Most expensive vet's bill and why....

I cancelled my vets fees for my 6 yr old this year. Saved me £200 :).
She is exempt for so much that it'd only be soft tissue injuries that would pay out.
I would never put her through colic surgery and that is the only biggy I could think of that she would be covered for.
 
I'm with Nfu also. They have paid out, no questions each time. The first time was for a damaged tendon, about 9 years ago. Then they paid out nearly £6000 to have a squamous cell carcinoma removed from the eye, plus radio and chemo therapy. They also paid half the livery costs and transport costs to and from Leaholme from Yorkshire - 2 visits.

I didn't bother claiming for the removal of the same eye, beccause t was linked to the previous eye treatment.

I currently have an on-going claim..... not sure they will pay out because it's lameness - the suspensory ligament - and we already claimed for a tendon.

NFU veteran insurance doesn't start til the horse is 18, and Star is 15. I will have to find out EXACTLY what is not covered now though. It may be that there is not a lot left to cover.
 
Oberon, don't know if they're any cheaper but I'm with Stoneways and can thoroughly recommend if you're looking for viable alternatives to NFU :)
 
For my filly it was £5k... for OCD.

For my gelding, I have had a couple of a couple of hundred quid or so for the treatment of infected leg wounds - makes me sound a ompletely incompetent fool but vet assures me Im not! lol! and then his colic last year was a pretty biggie - two out of hours call outs and then 4 days in hospital, without surgery was I'm sure getting on for a grand or so... wipe these things from my memory these days!!

I insure with Scottish equestrian- worth getting a quote from as they are reasonably priced and always pay out.
 
Oberon, i have had over £25k from petplan, between 4 horses, over 12 years. First was a bill which exceeded the £5k limit for an attack in the field, which resulted in a broken leg, major bodily wounds, surgery, colic (eating straw on boxrest), etc. Then a further £3k for arthritis of the hock of that leg.
Cushings disease with recurrent lami - £4k+ (included remedial farriery)
One of our others has shattered a splint in one leg, fractured a canon in another, torn a check ligament in another and a lateral digital extensor tendon
 
*i wasn't finished!!!*
Each one has been thousands.
She now also has Cushings.
Dollys SI injury bill currently stands at £3.5k and is ongoing.
Mollys ddft injury was about £3k.
We've also had several colics (all out of hours, but none required surgery).
Then there are the injuries we never bothered claiming for. ..

I just can't imagine not having insurance. Mine would prob all be dead by now. That or i would be homeless & selling my body on the street!! :D
 
Horse insurance costs for 6 yrs = £3600

Vet bills covered (mostly in last two years):
Upper suspensory ligament treatment & surgery £4K
Radiography scan & treatment for a back problem £1100
Colic surgery - equine hospital £7K
Own vet costs for above £1000
Disposal costs £300
Euthanasia £300
Price of horse insurance £8000.
So I am ahead by £16,000+
Insurance buys peace of mind and I consider it cost of owning horse. However, if you don't insure then satisfy yourself that you would NOT put your horse through colic surgery - many don't - as that is far and away the most expensive. Those with lots of horses play the odds and probably forgo expensive treatment - e.g PTS rather than surgery for colic, etc. No single right way for this. Good luck!
 
I feel I've not had too bad a ride compared to some owners on here. My worst bills were about £2000 for a nasty kick to the knee which needed an operation as air had gotten into it, so that covered everything and stabling at the RVC. The next big bill was about £1200 for hock steroid injections. Luckily my insurers are brilliant and have always paid out no questions asked.
 
I'm another who is massively in profit!

Horse 1: £1800 for lameness workup - no diagnosis ever made, chucked in a field to recover. (XS £135).
Horse 2: £6000 (ish - I stopped counting!) for gastric ulcers, took over a year to sort out as had glandular as well as splash and needed antibiotics as caused by bacterial infection. Insurance paid out £5000 (XS £135)
£1000 for a kick to the head which required stitching and stapling and various x-rays, antibiotics and pain killers.
£900 for a lameness work up and associated treatment (XS £135).

Total amount paid out by insurance = £8700 ish. Total cost of insurance to date £3800 ish.
 
