Insurance query - ideas?

[ponyparty]

I have a bit of a weird insurance query.

I have a horse on loan from the riding school I work at - technically, he's on loan from the RDA group who own him.
He isn't insured, as they have too many horses for it to be worthwhile. If anything happens e.g. He gets ill or injured on the premises, or while I'm riding him on the premises or out hacking locally, the owners accept all responsibility for that and would pay for any required treatment.
However, I want to start taking him out to a few events - fun rides, shows etc. They are happy for me to do this, but if anything were to happen whilst we were offsite, I would be liable for the vets bills.
So - is it possible to get insurance just against injury at an event?
Or would I have to take out full insurance on him? Would it even be worth doing? Should I just take the risk and hope for the best? I have savings if the worst happened, but they are meant to be for a house, not an injured horse. So not ideal to have to use them if something goes wrong.
Any advice gratefully received!
(I am insured myself through the BHS so have public liability etc already - it is specifically insurance for the horse that I'm wondering about).

 

[loverugs]

Seems a bit of an odd arrangement. Have they made you sign something?

 

[be positive]

Taking him out to fun rides and shows increases the risk of an injury so I can understand why they feel you should be liable if something did happen, your biggest problem will be if something serious occurs that means he has to be operated on, retired or pts or something long term starts to show up once he is doing more, so it is a big risk that you could end up losing thousands, hoping for the best is all very well but it is why insurance exists so you are covered for the worst most expensive scenarios.
I would want something in writing to cover you on the terms you have now and either insure him fully you will not get insurance just for a day, you will require a loan agreement to do so, or give up the idea of taking him out.

 

[ponyparty]

Yes, we do have a loan agreement in place - there is a clause in it with words to the effect of, the loaner accepts responsibility for any illness or injury resulting from activities taken part in off the premises.
I agree, and am happy to take responsibility for him if taking him out. I consider myself very lucky to be allowed to do so. Just need to figure out the safest way to do it."Hoping for the best" is not really an option, imagine if my house deposit had to go on vets fees! Eek.

So the answer is, insure him fully. I suspected as much, just wondered if there were any other options. One of his owners suggested that there might be an option to get one off event insurance - I'd never heard of anything like it before and google wasn't coming up with anything useful. Probably because it doesn't exist, in that case!

Off to get insurance quotes then... If it's not too expensive, it'll be worth it. If it's going to cost a fortune I'll have to just accept that we're not going to be getting out and about any time soon.

It'd be so good for him to get out and about a bit. He's done loads in his previous life, showjumped, hunted, and now he works at a riding school... I'm sure he'd enjoy doing a few little fun rides and clear rounds. So would I, of course!

 

[Shay]

Rider insurance contains a small amount of vet cover for the horse. It isn't as extensive as full insurance - but reading between the lines your loan horse is a veteran? You may struggle with reasonably priced insurance. Have a look at things like petplan rider cover and see if that might work for you?

 

[ponyparty]

Rider insurance contains a small amount of vet cover for the horse. It isn't as extensive as full insurance - but reading between the lines your loan horse is a veteran? You may struggle with reasonably priced insurance. Have a look at things like petplan rider cover and see if that might work for you?

He's only 14. Quotes so far aren't too bad, just difficult trying to figure out what to include or not! Need to confirm a few things with the owners too e.g. market value (I've made my own estimate for the purpose of just getting a quote) and vets bills incurred in the last 12 months. Bit of a minefield!
Will look at the rider cover as well, to see if it might do - though I already have cover through the BHS. But I think for my peace of mind, I need him covered for a good few thousand, which I doubt that will. Thanks for the heads up though.

 

[ycbm]

This isn't as straightforward as it seems, unfortunately.

If he gets ill at an event, and the insurers decide there was a pre existing condition, the current wording of your agreement means that you will be left with owners who can demand that you bankrupt yourself paying to get him right while you have no insurance cover.

I think at the very least you need the wording in the loan agreement changed to exclude any illness except infectious ones, but even then you could be left in a situation where you have topped out your money or time on a claim (due to a broken bone, b.astard strangles, etc) and are left in the same situation. So you also need the wording changed to put a to limit on your liability.

Before you insure him, it would be worth seeing his vet records to know exactly what the insurer might decide is a pre existing condition.

 

[Sussexbythesea]

Probably best to ring up the insurance company and discuss your requirements. You could probably get accident only insurance for a veteran and that could cover his initial treatment whether it was field, home or event related. It wouldn't cover any sort of disease or systemic issue such as cushings and colic.

The only other issue would be if he picked up something like strangles although he could do this in his yard if exposed to other horses and this is unlikely if you practice good hygiene and not so common in an older horse anyway.

 

[ponyparty]

No it's really not straightforward at all, is it

Thank you for your advice - I'm going to need to speak to his owners, and get to see his vet records.

Good point re: the wording - I can't remember the exact wording, I'll have to dig the loan agreement out and check it carefully.

He has previously (2 years ago) had a fracture to a bone in his knee, so wonder if that leg would be insurable..? Lots of questions to be answered!

Once I have all the info I need, I will definitely be calling the insurance companies to get quotes, it doesn't seem possible to tailor the quote enough for my purposes online.

 

[ycbm]

I think it would be lovely for you to be able to get out and about. I wonder if the best solution might be for them to put a limit on what they expect you to pay (maybe his own value if sold?) And for you to save your insurance premiums into a separate account, and have an unused credit card in a drawer in case it goes over what you've managed to save?

That way, there's no uncertainty about insurance exclusions or the total amount you could end up facing.

 

[ponyparty]

I think it would be lovely for you to be able to get out and about. I wonder if the best solution might be for them to put a limit on what they expect you to pay (maybe his own value if sold?) And for you to save your insurance premiums into a separate account, and have an unused credit card in a drawer in case it goes over what you've managed to save?

That way, there's no uncertainty about insurance exclusions or the total amount you could end up facing.

That's not a bad idea! Deffo need to discuss with the owners.