Is insurance worth it

Misty 2020

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Hi everyone I was thinking of not renewing my insurance. It’s getting more expensive every year . I am also BHS gold member so I will have third party insurance. So is insurance worth it? Do you have insurance?
 

Foxychops

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Yes most definitely for me!! I insure with horse emporium. Very reasonable. Been with them for over 20 years and never had an issue with them.
 

milliepops

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I have 6 horses of which 3 are currently insured - will probably cancel one in the next month or so.
I insure them when I consider that I would like to have a big bunch of cash available to throw at them if something happened, so currently the competition horse, the broodmare and the foal are covered (will cancel broodmare now she's foaled and doing well). I don't have a large pot of savings available if I got a big vets bill so I like having the safety net of insurance for some of them. I have had several claims over the years and for me it's been well worth it.
 

Polos Mum

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It depends what you have as an alternative. IF your horse gets a kick in the field and needs stitches / antibiotics and maybe a scan to check no nastier injuries - do you have £1k spare to spend in a savings account?

You can reduce your premiums by increasing the excess (and having that cash saved) or reducing the limit so major things like colic surgery aren't covered - but then you'd have to be happy and sure you could PTS your horse if you couldn't afford major treatment.

Vets bills wrack up quickly I've just had lameness work up and xrays come to £1,400.
 

Shay

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Depends on the age, horse value and activity. I always insured the competition ponies in full including LOU. We now have hunters and a retired Oldie. I don't insure beyond 3P.

You do need resources to be able to cover a bill - I did start by putting what I would pay as a premium into a savings account. But it built up so far I stopped and only now top up when I need to. Insurance is basically a gamble - you bet the horse will be ill / injured - they bet it won't. And the odds are usually stacked in favour of the house.
 

Wizpop

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Have to say I am also with the insurance Emporium and they were very quick to pay out on my last horse and very reasonable premium.
I did consider just having 3 rd party cover and having an interest free credit card on standby should I have any big vets bills as I hear a lot of people do that. I have however just taken out a new policy with the insurance Emporium instead! ETA ( I don’t work for them or have any connections!)
 

Quigleyandme

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Harry Hall One Club has very affordable if limited insurance. Gold membership of the club is only £3.33 per month and automatically confers public liability insurance and you can get very healthy discounts on a lot of stuff with free postage. Limited vet fees insurance is available at a little extra cost. It might be worth considering as better than no cover whatsoever.
 

dogatemysalad

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Personally, for me, no.
If my horse has an injury in the field, I'd like to concentrate on my horse and listen to the vet, instead of spending a couple of hours on a dark stormy night trying to get through to an insurance company to see if they'll cover the cost of treatment.
I also like to be able to make decisions with my vet about what investigations are in the best interests of my horse without an insurance company butting in. Equally, I like to be able to call a vet for minor ailments without fear of exclusions being added to my policy.
However, I am able to take the hit if I had a large bill, particularly as I've saved thousands of pounds by not having insurance over the years.
 

asmp

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I stopped insuring after horse was 15 as too much was excluded.

I do agree with the post above about being to call a vet without worrying that exclusions would apply afterwards.
 

Polos Mum

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I have one of three insured, I do what's right for the horse and if it's covered great if not shame but it still needs doing. When I speak to vets I tell them he's not insured - you get a different suggested treatment sometimes.

I've insured one of my gang (have had up to five in total at any time and never less than 3), at c.£500 a year for the last 15 years so about £7-8k I've paid the insurance companies. For the first 8 years I had no claims, they were quids in. Then c£3k on emergency joint flush from a kick, maxed the limit on kissing spins so £4k and now recently at least £2k on bone cyst so I'm just about up on the whole thing. I never claim for small things and think I've been pretty lucky with the volume of bigger things over that time frame and number of horses.

It's gambling. One horse I had came with insurance that had 2 a4 pages of exclusions - a nasty ear injury might have been covered but not much else - needless to say I didn't renew that one!
 

Cortez

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Depends. I've never insured my own horses (clients are welcome to insure theirs, and often do), I am prepared to cover whatever life throws up, but I also have a definite cut off point beyond which I am not prepared to pay, and the horse will be put down or retired. Vet fees are extremely high in the UK and I think part of this is the ubiquity of insurance meaning that treatment is sometimes extended beyond what is necessary or practical on the basis that the insurance will cover it.