I don't have insurance - I don't own outright a horse at the moment! However, I think whether to insure any animal or not comes down to one stark decision - if something 'big' were to happen could you afford to cover the costs yourself (savings, empty credit card etc) or live with having to make a decision not to treat and the consequences that brings.

If you have an aged or infirm horse who couldn't deal with treatments then this decision if skewed against insuring. If your horse could deal with treatments and lead a good life after it then you need to be prepared to make those decisions imho.
 
hi do think long and hard,ive lost one much loved veteran external injuries only but covered diposal he was cremated and still at home with me also unisured ex chaser to colic when i was on holiday ,and i kow we all think it wont happen to us but had to have 17hh sports horse destroyed when hit by artic lorry following attempted theft the damage to lorry was over 3000 so do please think twice :)
 
My horse at the age of 12 never had a problem was so heathy always wondered why I had insurance. Then he had a spine scan= £1000
His damaged his suspensory=£3000
Then a skin allergy which he's going through now atm standing at £1200.
I'd never thought he would have anything wrong with him but it seems one problem after another.
 
This happened to my horse well over 10 years ago, and my vets still talk about it,

Horse spooked at some cows while hacking down the lane, slipped and fell down the ditch at the side of the road. Unfortunately someone had dumped a TV set in the ditch, the screen sliced right through Clydes knee taking out 2 arteries and a ligament. Got him to the vets who only gave him a minimal chance of coming out of the anaesthetic, to cut a long story short he amazed everyone and after a years recovery was still able to jump a metre on a good surface. Total cost of vets bill then was £4,500.
 
24 year old Arab,

Diagnosed with elephant leg, box rest for 2 weeks, bute, antibiotics, Consultations, injections

2 days later it returns,

Box rest, bute, antibiotics, X-rays, consultations, injections

My boy had actually fractured his leg the 2nd time round so he was pts

Total bill: £2698.50

Includes the not so nice parts as well :(
 
Had owned my mare for 3 months when she lacerated her eye on a hawthorn hedge and that resulted in 3 weeks at Newmarket and 2 operations £5,800.00 bill.

My WB scratched his eye and got uveitis and had to be hospitalised for a week - that was £980.
Same horse has a gastroscopy and GastroGard treatment - approx £1,500. He then went on to a lameness clinic at Newmarket which cost £3,800.00 he also had £1,000 of alternative therapies - physio/holistic vet - osteopathy and acupuncture. He has now been branded for LOU - so insurance paying 80% of insured value - all within 18month period :(

I think I would always insure any high value horse particularly one that is a blood type and also if it competes.

We have a cob we have owned and insured for 7 years and never claimed. We also have small uninsured pony and he has never had a substantial vet bill.
I am now reconsidering the cob as she is 19 and therefore will not be insured for any value and I have opted for a £500 excess.
 
Oberon said:
Mine is barefoot and healthy too. Jumping 2'9" the week before he felt stuffy under saddle. Trotted up lame on 4th November. About £1100 on lameness workup and treatment for SI joint with bute and transport/stay at the vets. Currently looking at another £1200 for a bone scan/transport to Rossdales.

He's never been sick or sorry, only ever called the vet out twice in 10 years for something not regular (one was a kick and lameness as a 3 year old, the other was a puncture wound to the forearm). For years he wasn't insured, but I'm grateful that he is now, if he wasn't, I wouldn't like to think :(
Click to expand...
 
8k(ish) & rising! Had mass in sinus, then subsequent problems with fluid build up in the sinuses. Unless a miracle has occurred is due a 3rd surgery in about a month. Also had gastric ulcers as a result of all the original surgeries,box rest bute etc etc which was another 3k, hoping not to have a repeat of the ulcers on top of next months surgery! Plus in the same year booted himself on 1st turn out causing a haematoma on his leg & a mere couple of hundred for visit & scan of leg. And yes,it is a TB!
 
A friend of mine had a vet's bill for just over £5k. Her horse backed into a mounting block cutting her hock. Despite getting vet out immediatley the bursar got infected and she had to have an operation.

My most expensive was about £1200 for lameness assessment and MRI scan
 
Over £10K on uninsured horse who just came to stay for a week or so... First day out he came in with tiny prick to his fetlock, but it proved to be deep down to the bone, and then it all started; xrays, scans, sequestrum, 2 ops at Liphook, recovery, more scans, meds, infection, blah blah blah. All this on a horse who was worth about £2k at the time.

