Not going to insure horse on renewal - have you done this?

Birker2020

Birker2020

Well-Known Member
Joined
29 October 2008
Messages
23,596
Visit site
I've decided not to bother with insuring my 16 year old WB from renewal this year as its £69 per month and that's with exclusions on both hocks, suspensory/ligaments on both front legs, and any colic treatment. My tack is not insured on this policy either!!

I rang up my current insurer to cancel my old police upon renewal and I have set up a new policy for death of horse under humane grounds for £3000 value and also public liability for up to 1million at a cost of £15.50 per month. I am therefore saving myself £53 per month of which I shall put £45 per month direct debit into my vets account by standing order. This will ensure that I have some money should he cut his leg in the field.

The biggie, the one I was always waiting for (with a horse with repeat spasmodic colic) was the dreaded colic episode which would result in an operation. But its doubtful with all my horses problems that I would consider putting him through such an operation given all his other problems. And even if he didn't have these problems I have enough in my savings to cover this operation.

I do think I have done the right thing, and I have until the 29th December to change my mind.

Have any of you stopped insurance in favour of crediting your vets account?
 
I did consider this when I bought my new girl as mine is £60 per month and I have BHS gold cover for the public liability.

In the end, I decided against it because she is only 7 and I wouldn't rule out surgery should something terrible happen, but I would struggle to bounce back from it financially (no way would I say no just on the basis of finances alone). I still wouldn't have the benefit of the money if something happened, so I'm not better off each month by stopping the insurance.

I think you have considered the risks and limitations, and it sounds like the right decision to me based on what you said. When my girl is older, it's likely that I'll rethink the cover as I wouldn't want to put an older horse through surgery anyway.
 
Yes, I did cancelled my policy when my last horse got to 17 or 18. He had a general exclusion for arthritis because he had hock spavins and ringbone. The big things left were basically soft tissue injuries which would require significant box rest to put right, and colic surgery, also requiring box rest. I decided that with a horse of his size (17hh), age and with arthritis, I wouldn't want to put him through any sort of box rest. If I couldn't cure it with 6 months in the field then I would have him PTS. I didn't put money into an account with the vet, though I would have put money into my own account. I just had an accidental external/visible injury policy for him that cost me £100 for 12 months (Amtrust Equine), so I knew they would pay for cuts in the field and so on.

I'm not sure why you would put money into an account with the vet? Why not just put it into a savings acc yourself, and pay the vet from that as and when you need to? I know savings don't earn much interest now but the vet will be earning interest on your money, and you could be. I'd put it into an ISA (tax free interest) then you can just withdraw it if you need to.

ETS - I have BHS Gold cover for liability. At the time I had two horses so it worked out cheaper, and now I only have one I have kept up with it. The cover through the BHS is much better than with an insurance co.
 
I never insure, I have had up to eleven horses at some times and the cost of insurance would be prohibitive .
I am not interested in having cover for death on humans grounds I have had horses for nearly fifty years and have never lost one in these circumtances .
I have a building society account and keep about £ 10,000 ( it varies it's a bit depleted ATM )
Bear in mind I have four or five horses at any one time.
I would not credit the vets I don't like the idea of that at all .
I also have a credit card ( i use it only enough to keep it open ) which would buy me time in a melt down situation say if all got grass sickness or perhaps a fire I don't know but there's another £10,000 I could get my hands on instantly there.
 
I am another that has cancelled my horse insurance this year. Opened a bank account and am paying my monthly premium into there. I have public laibility with British dressage membership, but considering swapping to BHS membership when its due for renewal in april, not sre if much difference in benefits.
 
I cancelled my insurance 3 years ago .At that point it was £120 per month and only 3 of my 4 were insured as the old boy is 25 and had so many restrictions he would virtually have to be struck by lightening to get anyhing!!
So I have saved around £4,500 over the 3 years. Other than routine jabs i have spent a total of £130 vets bills over those 3 years .
The 2 oldies 25 and 20 if they had major life threading injuries would be pts .I would not put any of my horses through colic surgery.
I have BHS third party insurance and moved all the tack onto the house insurance as it is kept in a garage linked to the house it cost £20 per year.
I am lucky horses are at home with no coming and going so in a settled quiet herd so never yet had squabbles in the field to cause injury.
 
horselib said:
I cancelled my insurance 3 years ago .At that point it was £120 per month and only 3 of my 4 were insured as the old boy is 25 and had so many restrictions he would virtually have to be struck by lightening to get anyhing!!
So I have saved around £4,500 over the 3 years. Other than routine jabs i have spent a total of £130 vets bills over those 3 years .
The 2 oldies 25 and 20 if they had major life threading injuries would be pts .I would not put any of my horses through colic surgery.
I have BHS third party insurance and moved all the tack onto the house insurance as it is kept in a garage linked to the house it cost £20 per year.
I am lucky horses are at home with no coming and going so in a settled quiet herd so never yet had squabbles in the field to cause injury.
Click to expand...

Struck by lightning, dont be silly, that would be an act of God, so no chance of a payout for that either :-)
 
I cancelled mine two years ago and I've saved money even though both of them have had various ailments, costing £1000 in vets fees.
Even if exclusions hadn't been applied, I've still saved myself £2000.

If the policy's were still running, exclusions would have cancelled out the issues that are ongoing or might reoccur anyway.

