Should I Claim On My Insurance?

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kellybrown11

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My young horse who is 4 has had really bad mud fever. I have had to have the vet out to sedate him and remove the scabs and then another follow on a week later as it wasnt improving. He has been on anti biotics for two weeks and we are now trying complete box rest and two more weeks antibiotics. My vet bill at the moment is £351 which seems a lot but should i claim on my insurance? I am guessing that once i have i wont be covered for mud fever when i renew but in theory now i know he gets it i can use preventative treatment. Or would people pay the bill and then be able to claim in the future?

I am just a little confused as what i should do for the best. Never imagined that it would be that high.

Thanks
 
We had a 4yr old that got bad mud rash too, and ran up a big bill. (Did you have flammazine cream - its really expensive. We now use the muddy marvel descab on ours, which works just as well and is much cheaper. Obviously you need to follow the vet's advice, but will probably suffer with mud rash again in the future if he is prone like ours...) At the time I didn't claim on the insurance to avoid having them exclude it in the future, and yet when I renewed they asked if we had had the vet out for anything, I was honest, and they excluded it anyway! So I'd spent the money for nothing. So I'd claim. (Good luck with the mud rash)x
 
Personally I would claim on your insurance. If your policy is anything like mine, everytime your policy is renewed, you have to state what you have had the vet out for the previous year other than routine injections. So mud fever or anything related would be exempt anyway, even if you didn't claim! Sorry, long winded - does that make sense?
 
the thing is it isnt even fixed yet, vet has said to leave stabled until scabs fall off naturally. it is improving and leg is healing. My excess is only 120 and if i am not covered anyway next year i may as well claim and he will probbaly have to come out again to check its ok to turn him out.

i have some pig oil and sulphur ready to try as a preventative.......but that is once the scabs are gone.

It just feels like we are having to play a system with insurance companies now to ensure we get cover. i dont mind paying the bill in case he gets it worse in a couple of years, but then again i have learnt a lot and if i prevent it we shouldnt get it again.
 
Insurance companies now are requesting your history from the vet. So if you claim for it in the future they will not pay out as it will be on your history. So you may as well claim now because either way it will be excluded. Any time you call the vet out you should call your insurance and tell them, no matter how small the claim. As you have 12 months from that date to claim. So if it comes back in the winter you will still be able to claim. My horse had colic, I didn't claim It is now excluded as they have my history for another illness.
 
amymay said:
Well I wouldn't. I tend to have an upper limit of £500, and anything above that I consider claiming for.
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You may find all you have claimed for will be excluded now if you have claimed or not. They are getting very strict now, I have 3 claims in now and they have requested my history for all of them. If they can get out of paying they will.
 
You may find all you have claimed for will be excluded now if you have claimed or not
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No this is not the case. Horses often require routine veterinary attention for minor injuries and these simply would not be excluded from any policy.

If my horse sustained a cut that needed stitching - and I paid rather than claim the insurance company is not going to exlude that procedure, treatment or injury in the future.....

I think that there is too much hysteria surrounding our policies - and providing you are using a reputible company there are rarely silly exlclussions or problems.
 
Im with the NFU which is a reputable company, i'm talking about illness not a cut. I was told this by the company. Thats why they ask on the claim form if the horse has suffered from the illness in the past. You could always say no, but if they request your history which they often do then they won't pay out if its been over a year ago. I've been told that I won't be able to claim for colic as he has had it over a year ago. They want to know all the treatment he has had since i've owned him, other than routine injections.
 
Quote: Cover for your horse no longer has specific exclusions. Instead there is a general exclusion that means your animal will not be covered for any condition it has suffered prior to this renewal, even if you have not made a claim. Maybe others are different but thats what mine says.
 
so my record will show i have had mud fever and this is a condition he will suffer with in the future so i wont be covered.

So i should claim? people must be claiming for more stuff now which i would have thought would mean the insuarance companies are paying out more.

I am with NFU, i will call and ask for a claim form.

As if owning a horse isnt hard enough!
 
so my record will show i have had mud fever and this is a condition he will suffer with in the future so i wont be covered.
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Will he suffer it in future though? My horse has had one bout and never had it again (because I manage it better....)
 
Your history will show everything you have had the vet out for. So you may as well claim as the bill is more then the excess, and they will ask you if your horse has had it before. But once you have claimed you have 12 months, so if it returns within that time you can claim. And has you have already paid your excess you may as well. It is better now in a way, before if you had a problem with your horses leg, they would exclude the whole leg. Now they only exclude that condition, so you could still claim for other problems on that leg. Well I think that's how it works now. Good luck and hope it doesn't return. Oh and they don't send out claim forms anymore, they ask you all the questions over the phone. They then e-mail your vet and send him the paper work. Apparently vets have been complaining that the insurance companies are too slow to paying them.
 
