to insure or not to insure....that is the question

[BMA]

I have had my horse for 10 years and during that time i have always had him insured....policy has trailer, tack, vets fees etc etc etc

Going back 10 years when i set it up i paid £30 a month.

In all that time I have made two claims...one for investigations into his head shaking about 9 years ago and the other claim was for a scarcoid lump that was taken out in his thigh about 8 years ago.

My horse is now 15- i don't really compete in the summer anymore but i do still hunt.

My premium is now £60...I have PL cover under our house insurance, I can add the tack to my house insurance and I think i can add the trailer to my car insurance.

At the end of the day i would never put him through something really major due to his age and he loves his field and his hunting he'd hate being in on his own....

I think i have made my mind up - anyone else in a similar situation

 

[cptrayes]

I have three horses and a Shetland pony and with more that 2 horses it makes no economic sense whatsoever to insure them

I have 3rd party through Associate British Dressage, the cheapest way you can get it. Tack on the house. Lorry separate.

You do, though, have to have the self discipline not to spend the money and to leave it in the bank. A lot of people find that hard.

And you do have to know that you can really harden your heart when a vet says "if we operate on this colic there's a 50/50 chance he'll live......." and be able to tell them to put the horse down. LOTS of people would have a problem with that one.

 

[guisbrogal]

I have public liabilty through BHS and 'vets only' through NFU.

I have paid insurance over the past 8yrs and never used it ever. I pay about £25 a month for this basic cover.

However in January this year my mare who was 12 in May has torn her collatoral ligament requiring it to be severed under GA and then in June she over-reached sideways and cut her own heel off :-( so to say that I am grateful for my insurance is an understatement! Upto now this year she has cost round about £2500 and we are nowhere near being out of the woods with her injury yet :-(

I would have had to have her put down for this more recent injury had she not been insured as I simply could not have afforded the bills. We may yet need a skin graft operation.

I don't think 15 is very old at all so I personally would still want mine insured and especially as they are more likely to need veterinary care as they get older. I too am not a believer in having procedures done if they won't have a quality of life that they would enjoy but I would hate to have to have them put down simply because I couldn't afford them the treatment. I would just get a very basic vets cover for my own peace of mind or be very strict indeed about putting a small amount away each onth just incase.

 

[bumblelion]

The trouble is although you've only claimed twice in ten years, you can never predict an accident or illness, especially in horses!!! Despite this, my two aren't insured. It would cost me a fortune monthly. I'd much rather get the credit card out (or raid the business!) and take the chance. You hear so many stories of insurance companies not paying out etc. One of mine wouldn't be able to get his legs insured anyway due to previous surgery on his stifles and the other one's got a bowed tendon from racing. I do have public liability insurance though through the BHS which I'd wouldn't be without.

 

[maxapple]

I nearly cancelled my horses insurance last year when he turned 18. I don't compete him anymore and he never really left the yard / farm as he won't load. I also thought that at his age I wouldn't put him through anything major vet wise either.

Then last Nov he was kicked in the field and sustained a serious fracture to his leg. The vets couldn't operate due to his age, but the prognosis was good so I felt I owed it to my boy to give it a go - basically while he wasn't giving up, neither were we. Nearly 9 months on we have just started gentle riding again. After a long recover he is back to his old self again and happier than ever.

He spent 10 weeks at the vets - the livery costs of £125 per week weren't covered by the insurance. Thank god for his wonderful other mum as I had another pony to pay for at livery, and my horses stable costs at the yard too. We both drove to see his at the vets every day - can't even imagine the petrol costs of that. His vet bills have come to nearly £4.5k and all have been paid by the insurance company.

I'd never not have insurance after that episode. It gave us the chance to make the right decisions at a difficult enough time and I would have been heart broken if I had to make the decision to put my beautiful boy to sleep solely because we couldn't afford the vet bills.

 

[Piglet]

I have 1 horse aged 14 and have now gone from 50% loss of use and £3,000 of vet fees to just basic £3,000 vet bills and no loss of use, saving me £22 p/m. I don't have my trailer insured as it would cost too much even though it is a 6 month old Batesons Ascot, I have decided to take the risk, it has a wheel bar and is bolted and padlocked to the concrete - good luck to anyone who tries to nick it. Recession has made me 'tighten my belt'!!

 

[milesjess]

Mines insured and always will be. If the time ever came were he got injured or needed medical treatment I couldn't afford to spent thousands. His insurance is there for my piece of mind and those just incase situations.

I'd say keep it. It seems pointless now but I'm sure you would regret it if you cancelled your policy and something happened.

I'd rather pay £25 a month for the next 20 years, then pay nothing and end up with a huge vets bill or an even worse dilemma because I couldn't afford treatment.

Also keep in mind third party liability... What if you damaged someones property? Your horse injured someone?

My opinion is have it but I know everyone is different

 

[BMA]

yeah i know what you are saying...if i got a £1,000 bill i'd have to grin and bear it but i don't think i'd put him through something major.

