Refused Insurance

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Holidays_are_coming

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Ive had a run of bad luck with my mare she had gastric ulcers and Hock, SI problems in the last 2 years and Ive claimed nearly £10,000 form the insurance company. Ive just had a letter saying that they will not insure me again.

To be fair her Hocks, Proximal suspensories, SI, Gastric Ulcers and Right foot would not be insured so I was thinking there isnt much point insuring her. If anything else goes wrong I will probably just put steroid in it.

Can I just insure for injury (I would never put her through Colic surgery), Also what do I do about public liability insurance.

Does anyone else not insure there horses???
 
We don't insure anymore, I just get the gold membership from BHS for my public liability. My boy is of an age (mid/late teens) that if anything serious went wrong then there's little chance I'd put him through it. However, we do put the money we used to pay for insurance away for those what if days.
 
Have you asked the company if they will insure for injury or 3rd party liability?

or called another couple of companies to ask the question?

I know of a few people who don't insure, I think (could be wrong though) if you are a member of BS or BE you are covered for 3rd party - but you would need to check that out first. Or the BHS gold membership covers you I think???????????
 
Me. Mostly because I come from a land where we don't traditionally insure horses in the way people do here and current horse is, frankly, not worth it. I have liability with the company that does my teaching insurance.
 
My mare isnt insured purely because the only thing her insurance covered was colic surgery and I wouldnt put her through that at her stage in life now anyway. Everything else was pretty much excluded.

I put a bit of money aside each month to try and build a 'pot' for if anything goes wrong.

My 4yr old is insured but again my yearling isn't (she will be insured next year once I start taking her out in-hand).

I have public liability through my BHS Gold Membership (and also through my BD membership).
 
I got refused a renewal of insurance from AmTrust a few years back. I had only made 2 claims, ok one was for the full 5k but the other wasnt. I had 2 horses insured with them at the time also so they where being paid a fair amount.

Ive left the horse that was refused insurance un-insured as when i did try to get insurance i found it way to difficult thanks to AmTrust.:mad:

I set up a PO savings account & put away a set amount each month, works well.
 
I don't insure anymore. Insurance seems to be just a pre-pay scheme. You pay them in advance, then you make a claim.. then they make exclusions and increase your insurance for half an insured horse.

Additionally, you pay for the small claims up front and then often pay for the extras like transport and hospital stabling etc, pay for the vet to fill in a claim form that you wouldn't need if you weren't insured.....

have saved money in the bank now. Paying the vet this month was a pleasure because I still have a good chunk of cash saved and have autonomy over the decisions I make for my horses.
 
I will be reassessing this year when roo's is renewed as he's had a big claim (full £5k) and no real conclusive diagnosis from said claim... So if they start excluding entire legs, I will probably go the same route of saving each month.... Certainly planning that with my old girl this year as she is now retired in a field and I wouldn't box rest her for any length of time etc so any injury we couldn't treat in the field I'm afraid would be the end - she is 22 and arthritic anyway and would suffer terrible seperate ok anxiety of taken away from her herd, she panics if one comes out through the gate to have feet trimmed!
I will be joining BHS gold membership for the liability, then setting aside money each month for her - and Roo if he has multiple exclusions this year or his insurance rockets up!
 
I've never insured for vets fees... if it's something major I'll either cough up or decide not to put the horse through it.. If I had superstars it would be different though. Mine are 3, 17 and 22, so I may insure the 3 year old in a couple of years (but it'd be breaking the habit of a lifetime!).

The two older one's aren't insured for death/ theft either, but the youngster is.

I have PL through BD to keep me sleeping at night, that is the one thing you do need (but BHS Gold membership is the cheapest way to do it).
 
Hi, do you mind me asking who your insurance is with? I may have the same issue this year as have had two claims......nothing for years and then a run of bad luck.
 
Unfortunately i have had put in for 2 claims in quick succession, I’m not even sure if they will pay out for one of them :( and i doubt they will insure me again.
Ironically i never insured my last horse but never had any problems so wouldn’t have had to claim anyway.
 
I have also been refused by Amtrust after two claims both for around £2k

So now we dont have insurance i put the money i would pay away each month just in case. And tack is not covered. Public liability is covered as I am a BD member
 
unfortunately once you've been refused insurance you will find it really hard to find anyone to take you on.

my old horse isn't insured. He's 26 and I'm a vet anyway so I deal with anything minor and I wouldn't put him through anything major. My other 2 are insured though.

i get my 3rd party through my BE membership.
 
My mare is 21 and I don't insure her. I stopped insuring years ago when my previous horse had cancer. Rubbish payout - I ended up paying as much as they did and then increased premiums to £70 a month (20 years ago). I save £50 a month and have had one big vet bill in 12 years (ulcer to eye that needed two operations -£1000 bill). Am currently well up in savings over the amount I would have paid in insurance. Have BHS gold membership for PL. (£65ish a year). If I bought an expensive new younger horse I would have to reconsider whether to insure.
 
Lots of people already have 3rd party insurance on their house insurance. Worth a check.

If not, cheapest way to get 3rd party insurance that I know of is Associate Member of British Dressage. It does not matter if you do not want to compete.
 
BD, BSJA and BE all have excess of £1000 usually on their 3rd party. Worth checking the small print.

BHS Gold is the best.
 
Insurance companies are in the business of making LOTS of money. ;)

It's basically a form of gambling - from there point of view you are now an unacceptable risk, not just because they've paid out to you previously, but because when they plug all your details into an underwriting program it comes up as a 'no'. Sometimes you can tip the balance - that's basically what exclusions are. So for them it's not about having the most clients, it's about having the right clients. When things were good a lot of companies took high risks and now they've paid for them so they are even more circumspect now.
 
I get 3rd party through BD. Neither of mine are insured as previous horse was and experience taught me it was money for old rope - as you say they exclude for any limb you claim on and once they are over a certain age dont pay out on death/LOU anyway. Worked out that would have been better off saving the premia instead so now I don't bother. Looked into it for my 6yo and the death/LOU cover element was so high - maximum payout was 60% of insured value and the premia worked out as 15% of the insured value per year - so decided I was better off saving the money instead. You have actually done really well out of the insurers (as they will have lost money on you!) so I guess thats why they won't cover!
 
star said:
unfortunately once you've been refused insurance you will find it really hard to find anyone to take you on.
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The above is exactly correct & something i found when i tried to insure the horse again.
TBH it gave me the push i needed when it came to insurance, so now with my savings & a spare credit card with a big limit i have more than enough even for emergencys.
 
I stopped insuring mine for vets fees as there was only his tail, neck and head left : ) I do still insure him for death by injury and public liability but it is cheap as chips. I would definately make sure they are covered for public liability either way as you just never know what might happen!
 
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