Insuring the older horse

AandK

AandK

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Evening all!

After recent experience, I am pondering whether or not to continue insuring my old (ish) horse. I have a retired 25yo mare who I no longer insure, but have kept my 18yo insured since I bought him as a 5yo. During these past 13yrs, I have put in 3 or 4 large claims, the latest being a suspensory injury in 2008, and then colic in 2010 (wasn't surgery, but he was at vets for 8 days).
In August this year the 18yo had an annular ligament op, and PRP injected into a tear in his distal sesamoidian ligament (AL issue was secondary to this). The op went according to plan, although he had a seizure coming round from the GA, so I have been advised against putting him under again, unless life threatening. His recovery has been pretty much spot on, at his last vet check 6 weeks ago, he was 0.5/10 lame (an improvement from 1/10 3 weeks before), and the scan showed the hole in the ligament had filled in nicely, vet was happy with this. Next check is on Friday and if he is sound, I can start bringing him back into work.
Unfortunately (for me!), this injury was in the same leg as the suspensory so all tendons and ligaments in that leg are excluded, so I have had to find the £4k + to pay for the op, scans etc.

I am now wondering if it is worth me still insuring him and was wondering what others do, and what they would do in my shoes. He will be 19 next year, and if sound we will still do RC stuff (dressage, spot of jumping). But given that I have been advised against further GAs, I am wondering if it's worth it anymore (his cover still includes vets fees). As much as I hate to even think it, let alone say it, I would not put him through colic surgery and if he were to incur an injury that warranted several thousand pounds worth of treatment, I would have to consider his quality of life etc before going ahead. Of course if something happened and he could be retire field sound, then great, but I am referring to something that needs expensive vet treatment.

That was a bit epic, sorry! Would be interested to hear the views/experiences of HHO, thank you! :smile3:
 
We've opted for a high excess policy for our 17yo mare but she has no exclusions. I really think in your situation I'd insure for public liability and tack and forget about the rest..

Fiona
 
I would have to be convinced that there was a 90% chance of a full recovery before I put even a young horse through a GA and prolonged box rest, never mind a 19 yr old. We don't insure because tbh I have found it a rip-off. We have public liability cover through BHS. Of course you do need to know that you have a means to pay any vet bills. If you have been making a regular payment to the ins co, you could just put that into a savings account get a credit card in the meantime to fund any large bills before you accrue a decent amount of savings.
 
We've just stopped insuring both our horses, one is 12 and one is 22. We have had some pretty hefty claims for both of them so we've more than got our money's worth out of the insurance and it has been more than worthwhile. The younger horse is excluded for pretty much everything now (medically he's a walking disaster!) and is just a light hack, while the older girl's age makes what she is covered for pretty limited and, since I wouldn't put her through colic surgery, it seemed pointless to insure her just for accident and injury. We do have savings to pay for emergency vet treatment, so they would never go without. Now we just have public liability through the BHS.
 
Thanks for the responses, I think I will look into BHS for liability insurance and take it from there. Of course I'm assuming he will come sound, if he doesn't then I will definitely cancel the insurance.
 
I stopped insuring Kelsey as I paid for it for 10 years and couldn't claim for a thing! I now have the BHS cover, which is £5.50 a month and cover Kelsey, Sam and Jezza for public liability! Sam is the only one insured for medical stuff now
 
I'm in this situation with my rising 19 year old gelding. Excluded for bone spavin, (and all things attributed from this) ligament and supsensories all four legs unless from a visible external injury, colic and second degree heartblock. He's only covered for £1500 value wise, probably wouldn't get that for him, and all his tack is insured. Its £44 per month. Debating whether to just credit my vet account with the equivalent instead every month, but of course my tack won't be covered then.
 
applecart14 said:
I'm in this situation with my rising 19 year old gelding. Excluded for bone spavin, (and all things attributed from this) ligament and supsensories all four legs unless from a visible external injury, colic and second degree heartblock. He's only covered for £1500 value wise, probably wouldn't get that for him, and all his tack is insured. Its £44 per month. Debating whether to just credit my vet account with the equivalent instead every month, but of course my tack won't be covered then.
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don't credit their bank account, just put it in a savings account of your own! don't let the vet earn interest of your money :)
My horse is now similar, but only 5 but is excluded for any bone spurs over his whole body now, as he has one in his front hoof and a bone spavin in his hock! so even though he's only 5 I do wonder what he'd be covered for now!
 
I self insure; I have BHS gold membership to cover third party liability and a credit card with a £10k limit locked in the safe. Not only do I save a shed load of money I can make the right decision for my horse immediately and she is not subject to unnecessary treatment.
 
once there are multiple issues witha horse of an advanced age when you would no longer do invasive treatment I don't see much point in insuring.
 
SusieT said:
once there are multiple issues witha horse of an advanced age when you would no longer do invasive treatment I don't see much point in insuring.
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Agree. Wouldn't subject to box rest over two weeks and deffo wouldn't subject to surgery.

The only thing is that a) you are covered for mortality b) you are covered for euthanasia and disposal which I know can run into hundreds, and c) you are covered for public liability and d) you are covered for tack. So for those reasons I am umming and ahhhing about whether to continue or not and I think this is the problem a lot of people with older horses face.
 
I stopped insuring mine when they reached 16 and were about to switch to a much more expensive veteran policy with exclusions for the things most likely to cause problems (naturally) like melanomas and problems with front feet. It just didn't seem worth it any more. I've paid the amount I paid into insurance into a savings account and *touch wood* haven't had to dip into it in 3 years. It's now up to about £4k. I've always had BHS gold membership.
 
Following with interest having just got an 18 year old. I was not planning to insure but then the points about 3rd party, etc crossed my mind. I wonder if tack is covered in our house insurance, I assume not but could check. Still undecided.
 
My Po is 22, I keep him insured pretty much for the Public Liability as we hack quite a lot, or colic or field injury, he has had vet treatment over the years for different things, so he's pretty much excluded for everything, in your case it looks like it's not worth the premium.
 
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