*Actually, I think insurance is a massive scam....
 

teddypops

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Personally, for me, no.
If my horse has an injury in the field, I'd like to concentrate on my horse and listen to the vet, instead of spending a couple of hours on a dark stormy night trying to get through to an insurance company to see if they'll cover the cost of treatment.
I also like to be able to make decisions with my vet about what investigations are in the best interests of my horse without an insurance company butting in. Equally, I like to be able to call a vet for minor ailments without fear of exclusions being added to my policy.
However, I am able to take the hit if I had a large bill, particularly as I've saved thousands of pounds by not having insurance over the years.
Why would you think you had to spend a couple of hours on phone to the insurance company instead of dealing with your horse? I have never had to do that.If horse needs treatment, it needs treatment regardless of who is paying what. I get vet as normal, they treat horse as normal, I submit claim forms, insurance pays bills. I know what I am covered for and what I’m not covered for and have never had an issue. I have also never had an insurance company butt in anywhere regarding treatment.
 

milliepops

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Why would you think you had to spend a couple of hours on phone to the insurance company instead of dealing with your horse? I have never had to do that.If horse needs treatment, it needs treatment regardless of who is paying what. I get vet as normal, they treat horse as normal, I submit claim forms, insurance pays bills. I know what I am covered for and what I’m not covered for and have never had an issue. I have also never had an insurance company butt in anywhere regarding treatment.
same here!
 

TheHairyOne

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It depends how lucky you are with your horses!!! Its all a great big gamble. If you never claim you are out of pocket (but obviously piece of mind is worth something for some people!).

Ive got one in the field who has nearly topped out his 5k insurance 5 times over the years...however, given the 5 claims were all different things 90% of him is now excluded from anything and 2 of them left him not happy in hard work so at 19 (lou claim at 8) is no longer insured.

Ive had 2 more big claims on another horse.

3 of ours are fully insured. The other 3 are 3rd party liability through the BHS. We'll switch the 16 year old cob for the younger cob next year as one is getting going amd doing fun stuff more and more and one is getting expensive due to age and is mostly doing flatwork and stressage these days.

Id say it does also depend on how good your vets are. The lot I am with are amazing and we have been with them long enough they really do listen and are happy to help over the phone etc. This means our claims have either been massive (like the surgery for the broken sesamoid bone) or in general we dont bother as they are under the excess.
 

PSD

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I will never have a horse without insurance now. I lost my mare last month and her vet fees racked up to around 7k in total. Not something I have lying around! Vets and insurance took care of each other, was very stress free.

However if my mare had survived she wouldn’t have been insured for the next premium year due to too many exclusions. I’d rather pay the premiums and excess than be landed with a huge vet bill that I couldn’t physically afford and potentially jeopardise the treatment options because of affordability.
 

hellfire

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I think public liability at the least is a essential and if your riding on the roads at all I feel it should be law. A friend many years ago had a accident with her horse and a car. Her horse had to be pts on site. No public liability and it was apparently 50/50 fault. If your horse escapes and causes damage or a accident then again do you have the money to pull out your bank to pay for that? The premium is a small price to pay for them kind of events.
 

hellfire

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I will never have a horse without insurance now. I lost my mare last month and her vet fees racked up to around 7k in total. Not something I have lying around! Vets and insurance took care of each other, was very stress free.

However if my mare had survived she wouldn’t have been insured for the next premium year due to too many exclusions. I’d rather pay the premiums and excess than be landed with a huge vet bill that I couldn’t physically afford and potentially jeopardise the treatment options because of affordability.
I’m so sorry to hear this. One of my rescues got a hernia years ago and without insurance that would of been a costly op nowhere near 7k but still money I can’t pluck out of thin air.
 

PSD

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I’m so sorry to hear this. One of my rescues got a hernia years ago and without insurance that would of been a costly op nowhere near 7k but still money I can’t pluck out of thin air.