My hunter is insured and he has cost the insurance company approx £2k per year on average; ulcers, sacroilliac investigations, bone scans, meds, lameness workups etc.

I did stop insuring my daughter's pony who is a headshaker as we'd reached the limit on the insurance and had many more tests to do etc which I thought I'd be better of paying for myself and take a gamble on him not hurting himself another way.
 
£4954 is the worst to date and it happened about 4 months after I got him. Treatment was for sarcoids around the eye and he ended up having iridium wire treatment on one at Leahurst and cream for other small ones around the other eye. My limit is £5k so it was tight and I have everything crossed they stay away!

Also had a bill for approx £3.5k for barb wire lacerations to 2 legs, this included a skin graft via punch biopsy and a lot of dressing (twice a week for 3 months) which needed him to be sedated as he tried kicking my vet in the head a couple of time... This was only 5 months after the sarcoid claim started...
 
With 2 horses over 10 years I had a ripped muscle, a tendon, damaged suspensories and stomach ulcers. At £600 + each we are looking at £12000 (**** theats a scary amount) I reackon not insuring I'm quids in! My ex has been less lucky he's had 2 major surgeries but equally split over 4 horses and 6 years its probably still cheaper without. 3rd party is a must though!
 
We are definately quids in with our boys insured (we have 3rd party on all of them, though will be changing this and going with the BHS next year as think this will reduce the premiums), but no LOU.

We've had between 1 and 4 horses on multihorse policies over 4 years. £125 excess per claim

Horse 1 (over 3 years) Approx 3.5k premiums
Puncture wound to hock in the field - £1700
KS, shockwave etc - £4800
Bone chips in hock - £3700
Mystery slight front lameness - £2800 (no diagnosis - wasn't lame anymore!)
laceration in the field (down to the bone, missed everythign important) - £3200

Horse 2 (over 4 years) Premiums approx 2k (was a 2 year old when we got him so cheaper for 2 years)
All field injuries!
Sliced off back of foot - around 4k (they did plaster etc)
Kick - suspended broken leg (wasn't) - £750
Bite - stiched - £400
And something else I can't remember!!!
Nothing excluded still.

Horse 3 (over 18 months) £25 a month - no claims

Horse 4 (over 15 months) - baby in the field £20 a month - no claims.

We are no longer at the yard that produced all the field injuries and horse 3 and 4 never lived there! :D

Recommend Stoneways. Very quids in still. Would rather have had horses that hadn't broken and have lost money!
 
I've not had an excessively huge vets bill myself but one of my horses did as a racehorse. He had £14.5k worth of major heart surgery at Newmarket for landing on his foot and practically removing his heart from his body. 2 years later he then went and struck into himself causing a further £6k worth of damage. In between times he was a bleeder so had enough scopes etc. to last a lifetime. THe good thing with him though was that he was insured and every time he broke the owner said to the vets to fix him no matter what, even if he never raced again he wanted him alive if possible.
 
Had over £6000 on ulcers, spavins and ringbone, now hoping to claim £6000 LOU.
£2500 on pony who fell over in its stable :confused:
about £4000 on colic operation

All these times NFU have been difficult about paying out and either not payed in full or at all so I am now insured with BHS and BE and LOU money will become a fund for vets. I do worry if something terrible happened but fully insuring horses is incredibly expensive expecially when they wont even pay out!
 
I'd had Nemo only 4 months when he got a bad knee injury - no idea how he did it. Large laceration down to joint which became infected. Surgery, followed by 3 week stay at a Newmarket Equine clinic and subsequent dressings at home = £7,500.
 
I would always insure my horses, it is about £100 a month for three with Petplan Equine but it is very much worth it. Last July my mare severed an artery in her fetlock in the field by treading on a ceramic pipe - over £800 on the first day and 5 months in, a total of £5000 followed in November by colic, another £1000 for that. I currently have my veteran New Forest on box rest for a traumatic hock injury, £2000 so far. I have claimed for other less dramatic injuries before, all of which have happened in the field. Unless you are particularly wealthy the insurance is worth every penny, if they hadn't been insured there is no way I could have paid for the treatment they have had.
 
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