other two were covered with just excess to pay. The horse I've had 3 years so I have claimed back more than I have paid in (although not by loads) and the dog I had had 4 months so I am way up on that.

It's a bit of a gamble. If you can put aside say £100 a month and pony doesn't need anything major sorting for say 5 years then you have about the same to play with as the max claim for most insurers. But there's the risk you have to claim for say colic surgery in less than a year and all you have is £1,000.

 

[throwawayaccount]

£500 a year isn't terrible. I pay around £38 a month for my mare at the moment, so just over 450 a year. i'd have been lost without this insurance as it paid for vet bills which have and continue to rise to several thousands worth, not something I have to play about with in my own bank account.. I try not to touch my savings for anything horse related but still keep 1k aside in case of emergency or disposal if it ever came to it

so it really depends on your situation and whats best for you x

ETA - i also have an emergency credit card but i hope i never have to use it!

 

[Melody Grey]

I have three, all
Insured for vets fees. Over the past 6 years I’ve had £20k worth of veterinary claims that I couldn’t have afforded myself. Maybe I’ve been unlucky, but when something goes wrong, the last thing I want to worry about is how to afford treatment. I do still have to pay a contribution, but it gives me options. There are certain things I wouldn’t treat with my two horses, but the pony is my son’s so I’d want to be able to throw the kitchen sink at it if he was ill.

 

[Sossigpoker]

I have three, all
Insured for vets fees. Over the past 6 years I’ve had £20k worth of veterinary claims that I couldn’t have afforded myself. Maybe I’ve been unlucky, but when something goes wrong, the last thing I want to worry about is how to afford treatment. I do still have to pay a contribution, but it gives me options. There are certain things I wouldn’t treat with my two horses, but the pony is my son’s so I’d want to be able to throw the kitchen sink at it if he was ill.

I agree and also it means that i can go straight for investigations and not worry about the cost (currently have no exclusions). I don't really do wait and see if it's possible to investigate so it's having that piece of Mon that i don't need to panic if vet wants to scan or x ray or something.

 

[Shilasdair]

I think there are a few points to consider with insurance;
1. You have to pay an excess anyway which can be considerable.
2. Insurance only covers you for a year, before they exclude anything you have claimed for - and those exclusions can be sweeping.
3. If you do claim, your premiums for the following year will increase dramatically, often in an effort to get rid of you and your risk.
4. Once your horse reaches a certain age, they will become uninsurable anyway.

I used to insure mine but after some of the above happened, I decided to 'self insure' by putting a certain amount of money into a dedicated savings account every month. I can chose how to spend it, what treatment to have, and don't have to deal with an insurance company. I can also use it for other things (full livery if I break my leg for example).

Whether you insure, or self insure, you do need some way of paying for vet treatment - even euthanasia and disposal can be £1k.