Is it worth insuring a veteran?

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Berkeley

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I am just wondering if it is worth insuring my veteran mare. I am with an insurance company at the moment and they only cover external injuries as she will be more prone to degeneration than youngsters and therefore the risk is too high to cover for everything. They do a special veteran insurance package - which I think is overated.

She had a tooth out a few months ago. It was broken at the root so it had to be removed. I haven't claimed yet but I did speak to my insurers about it and they said I would have to prove that it wasn't due to wear and tear and was a consequence of her eating something hard or something similar. I don't want advice on how to argue this, there is no one better than I to argue! But it did get me thinking. What's the point insuring a horse that hacks out once a week and the rest of the time chills in her field?

Any thoughts on this?
 
My horse is 31, when he was about 20 my insurers reduced the amount of cover I had, then reduced it to external injury as he got older. I have carried on with it in case something does happen thats external.

I think its a little unfair though, horses can get laminitis, colic etc at any time not just when they are old. If it was repetative then I could see why they wouldn't pay out, but not even once !
 
Yes it is worth it.

My horse died as the result of a freak accident in the field last July aged 27. The insurers paid out as it was an accident and not a result of old age.
 
I guess it depends upon what your premium is. As my old chap had so many exclusions for past injuries and, at his age, wouldn't insure for colic or other really expensive stuff, I decided not to insure him. I thought it made more sense to put some money aside each month to cover treatment in the case of the worst. It seemed that the insurance company was getting a lot from my preimiums but I was getting very low cover.
 
I confess to not insuring my two oldies (although the 3 boys in work are all fully insured). At 25 and 29 respectively, if I were able to find a policy, there would be such limited cover that I feel it's hardly worth it. Yes, I do appreciate that accidents can and do happen - but I'll have to deal with that if and when the situation arises. As for illness - well again we'll have to wait and see - I wouldn't be able to get cover for them for that anyway.

I am, however, as PeterNatt says a member of the BHS for the public liability cover.

(Just as an aside - I was talking to a BHS area rep at one of the big county shows last summer and confessed to her that the main reason I was a BHS member was for the public liability insurance. The BHS rep actually told me that approximately 85% of members join for the same reason - far more so than those join in order to take BHS exams, be on the instructors register etc. etc. etc.)
 
I didn't insure my veteran. The market value would be pretty low so in the event of death by accident (probably one of the least likely causes of death in older horses) you wouldn't get much anyway. If they were injured badly enough to require a lot of treatment you would have to ask yourself whether it was fair to put them through surgery or invasive treatment and a long recuperation.

My old boy was pts because of colic very unexpectedly. He had gone into his stable a healthy and lively 27year old at 7.30pm the night before and eaten all his hay so can't have been suffering for long, but by the time I got there at 7am he was down in his stable. The vet was there in 30 minutes but his heart was already slowing and he couldn't get up. There was no way he'd have made the hour journey to Bristol for surgery, he was already on his way and all the vet could do do was give him a helping hand. However I'm certain that even if the vet thought there was a small chance he could make it there I wouldn't have put him through it - nothing to do with cost but because it would only have saved him for more suffering to come. It was horrible at the time, but when I look back, it was quite a good way for him to go. I don't think he suffered for more than a few hours and I've seen so many arthritic or cushingoid horses go on months longer than they should have really.

One thing you could do - which is what I did, is put the money you pay for insurance into a savings account each month so that you have a fund to pay for things if you need to. If you can't give it a bit of a boost at the start it may be wort carrying on your insurance for a few months until you have enough in there to cover emergency treatment at least.

ETS- I also have BHS gold memebership for the insurance.
 
My 33 year old is only covered for public liability, through BHS gold membership. I wanted to take out a new policy a couple of years ago to cover my youngster, the old boy and a trailer, but most insurers either didn't want to cover him or if they did the premiums were way too high. I decided to just use my membership of the BHS for the old boy's liability cover, and then insure the youngster with NFU who don't insure horses over 30 (if it's a new policy).

I've also got a separate bank account set up. £40 a month from my current account is transferred by direct debit into my ''emergency vets fund account'' There's enough in there now to cover a few hefty vets bills.
TBH, at 33, if he needed treatment going into the thousands, I'd have to question whether it would be right to put him through it anyway.
 
My insurance has not covered my old boy's recent illness and I will not receive any money since his PTS was not injury-related.

HOWEVER i did still hack out on the roads and I recently had to claim £1000 for him duffing up a parked car. For this reason (mainly in case he caused an accident resulting in injury to 3rd parties) I would ALWAYS have my oldies insured.

I suppose it's different if they are retired though.
 
I insure my old boy he is 25, last year he got kicked ended up with a fractured jaw, as it was an accident it was covered under the insurance, the bill was over £1500 so pleased he was insured, as you say accidents do happen and when you least expect it.
 
It is essential to have public liability insurance, unless you have £10million sitting in a bank doing nothing!

Do not ever think this is a waste of money.

As for cover for everything else, weigh up whether you can afford to be without it. For a veteran it may not be worth insuring for vets fees as there will be lots of exclusions and you may be reluctant to subject an old horse to invasive and expesive treatment anyway. If you have access to money for essential vets fees (savings/credit cards) then you could drop your cover level.
 
I took my 20 yo retired horse off insurance last year. As a BHS Gold member I'm covered for public liability. My vet practice has started an Equine Health Plan, which costs around £12 pcm, and basically gives the horse an annual (and very thorough - took over an hour) MOT, free worm counts, discounted vaccinations and dental checks - and I thought that would be better value for the oldie because if anything life-threatening happens to him, he will be PTS rather than incur the costs/trauma of surgery. He was already subject to three exclusions.
 
Yes - my then 34yo suffered a fractured hind splint bone in the field last year and the surgery cost over £1700 - if he hadn't been insured he wouldn't be bouncing round the field today, still hoolying with the best of them!
 
Mine was totally retired and he had a claim paid out of around £1500 when he was 23 for an eye injury and another £500 for another injury. I think the insurance was only around £10 or £12 a month.
 
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