Pro's/Con's of claiming LOU ..

E

Eira

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Sorry I keep posting things like this , I just can't get my head around it all and need it clarifying that I am potentialy doing the right thing ..

<u> PRO's </u>

* Free's up some money to 'replace' her


<u> Con's </u>
* No longer insured (or only partially insured for accidents)
* Only offering a % of her insured value
* Any vets bills will have to be payed 100% by us
* Can't claim if she needs to be PTS (???????)
* Can't claim LOA

Now on that basis it looks so clear
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But I am missing riding so so much , I cannot explain how much I actually just miss doing general horsey things that I can't do with Sol now . I never bought her to be a pet and I am yet again thinking that this summer will be again sat at the sidelines smiling.

I sound like a brat - I know but I need to look at the bigger picture , Sol costs us a small fortune at the moment and even that money could just pay for her for a while.

So yes back to the OP ... pro's/con's
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I think some of your cons need to be double checked - you can get insurance for an LOU horse and different companies will offer you different options - it would be worth ringing round to get quotes from a few of them.

Is it a possibility to have a loan horse in the meantime to see if that helps?

Though equally (and this will sound harsh) if you can't afford to have two horses then you need to decide whether keeping Sol is an option. If you claimed LOU is it possible that the blood bank would want her? She is young enough (from memory!)
 
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could you not find another horse to loan?

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Tried and failed (miserably)
Was supposed to be taking something on loan that has now got lami and is off games for 6months
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[ QUOTE ]


<u> PRO's </u>

* Free's up some money to 'replace' her
OR - YOU'VE NOW GOT A HORSE FOR FREE (SORT OF!)


<u> Con's </u>
* No longer insured SHE CAN BE INSURED BUT FOR RESTRICTIVE THINGS I BELIEVE.
* Only offering a % of her insured value BETTER THAN NOTHING
* Any vets bills will have to be payed 100% by us - SURELY THATS THE CASE ANYWAY ONCE YOUR YEAR IS UP FOR CLAIMING
* Can't claim if she needs to be PTS - IF YOU CAN GET HER INSURED I'M PRETTY SURE YOU CAN CLAIM FOR PTS IF UNRELATED IE SHE BROKE A LEG IN THE FIELD
* Can't claim LOA - WHATS LOA?



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I would check with your insurers as to what you could get cover for in event of LOU. Sorry you have to consider this though, its not easy
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Bugger I tried re-quoting and failed
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The year is up next March (if the vet explained to me correctly) and she is required to have ongoing treatment from now- forever.
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You are right I need to ring the insurance back and pick apart what they will offer us (in terms of money and further cover if we claim LOU) but the last time I spoke to them they weren't that useful !
 
We can afford to keep the two but the fact is I don't pay for her(and associated treatment) and with my Mum and Dad not being in the slightest horsey they are wondering why they are spending money on a horse that is going to sit in the field until she gets bad enough to warrant PTS
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I don't think I am explaining myself very well again but yes I need to ring the insurance again but this is the gist I got last time we spoke
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I had a similar conundrum to you back when I was 17, in the end I didn't claim LOU, kept my mare for another 6 years as a family pet, and only rode through riding lessons or riding other people's problem horses through word of mouth, or kind friends offering me rides. We were glad as she got a very bad bout of colic following a puncture wound to her cannon bone, which cost thousands to sort out, then she went lame, badly, which cost thousands again and in the end she had to be PTS as it turned out her pedal bone had fallen apart. For us, it was the right decision as we coudn't have afforded those vets bills - the LOU money wouldn't have covered them at all. We got her full insured value when she was PTS.

But, it meant I didn't have a horse to ride from age 17-22 but life's sh*t like that sometimes - we knew the risks and responsibilities of being a hrose owner! I now have another broken horse so I guess this is my destiny.

I have no words of wisdom to offer - just my experience of it! If she's worth a lot of money and LOU would mean you could put a bit aside for future vets' bills, plus get yourself another, then that might be the best option.
 
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I don't understand if you have insured for LOU why you wouldn't claim.
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As I have said they have offered a % of her 'value' it is less than her vets bills they have paid to date ... so there is a very good reason why didn't claim straight away
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I don't understand if you have insured for LOU why you wouldn't claim.
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Ditto. What's the point of insuring against your horse permanently breaking down, if when it does you don't claim?
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You're very unlikely ever to get LOA anyway unless horse gets hit by a bus, gets something like a twisted gut or a broken leg. Sol's not worth anything now selling wise. You may as well claim the LOU money.
 
This is the exact situation that makes LOU not a very viable option .. it is more than likely that in 5 years she will be utterly useless and require pain relief everyday .. then she would end up being PTS and we would technically get her full insured amount .