Maybe i'll find out what it would be if i removed lots of the other add ons

 

[PC Steele]

Insure if you can some people put the money away in an account but a friend of mine started doing that she had been doing it for about 3 months so not very much money at all!!! her horse had a nasty accident but not life threatening and needed an operation she had to take out a loan to fund the op, vet bills etc. she is still paying it off. I know people say they wouldn't put their horse through anything major but if the prognosis was good and the horse would return to a normal life then it would be very hard to PTS because of lack of funds

 

[PC Steele]

Also 15 is not old your horse could live another 15 yrs!!!!!

 

[Kat]

I have my public liability with the bhs, my tack through my home insurance, and just have vets fees with KBIS. To save money I pay upfront rather than monthly using my cashback credit card which I pay off as quickly as I can to avoid interest.

Worth checking whether you can do it cheaper by changing the PL and tack. A friend has just saved loads this way on my advice. Then ditch the monthly installments as you pay over the odds.

 

[Rose Folly]

I've always insured my horses though I don't do anything at all exciting these days.

I have often grumbled at the premiums. But two years ago my mare had a really bad period of RAO. Then this winter she developed almost simultaneously laminitis and flexural dermatitis. She was 'off the road' for almost six months and her bills have come to approaching £2000. I am SO glad that she was insured. My insurance brokers have been excellent, and it was such a weight off my mind that she was having the best treatment and that I didn't have sleepless nights.

I would never now go without insurance. I agree that lots of things are covered under other insurances, esp. PL and tack, but it's the vets' bills that are the worry. With so many horse ailments it's not just a case of not riding the horse or retiring them - the problem has to be remedied to keep them pain free and comfortable.

 

[Dab]

At the end of the day i would never put him through something really major due to his age and he loves his field and his hunting he'd hate being in on his own....

Problem is it doesn't have to be something really major to cost a lot of money in vets bills! One of my boys at 15 went rodeo into a barbed wire fence out on a hack, de-gloved in front of hock, lots of deep cuts but missed everything major. But hock joint got infected due to the trauma and had to be flushed under a general and he was in horse hospital for 4 weeks. In his case prognosis for full recovery was excellent, no 50/50, he was fit well and in good health, no way he was even a borderline pts case. But the vets bills came in at around £5000, NFU paid up immediately no questions.
Now maybe if he wasn't insured and i couldnt have afforded the treatment he would have had to be pts, and that (IMO) would have been wrong in this case, he wouldnt have deserved to die because i couldnt afford the treatment.

I would always insure (if you just have one or two) for this reason .

 

[BMA]

Maybe I'll see if i can just have the Vet Fees then and have a play around with the figures. It will be just my luck if...

 

[ladyt25]

hmm, it is tricky as it does seem pointless sometimes paying out for insurance when it seems you nevre use it. however, having previously worked for a horse insurance company we paid out a heck of a lot of horse vets fees claims1 it made me reconsider what ours were insured for. I put vets fees on my sister's horse insurance when we got him 7 years ago. Not had any issues injury wise that we needed to claim for. however, now he has been lame for over 2 mths and vets don't know what's wrong so he will have to go for some investigative work to see what the problem is. That's going to cost but thankfully the vets fees cover is there.

if you do have house insurance then you'd probably be better insuring your tack under that. Check that your liability under your house cover does cover you for taking your horse out and about (to shows etc) as some covers may be limited.

 

[Herpesas]

Currently I'm insured 'Fully Comp' as it were but am wondering if it would cheaper to have just vet fees and rejoin BD for the PL cover. My tack is covered by the contents insurance.

My renewal is in September - currently I pay £54 a month and I'm hoping I can reduce it to something more manageable. I would never not insure for vets fees though.

 

[Foxhunter49]

I do not insure my horse but I do the dogs but it is getting out of proportion.
Three dogs add up from £70 per month now this is £125. No claims.
£1,500 p.a. £15,000 if they all live 10 years.
Once they get over a certain age then the insurance put on a disclaimer for their age.

My vets are very good and if I had to have some big operation done on them then I would as to pay in instalments so, I am cancelling their insurance.

 

[indie999]

I still think 15 is a bit too young to stop it?? Poss would stop 18-20

I have Bhs gold for PL

But no other insurance as at £300+ a year I stopped it.He is now 24 so if he got ill I would pay out of pocket but if it was anything really serious(his back end is gone anyway...stumbling etc) I would if it wasnt something simple PTS

Mine is retired but I probably would feel differently if the horse was still ridden etc. But I can understand your predicament as long as you can suddenly pay out of pocket or put the money aside.

 

[LaurenM]

I was thinking the same the other day. My mare went lame and after having paid out loads in vets fees to investigate I'm in a position where I don't think my insurance will pay out. So I totally get the 'why do I bother' stance. I'm still paying insurance though just incase something else happens!

 

[SpruceRI]

I've just changed the policy for my 18yr to 'high excess'.... so £500 excess and £3500 of cover. That's halved the monthly bill.... at the moment... I haven't had the 2011 renewal yet.

 

[maree t]

o Madhossy who do you insure with, I have been trying to up the excess to reduce premiums but havent got very far. Being quoted 185 pcm for the 5 which I cant afford.

 

[BMA]

I have taken the tack off and put on home insurance, reduced his value to £500 (i'm not looking for a payout for him and no one is going to steal the old buggar) and i have gone from £60 a month to £40.

I have another insurer quoting...so will see what they come back with