I no longer have to worry that calling the vet might mean another exclusion on the policy, or wait for permission to have the treatment my vet and I feel is necessary.

I do have the resources to pay for treatment that is needed though, if I didn't, I'd have to ensure I had preplanned how to get the money immediately if a horse was ill.

Have public liability though.
 
I own somewhere in the region of 20 horses and none of them are insured for vet bills. I just pay as I go, if they need vet treatment then they get it however I have a pretty well stocked vet room and can do most things myself. It's very rare that any of my horses need the vet so I've made huge savings over the past 10 years of not insuring them.
 
I don't insure for vets fees only death, theft or straying and public liability. If he needs the vet then I get him out but I can pay a bit off each month for the fees. I have though long and hard about what would happen if he needed surgery or broke a leg and I would deal with it if it occurred.
 
Insure any new horse for first year & then assess if its a healthy sort or not before deciding to continue or not. Have 2 not insured & 1 insured - with a couple of claims.
Always mean to pay the other 2's premium equivalent into a savings account, but I'm not organized enough (but do have a credit card for just in case)
 
After two sickeningly bad experiences with Insurance companies (both supposedly one of the better ones!) I now won't entertain the idea of giving any of the robbing so and so's a penny of my hard earned money!! I have a credit card and a few savings, if god forbid the worst should happen. I would put my old lady to sleep if anything happened to her that required lengthy box rest or an op. My new boy was not expensive enough to warrant insurance on value grounds, although I would of course pay to get him sorted should the worst happen.

I used to insure my horses properly with well known insurers but got royally stuffed by two of them, so, never, ever again - the only thing that would change my mind would be if I had a horse that was considerably more valuable than either that I have now.
 
I have multiple horses and haven't insured for years.

My vet is fully aware that I 'self insure' I have a good few quid tucked away in a savings account and around £15k available on credit cards should it be needed.

Public liability is through BHS.

The only thing that I couldn't cover is replacing them if ever (god forbid) something happened and they all went at once.
 
Really thinking of stopping insurance and putting money into account. I'm a bhs gold member so I'm covered for third party. I hate insurance companies! Last year rang up to enquire about a scan to R's leg (he was having some problems and vets didn't know what was up). Turns out he had a bruised sole which healed in time, no scan was required or veterinary treatment but they've excluded that leg from all further treatment!!!!
 
madlady said:
I have multiple horses and haven't insured for years.



The only thing that I couldn't cover is replacing them if ever (god forbid) something happened and they all went at once.
Click to expand...

This is my only worry with this system replacing four/ five all at once ( if say grass sickness hit ) however I reckon if god forbid it did happening would be so heart broken it would be the least of my worrys .
And I could easily find a nice TB coming out of training and then buy MrGS a nice made ID to get us started again.
Is it age that makes you think these things out ?
 
minew not insured now either only time I made a claim the wriggled out of paying then excluded just about every possibility so I have a PTS fund and a small limit credit card there isnt much the farrier , my first aid training or experience doesnt cover and even then the excess and exclusions would mean very little came my way anyway.
Dont death of the horse because they are all irreplaceable and horses at the minute are ten a penny anyway if there was something I really liked I could probably find a bit towards it
 
I am stopping next March, when my policy is up. I assume you don't really mean you are gonig to pay your vet every month?
I am with WHW which covers public liability, although we are also covered under our house insurance. I don't know whether everyone gets that or if it is because the horses are kept at home - anyone else know?
My horses have exclusions on the problematic bits as it is, and if one broke a leg or needed colic surgery I would PTS anyway.
 
I am selective with my insurance. I have 5 horses/ponies. I don't insure my WB for whom I had LOU as the fees went up sky high and I don't insure my little pony. My others are insured for nominal values, no LOU and I have a voluntary 500 pound excess. It keeps the annual fee reasonable and covers for the big stuff if need be.
 
I stopped this time last year on my two. Even a very basic policy which only covered 75% of fees after a £100 excess was £70 a month for the two of them. They both had front feet excluded and Archie's melanomas were excluded. As they both turned 17 this year they would have also switched to a veteran policy which only covered accidental injury. I now pay the £70 into a savings account, which already had £500 in it and touch wood, haven't had to dip into it yet so that's currently about £1200 for vet's bills when it's needed and I have credit cards for massive emergencies. I wouldn't pay directly into a vet's account as it then can't be used for other purposes (e.g buying a new horse if necessary or other treatment like dental / physio) and you won't have the money to seek a second opinion if you ever need it.

BHS gold membership is usually cheaper for public liability insurance than a 'commercial' policy.
 
I have BHS Gold for PL cover

Insure fully for fit competition horses (of which I only ever have one at a time)

Anything with significant injury history / old age then I don't insure - on the basis I would cover small ad hoc stuff out of my own pocket, should there be mild lameness then the horses would be turned away without paying £££ for a full diagnosis and if the horse needed major surgery then they would be PTS.
 
I don't insure mine (5). Two of them are old ladies, the other three aren't really worth much in monetary terms. I wouldn't even like to estimate how much insuring them all would have been over the decades compared to the fairly low vet bills I have paid out.
Public liability is the one I'm most concerned about and I have BHS gold membership.
I've known my vets for nearly 30 years and worked for them for a while so I know if it were a desperate situation they would be understanding about payments.
Insurance companies are robbing bar-stewards and unless it's car/house insurance I choose not to give them a penny of my money!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top