Again I am making no sense but I understand what I mean
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I really should just forgoe the riding (and this is what will probably happen - I am just having a brat attack atm
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)
 
If I were you I would claim LOU while you can as you are unlikely to be able to claim anything after 12 months of the start of the claim. When I claimed LOU with my old horse I was still able to insure him with KBIS for accidental injury and colic as he had never suffered with colic before. It was about £15 per month.
 
I don't know , maybe I'm just holding on to the fact that having her LOU'd would make it official that she is knackered .. I don't know.

Just feels like an insult to offer us £1500 for her ..

I'm just being abit -
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again
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If you're year isn't up till March 2010 then I would leave it as it is until you have claimed on you can and then claim LOU. Have you asked your vet his opinion? He would probably need to write a report in any event for the LOU claim.

With regard to finding another horse I think you should keep trying to find one on loan, they are out there, its just a matter of looking and being in the right place at the right time.
 
Both vets (specialist and the one that treats her now) have both recommended we try to go down the LOU route , he has also said he will agree she was worth her insured value before all of this is necessary.

I think holding off until we reach the vets bills limit would be a good idea though
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If you can get £1500 for her, plus find someone who will cover for vets fees for accidents i.e. colic/puncture wounds etc, then I think the decision is a no-brainer. I also didn't claim LOU for Cass as I didn't like to think she was knackered (although vets were supporting immediate PTS due to her condition - she honestly wasn;t that bad and was a VERY happy field ornament
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) but that's a silly reason really. You might kick yourself for years to come if you follow that thinking.

And wanting to ride isn't bratty at all - I'm feeling very frustrated too with having a broken horse at the moment and trying to convince my OH I need a second horse (he's having none of it, understandably! One broken horse could soon become two broken horses in his eyes).
 
Sorry I think I am being a little dim...... Do you have the horse insured and it can no longer do its job and you are concidering claiming on existing policy. Or have you got a lame horse that you are thinking of insuring so you can claim LOU?

Please say its the former not the latter!

If its is the former who are you with?
 
I just think £1500 is an insult ... and I know she is worthless but £1500 still just doesn't sit right with me
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I couldn't replace her for £1500 so I don't know why I should try
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.. i'd rather live in the very unhealthy hope that this will all sort itself out and I'll have my horse back ?
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Trying to understand the different angles, but have a cold and brain less than agile
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.

What does Alan say re. LOU? When I discussed it with my vet (for Dizzy), she kept saying 'Let's just wait and see'. Now we're in limbo land waiting for the Dizz to either go lame or stay sound (or at least have all her bits working at the same time long enoughto get her fit!).
 
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She is insured for 6k IIRC .

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Are you sure they're not saying her current value as a broodmare/companion (
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) is £1.5k?

They might be offering you £4.5K LOU.
 
A says its a route we need to look into
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He has said it from the start that it may be our best option.

Saying that now she is soundish and off to *gulp* (£700) bootcamp I am not sure what he thinks...

He's seeing her in the next few days I think soooo I can ask him then
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[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
She is insured for 6k IIRC .

[/ QUOTE ]

Are you sure they're not saying her current value as a broodmare/companion (
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) is £1.5k?

They might be offering you £4.5K LOU.

[/ QUOTE ]

PSML at the
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Can't you see that she'd make a fabulous broodmare ? Her stunning confo mixed with her long and brilliant ridden career are perfect
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I am 95% sure they didn't mean that ! As I would probably have chomped their hands off for it
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And vet didn't sound suprised when I told him they'd offered us so little so I don't *think* I was wrong


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When the NFU have paid loss of use claim all cover ceases for the animal uner loss of animal, LOU and vets fees. If further cover is provided:
no LOU cover will be available
the sum insured must represent the residual value.

The animal will need to be freeze marked with and L to denote that loss of use has been paid on the animal.

Standard cover pays the depreciation on value of any insured horse/pony if it becomes perminantly unable to preform one or more of the use for which it is kept.

The maximum payment is 80% of the market value or the sum insured.

this is straight from the NFU Mutual underwriting manual.
 
Compared to what she's insured for, £1,500 is an insult. Hmmm. That makes LOU a very unattractive option - I was still able to insure Cass for what we paid for her, despite the fact she was retired field ornament, so when she had to be PTS due to the foot problem we got the full payout. Which was a better outcome but obviously a very long wait.
 
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She is insured for 6k IIRC .

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Dizz is insured for £5k: if we went LOU I would get 80%. There has been no reference to having to take the vets fees paid to date taken off the 80%.
 
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