Lose of use and insurance

Shavings

Shavings

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ok so this is a thread i never through i would have to post..

any one ever claimed lose of use?

my Tb gelding has ligament damage and vets are talking about lose of use and sending him to leahurst
(possibly doesn't sound a big thing but i live on the isle of man so he will have to do a 4 hour ferry trip to get there!)

he is only 6 year old and i have had him 2 years , completely gutted
Thursday night he was not aloud pain killer as vet was coming Friday morning and wanted to see how he was with out, need less to say it was heart braking.

I'm insured with NFU, what i really want to know is if we try every thing and he still will not be right and vets advice lose of use is it going to be a uphill battle?


any one claimed and got paid out?

horse is insured for £4000
 
Firstly I am so sorry to read about your horse and I hope it doesn't come to loss of use for him.
Yes I got LOU for my WB. He was diagnosed with chronic sacro illiac dysfunction by Sue Dyson at Newmarket and written off with LOU. I too was insured with NFU and I have to say they were brilliant. They encouraged me to use my whole veterinary spend limit on him before the LOU was finalised. This meant he went away for 2 weeks to a holistic vet/osteopath for treatment. I also used a physiotherapist weekly for a period to enliven and stimulate his nerves and muscles that had not been used due to this chronic injury. I was eventually without any argument paid 80% of his insured value by NFU. He was insured for £10k and my vet fee limit was £5.5k. Newmarket cost almost £4k and the rest I used on the physio and alternate therapies.My only disappointment was that whilst they offered to insure him afterwards the premium was mentally high, despite all the exclusions that would have applied. I declined to take insurance and thankfully 5 years on he has not been sick or sorry apart from some routine osteopath/cranial sacral work I have had done on him. He is actually sound, but it has taken a great deal to overcome his mental anguish, because he was ridden abused before I got him.
My holistic vet gave him the herb 'horsetail' which is great for ligament healing and I have used an Arc Equine on him and on another mare of mine for a tendon injury, that avenue may well be worth exploring by you. My boy as all my others is on turmeric and micronised linseed as this is such a great natural anti oxidant and anti inflammatory. I hope this helps.
 
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One thing I would say is be prepared for it to potentially be a long process which I think a lot of people aren't aware or prepared for.

They need to ensure that the condition is permanent and so this can mean a drawn out process of attempting more diagnostics and treatment.

Normally they require their own vet to assess and say whether they agree with your vet or recommend any treatment. If both vets agree LOU then should be straight forward.
 
Elbie said:
One thing I would say is be prepared for it to potentially be a long process which I think a lot of people aren't aware or prepared for.

They need to ensure that the condition is permanent and so this can mean a drawn out process of attempting more diagnostics and treatment.

Normally they require their own vet to assess and say whether they agree with your vet or recommend any treatment. If both vets agree LOU then should be straight forward.
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Agree with this. My payment took several months to come through which is why NFU advised me to continue spending up to my veterinary limit meanwhile. This was helpful I must say. I expected a fight over his value and meanwhile compiled a collage of adverts of horses with similar breeding, only to find there was no argument whatsoever.
 
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Shavings said:
thank you both for your kind replies
i am just worried about the whole thing i have never had to do this, plus my insurance is up for renewal July 14!
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Don't worry about the renewal, because you will still be covered for this problem as the investigation has started. All conditions are covered for 12 months from the time they are treated/investigated.
I feel for you of course you must be worried sick, but Leahurst is a centre of excellence, so your horse will be in the best hands. LOU doesn't necessarily mean the end of a horses ridden career. Dr Green can work wonders.
 
I dont know about NFU, it really depends on your insurance provider as to how well they pay out. I moved from NFU to SEIB, I'd only been with SEIB for 2 months before I had to claim vets fees as my horse badly damaged a tendon, had to have surgery at Dick Vet (3 hours away). Vet said at the time his competitive career was over and we'd be lucky to get him sound. Did box rest and followed vet advice of controlled exercise for 6 months. After that, my vet checked horse and agreed he still would not be rideable so I claimed loss of use which SEIB paid out very quickly without any moaning whatsoever. They simply took off £500 for meat value basically, although their first "offer" to me was £2k too low I felt so I wrote back with adverts showing them what other horses similar to his competitive results were worth and they then confirmed they'd pay what I wanted. So its definately worth querying the offer if you think its too low. After vets fees and LOU, I claimed over £13k.

Good luck OP, and remember its not always the absolute worst result - vets are always very cautious about outcomes. They told me my horse would never be rideable again, he came sound after 18 months of field rest which surprised them. He is fine to ride, Ive done several walk/trot dressage tests purely for fun and he'd merrily gallop round XC again but I'm scared to risk him re-injuring his tendon so I won't jump or even canter him.
 
I dont know about NFU, it really depends on your insurance provider as to how well they pay out. I moved from NFU to SEIB, I'd only been with SEIB for 2 months before I had to claim vets fees as my horse badly damaged a tendon, had to have surgery at Dick Vet (3 hours away). Vet said at the time his competitive career was over and we'd be lucky to get him sound. Did box rest and followed vet advice of controlled exercise for 6 months. After that, my vet checked horse and agreed he still would not be rideable so I claimed loss of use which SEIB paid out very quickly without any moaning whatsoever. They simply took off £500 for meat value basically, although their first "offer" to me was £2k too low I felt so I wrote back with adverts showing them what other horses similar to his competitive results were worth and they then confirmed they'd pay what I wanted. So its definately worth querying the offer if you think its too low. After vets fees and LOU, I claimed over £13k.

Good luck OP, and remember its not always the absolute worst result - vets are always very cautious about outcomes. They told me my horse would never be rideable again, he came sound after 18 months of field rest which surprised them. He is fine to ride, Ive done several walk/trot dressage tests purely for fun and he'd merrily gallop round XC again but I'm scared to risk him re-injuring his tendon so I won't jump or even canter him.
 
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