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My horse had bad mud rash three years ago, at the time we were with NFU, and I didn't claim and they excluded it. I left becuase I was so fed up. I've since been with SEIB and KBIS, and both have asked for records and excluded mud rash, despite the horse having not been treated for it since. So if its well above your limit (which it is for you, I would claim without hessitation - this is from someone who has never claimed in her life, but been stung with a few exclusions for silly things (lump on knee found in vetting 4 yrs ago, never been seen since, excluded knee injuries...) Insurance companies load everything in their favour, so why not claim while you can? Obviously wait for the bill.

Re mudrash, if your mud is not so bad, you may get away with it, but if, like us, your fields are clay and churn up at the first drop of rain, ending in welly-sucking bogs, the chances are you will have mudrash again, however hard you try to fight it. We have tried every lotion and potion going, and contain it in winter now, but can't avoid it totally. I get a bit upset when people say its bad management - ok, perhaps you can manage it in lovely fields in Surrey, but come and try our pennine bog - even the bridleways are knee deep!
 
It isn't all about bad management at all. Our fields didn't have until a hairy cob came on, carrying the dermatophillus thingy and we've had several go down with every year except last year (no mud, just ice!!). My recommendations is liberal doses of Keratex Mud Fever power, covered with a good slap of udder cream to keep it there, and the wet out. It works brilliantly for me.

As to the insurance question, they MIGHT just restrict the legs for other things in the future eg. if you treated for lymphangitis, they might say it got in through a crack in the skin caused by the mud fever. My mare has both hind legs barred for any ligament or tendon problems because one leg is thickened over the tendons. It isn't an old injury, but scarring caused by lymphangitis and it goes down with exercise. Personally, I think excluding both back legs is a bit much. Good job the only tendon injury she subsequently had was in the front leg!
 
You can claim on the same leg as long as your vet can prove it is unrelated to any previous problems. My horse after 4 years has just been diagnosed with uevitis. For 4 years I have had the vet out and he said it was conjunctivitis. I'm going through my claim now and they have asked for the history. There is a chance that there vet will say the Uevitis was caused by the conjunctivitis and so won't pay out,and i've never claimed for it.
 
amymay said:
No this is not the case. Horses often require routine veterinary attention for minor injuries and these simply would not be excluded from any policy.

If my horse sustained a cut that needed stitching - and I paid rather than claim the insurance company is not going to exlude that procedure, treatment or injury in the future.....

I think that there is too much hysteria surrounding our policies - and providing you are using a reputible company there are rarely silly exlclussions or problems.
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Don't agree - mudfever is a condition and would be treated as such by an insurance company. If I were you, OP, I would claim, as I would bet my bottom dollar that the insurance company would exclude mudfever from your policy in future, regardless of whether you claimed this time or not.
 
Rueysmum said:
Don't agree - mudfever is a condition and would be treated as such by an insurance company. If I were you, OP, I would claim, as I would bet my bottom dollar that the insurance company would exclude mudfever from your policy in future, regardless of whether you claimed this time or not.
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Totally agree. I also think a lot of horse owners are going to be caught out in the future. They seem to always be asking now for the horses history, they don't seem to be just taking your word for it anymore. They used to just pay out if you put no on the form.
 
I am with the NUF and when I bought my horse he had some mud fever, which was noted in the vetting and it was excluded for 2 years, and then reinstated.
I have had some claims for him over the years, abscess which needed an X ray, and last winter more scans and 2 months box rest.
None of these have been excluded in the renewal.

I would claim now from your insurance. If you manage to stay free of mud fever in future it should be reinstated.
 
As I quoted earlier NFU have changed it just this year, they no longer put exclusions on your policy. But you can not claim for conditions your horse has had before renewal. If you have claimed or not. It won't say it on your policy but if you rang them up and asked or tried to claim they would tell you. That's how it reads on my policy anyway.
 
i have just called NFU who were very helpful!

they even told me i can claim for straw / hay as vet has advised 24 hour box rest!

so i am going to claim but thanks for all your advice.
 
I moved to pet plan about 6 months ago after being stung by E&L ( I know !!!) Anyway my horse had celulitis in one hind leg and had xrays on his front knee after a kick. I told them this when I took out the policy and they said that if he doesn't have either of the above for 12 months then the exlusions will for them will be removed !!
 
kellybrown11 said:
My young horse who is 4 has had really bad mud fever. I have had to have the vet out to sedate him and remove the scabs and then another follow on a week later as it wasnt improving. He has been on anti biotics for two weeks and we are now trying complete box rest and two more weeks antibiotics. My vet bill at the moment is £351 which seems a lot but should i claim on my insurance? I am guessing that once i have i wont be covered for mud fever when i renew but in theory now i know he gets it i can use preventative treatment. Or would people pay the bill and then be able to claim in the future?

