Valuing a horse for a claim

tobiano1984

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I've got to supply my solicitor with a market value for my horse that I lost in a recent road accident. Of course he was priceless to me, but I'm not sure how to work out his actual value as property was. Anyone dealt with this before? I wondered if my instructor would be the best person.
He was 15.1, stunning coloured sports cob, gelding, rising 6, won and placed every time out showing, placed Prelim dressage, impeccable out hunting, jumping around 1m SJ at home, and about 1m out XC.

It seems a bit of a grey area as with a car I'd go on autotrader and find some similar models, but with horses they all vary so much!
 

Orangehorse

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How much would you expect to pay for something like that? Or how much would you have asked if someone had come along and made you an offer. Think of a figure and doubled it? Not that big, but a good all rounder with showing and competition wins, only 6 and a good reliable hunter. £5,000?
 

Goldenstar

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I have done this some years ago for a horse I cared for .
We had valuation from the person who taught the owner and the horse detailing what the horse had done .
We had a valuation from a local event trainer
One from a local land agent with a professional interest in matters equine .
The advert the horse was purchased from .
And a selection of adverts for horses at the level the horse was at the time of the accident .
 

tobiano1984

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How much did you buy him for, at what age and what had he done since purchase?

I bought him as an unhandled 3 year old for £550, and since then have broken him in, had a lot of professional schooling, weekly lessons with an instructor, taken him hunting, showing, XC, SJ training etc
 

wench

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I'd ask one of the horse auctioneers to give you a valuation. I have dealt with the ones at York and can recommend them.
 

ihatework

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I bought him as an unhandled 3 year old for £550, and since then have broken him in, had a lot of professional schooling, weekly lessons with an instructor, taken him hunting, showing, XC, SJ training etc

OK, firstly I'm really sorry you lost your horse under such circumstances. Nothing will replace him :(
But like you say you need a figure.

I think you need to decide what you would need to go out and replace him like for like. So a 6yo coloured cob type, riding well and ready to compete. I think the reality of the situation would be at least £4,000.

The way I would handle it would be to decide with your instructor what they think his value would be. Then ask a dealer of such types if they might be prepared to offer a written valuation too (I'm thinking along the lines of Stubely hollow and clip clop traders - both of whom would sell not dissimilar types). You may need to pay them for their time to do that (but it would be worth checking with insurers first what they will need / accept).

I would also provide supportive evidence in terms of your costs:
£550 purchase
£500 breaking costs
Weekly training - say 3 years (156 weeks) @ £20 a lesson = £3,120

So that takes you to around the £4500 mark and I think would be a sensible point to debate with the insurers.
 

harvgj19

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Again, so sorry for your loss. My friend had to do the same after her horse dropped dead in the field one day. We got her instructor and the vet to do a valuation. As others have said, they listed his attributes and quoted current prices for horses advertised with equal abilities.
 

Abacus

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I'm having a mental dilemma here over whether it is reasonable to take into account everything you have spent to keep the horse over the time you have had him. If you were a producer, say, who was bringing a horse on slowly over years, you would have to make a profit on all of the costs along the way including feed and keep. And if you were to try and do the same again with a new young horse to get them to the same state as the one you lost, you will incur these costs again.

As an amateur horse owner who does it for pleasure I assume I will always have the cost of keeping a horse regardless of its value, but when it comes to replacing one you have brought on, it is annoying to have to start again from a 3 year old and pay it all again. It may be worth asking your solicitor if this is reasonable.
 

Goldenstar

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I'm having a mental dilemma here over whether it is reasonable to take into account everything you have spent to keep the horse over the time you have had him. If you were a producer, say, who was bringing a horse on slowly over years, you would have to make a profit on all of the costs along the way including feed and keep. And if you were to try and do the same again with a new young horse to get them to the same state as the one you lost, you will incur these costs again.

As an amateur horse owner who does it for pleasure I assume I will always have the cost of keeping a horse regardless of its value, but when it comes to replacing one you have brought on, it is annoying to have to start again from a 3 year old and pay it all again. It may be worth asking your solicitor if this is reasonable.


I think its perfectly reasonable to expect to compensated for the value of the horse that was killed when it was killed .
The use of the breaking costs etc would be to support the valuation of the horse not recovering the costs .
 

Fun Times

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So sorry about what happened Tobiano1984. I know an insurance claim won't ease the grief but if anything, I suggest you ensure that the quote is at the top end of reasonable - leave it to the insurers to argue that you have "over quoted" rather than doing their job for them.
 

legend22

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I would say at least £5000 + if he was safe and easy....not too mention the time and money you'll spend looking etc. for a replacement. Very sorry for your loss. Your boy sounded lovely.
 
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