I found it hard enough to find the money for the excess with her first going lame on New Year’s Eve, I was skint from Christmas! But I would much rather pay that than foot the bill for treatment. X rays every 2 weeks, imprints every 2 weeks etc it soon mounts up! Thank you
 

hellfire

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I found it hard enough to find the money for the excess with her first going lame on New Year’s Eve, I was skint from Christmas! But I would much rather pay that than foot the bill for treatment. X rays every 2 weeks, imprints every 2 weeks etc it soon mounts up! Thank you
Never easy at anytime but just after Xmas makes it even harder. I really feel for you so much. Not a horse but I lost my cat to cancer last September and without insurance it would of cost me £3000 with the first op and treatment. All to no avail. I’d pay that excess again in a heartbeat just to try. As difficult as it is finding the money we do. My horses and animals have kept me skint all my life ?. Guess I’d be lost without them though. What would I do with the extra money ?‍♀️
 

PSD

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Never easy at anytime but just after Xmas makes it even harder. I really feel for you so much. Not a horse but I lost my cat to cancer last September and without insurance it would of cost me £3000 with the first op and treatment. All to no avail. I’d pay that excess again in a heartbeat just to try. As difficult as it is finding the money we do. My horses and animals have kept me skint all my life ?. Guess I’d be lost without them though. What would I do with the extra money ?‍♀️

i often wonder what non horse folk spend their money on ?
 

Tarragon

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I insure mine for 3rd party only. I expect to pay for any vet treatments from savings and, like Cortez, I think I would have a cut-off point beyond which I wouldn't go, though this has never been tested yet. I have been lucky and, so far (touching wood!), I haven't had to pay out anything above the usual and have saved £1000s in not paying for insurance.
 

Nicnac

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Yes I insure mine. But I do change the class of use around depending on what they are doing. As not doing BE at the moment due to daughter's pregnancy and broken neck(!) have taken mine down to aff BD level which has saved a lot as insuring for BE is expensive and the bay is now just insured for the field but at the same level as when he was ridden and competing. I'll just put it back up when sproglet arrives and he's back in work.

Have had TBs for past X years, I am very much quids in!

Shetland is insured for catastrophic injury by her owner as I am loaning her.
 

Horses_Rule

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Yep just not even worth the risk to me. I would never forgive myself if I didn’t have the funds to fix something that was fixable but costly. I don’t have massive pots of money eg thousands so it’s worth it. I certainly wouldn’t save anywhere near enough if I paid my £40 a month for insurance into a pot for both my horses vet bills for a very long time! I understand about exclusions etc and at some point it’s pointless due to them. My old girl has several issues from over the years so she at 18 is covered by a veteran insurance which I pay £12 a month for and it covers accident up to £1000 which would cover a good cut , X-ray or scan if needed. At her point in life i wouldn’t Put her through surgery for anything really so it works for me.
 

Misty 2020

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I think public liability at the least is a essential and if your riding on the roads at all I feel it should be law. A friend many years ago had a accident with her horse and a car. Her horse had to be pts on site. No public liability and it was apparently 50/50 fault. If your horse escapes and causes damage or a accident then again do you have the money to pull out your bank to pay for that? The premium is a small price to pay for them kind of events.
BHS memberships gold gives you Public liability insurance up to £30 million. So I would be covered if I didn’t have the other insurance. I am going to look into different insurance companies to see can I get a better quote. I pay the vet bills out of my own pocket because the insurance companie will only pay if it’s life threatening.
 
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JoannaC

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My three aren't but one is 25 and pretty much retired other than the odd pootle, the 16 year old had an horrific field accident when she was 8 at which time she was insured thank goodness but now is mainly a field ornament and the newest I will insure but because we haven't got going this year I will wait until we are properly back in work and potentially moving her to a livery yard. I do have public liability through British Dressage though. So I would say it depends on age and if you have had prior claims which are now excluded and whether you can afford a massive vets bill at some point.
 

doodle

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I have never spent 2 hrs trying to sort insurance before seeing if horse needs treatment. If it needs treatment it needs treatment and will get it. I know what exclusions my horses have. Any time I have claimed it has been a 10min phone call then the vets do the rest.

When Soli was PTS vet also rang insurance to say it was happening. That certainly didn’t take 2 hrs as I was there in 30mins and it had been all sorted.

Equally when Minto was PTS I knew it wasn’t covered so when I rang to say it had happened phone call was about 2 mins.

If the horse is suffering and needs PTS immediately the insurance company’s are very clear you DO NOT have to contact them first.
 
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