I am just a little confused as what i should do for the best. Never imagined that it would be that high.

Thanks
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There is a simple misunderstanding here that needs to be cleared up....as soon as your horse has been seen by the vet, he/she is obliged to document the finding s about the case accurately in the history. :o

All insurance companies will pull the full prior history for each claim made. Basically this means if your horse has been seen by the vets previously (ever) for mud fever then they will exclude you and not settle the claim, even if you never claimed in the first place. this is because you are obliged to declare any changes to the horses medical status at each renewal. If you do then you get an exclusion next renewal, if you don't then the company clain you should have and it is now a pre-existing condition and will still not be liable to pay. :eek:

So, if you excess if exceeded - claim and get as much as possible to sort it out and prevent it recurring as you won't be able to claim from next year on anyway. :(

Hope that's clear.
Imogen
 
amymay said:
No this is not the case. Horses often require routine veterinary attention for minor injuries and these simply would not be excluded from any policy.
.
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Yes this is the case.
Injuries are different because they don't cause recurring problems for the most part therefore you are right in that specific instance. BUT we have to sign the form declaring whether the horse has ever suffered from this condition or any related condition previous. in the case of mud fever then answer would be yes. Therefore - exclusion. ;)
 
ORANGEHORSE said:
I am with the NUF and when I bought my horse he had some mud fever, which was noted in the vetting and it was excluded for 2 years, and then reinstated.
I have had some claims for him over the years, abscess which needed an X ray, and last winter more scans and 2 months box rest.
None of these have been excluded in the renewal.

I would claim now from your insurance. If you manage to stay free of mud fever in future it should be reinstated.
Click to expand...

This is correct. You can ask you vet to appeal a numberof exclusions within reason if the horse has been clear of that for at least a year and it is unlikely to recur or cause future problems arising from that original condition.
E.g. wound on LF fetlock - next renewal, may exclude conditions arising from fetlock problems or wounds on the LF leg. In the renewal a year later with a clean history, vet writes report to state wound is fine, horse is sound and in work and has no problems. The fetlock was not involved directly and therefore is an unfair exclusion and please reconsider, plus any new wounds are not to be related therefore also reconsider part b of the exclusion.
Insurance reconsiders and hopefully lifts claim. hassle but that's red tape for you.

Remember insurance is a business to make money, they like you NOT to claim and get exclusions....they are the people that make them all the money...Sounds like Amymay is a winner for the insurers ;)

Imogen
 
Black_Horse_White said:
Im with the NFU which is a reputable company, i'm talking about illness not a cut. I was told this by the company. Thats why they ask on the claim form if the horse has suffered from the illness in the past. You could always say no, but if they request your history which they often do then they won't pay out if its been over a year ago. I've been told that I won't be able to claim for colic as he has had it over a year ago. They want to know all the treatment he has had since i've owned him, other than routine injections.
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I am also insured with NFU and everytime I have claimed they have been brilliant no problems so far at all.. Got an ongoing OCD case ATM which I didnt realise many insurance companies exclude but luckily NFU covers it.... I personally would claim because they will exclude it in the future anyway and we pay enough yearly to insure our horses so we dont end up with a big bill.....
:)
 
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amymay said:
No this is not the case. Horses often require routine veterinary attention for minor injuries and these simply would not be excluded from any policy.

If my horse sustained a cut that needed stitching - and I paid rather than claim the insurance company is not going to exlude that procedure, treatment or injury in the future.....

I think that there is too much hysteria surrounding our policies - and providing you are using a reputible company there are rarely silly exlclussions or problems.
Click to expand...


No, you're wrong.

Three years ago my horse had a gooey eye. I got some cream from the vet which cost about £30.

This year an exclusion turned up on my policy with anything related to eyes, dating back to July 2007.

I am so peed off. I didn't claim and I didn't tell the insurers as to me this was nothing but 'fly eye'. But they have obviously got the info from my vets.
 
ImogenBurrows said:
This is correct. You can ask you vet to appeal a numberof exclusions within reason if the horse has been clear of that for at least a year and it is unlikely to recur or cause future problems arising from that original condition.


Imogen
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I wish my Insurers were so good.

10yrs ago my horse got Urticaria/allergy rash. I rang insurers to ask if they could un-exclude seeing as there had been no recurrence. They said yes, if my vets wrote in.

So vet duly wrote a report. And I got a letter back from the insurers saying that 'due to the high incidence of skin conditions they would not lift the exclusion'.

I tried to argue but they were having none of it. Now I have got an issue with another policy... I'm going to call the BHS legal helpline about it.
 
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