Who doesnt have insurance for their horse?

[RubysGold]

I just got my renewal quote for my horse. And I think Im going to cancel it.

My mare is 19, she had surgery on her forelegs 3 years ago. So her legs are exempt on insurance. She has had to retire (apart from very occasional walking hacks) She is not worth any money as she will never be more then my retired pet.
Each year my insurance goes up and the amount they pay out is probably going to get less and less with age.
My insurance now want £40 a month for her.

I was thinking, if she had anything wrong with her back legs, her fore legs wouldnt be strong enough to stand it so I wouldnt put her through treatment. If she is pts or needs more treatment in relation to her front legs they wouldnt pay out. Im not sure I would want to put her through colic surgery. Im thinking really, that there is no treatment I would want to put her through that would be expensive enough for a claim.

Plus there is the fact Ive heard IF I had to pts I would have to pay upfront, money I dont have, and insurance would take time to come through.


So I think, I will get Public liability insurance, BHS is meant to be good?? And put that £40 a month away into a new bank account. Spoke to my none-horsey family who all agree with me. But will keep my young horse who would be treated for major issues insured

What do other people do?

 

[Megibo]

To be honest I think putting away £40 a month in a separate account rather than waiting on the insurance is a good idea!

 

[RubysGold]

Thanks. Its just a scary decision :$ But I really think Im wasting it giving the money to them.

Dad says IF it backfires and something goes wrong before I save the money, he'll put it on his credit card (I dont think I can have one )

 

[babymare]

Given your post a saving account seems best route. poss look at third party ins though if you still hack out just to be safe but def not vets. baby wasnt because i knew i would never have her operated on etc

 

[RubysGold]

babymare, is that the same insurance I would get with the BHS? I plan to become a gold member with them?

 

[babymare]

Not sure about that as not member but i would think you would. Anyone advise better ?

 

[Slightly Foxed]

If you're not going to have any major treatment for her, then, yes, put away £40 a month, 'specially as insurance excess on a vet claim is usually in the region of £150.

BHS gold membership will give you 3rd party liability for about £60 a year.

 

[RainbowDash]

Not sure about that as not member but i would think you would. Anyone advise better ?

Yes you get 3rd Party and personal accident insurance as a BHS Gold Member

 

[babymare]

I just knew someone would no

 

[onlygone]

Yes you get 3rd Party and personal accident insurance as a BHS Gold Member

Im thinking of cancelling my insurance and getting a credit card to use only for vets fees??? If I just keep it for that purpose only, surely that's a saving. OP like your dad said he would do.

 

[Sussexbythesea]

I'm thinking of doing the same thing with my 18 year old as he has so many exclusions Back, SI, hocks etc. etc. and I won't put him through colic surgery. His fees are £65 a month :eek3: and I'm pretty sure they will refuse to pay out on anything anyway.

It feels like tempting fate though so I get how you find it scary.

 

[AliceCrail]

I don't, but then my husband is an equine vet, which is pretty useful!
I am often amazed when people say they pay x amount on insurance but that this, that and the other is exempt. I think I would be tempted to have a separate savings account myself.

 

[RubysGold]

Sussexbythesea, Im not glad your in the same position, but Im glad you understand why Im scared! Lol

Im starting a new job in two weeks time. Just 4 hours on a Sunday morning, so that money can go straight into the account with the £40 a month so I should soon have a good amount to fall back on

 

[linperrie]

I won't be renewing my insurance next year as my mare will then be 20 and she won't be covered for illness, only visible injury. I believe most insurance companies do this? So at that point I'll be popping the money in a savings account. Touch wood that my mare had surgery a month ago that I should be covered for so I am assuming I will get paid out for that and should thank my lucky stars it didn't happen this time next year instead when I won't have insurance. The last count was £4700 vets bills so scary to think I would have paid all that myself!

 

[jennywren07]

I work for a small animal insurance company, and the only thing i will say is make sure you have some back up (like your dad op just incase of something happening in the first few months.

I've lost count of the number of calls we get from people who have cancelled their insurance due to price then had a vet bill a month later and of course when they then call to take out insurance again they have exclusions.

Personally i dont insure my horses just PL with BHS

 

[Spring Feather]

I'm not sure how many horses I own but it's in the region of around 20. I do not have vet fee insurance for any of them. I just pay as I go. Over the years I have certainly not paid out anything like I would have had I been paying insurance for all of them all these years. It's very rare I ever need to call the vet out to do anything other than when it's breeding time and then I see them frequently over the course of a few weeks for insemination and scans, but those visits would not be covered anyway with insurance. I can buy all my drugs at cost from my vets so I'm fairly self sufficient here.

For 3rd party insurance etc my horses come under 'stock' on my farm policy.

 

[hoggedmane]

I don't insure mine as I had a bad experience when my (insured) horse had cancer about 19 years ago. I only got back in payout about the same as my premiums had been that year - I had to pay a large chunk of the bill myself (hospitalisation, excess etc) and they then excluded cancer from his insurance (I had LOU on him but as he could still be ridden immediately after treatment and he lived more than 12 months they wouldn't payout on that either.) He was a 7 year old TB eventer. The insurance company were awful to deal with. The insurance premiums went up to £70 a month so I decided to put £50 a month into savings.

In the years since I would have paid out £14,000 plus in insurance if I had insured all the horses I have had. I have had one large incident when my mare poked a stick into her eye and had to have two operations on it but overall I am well up.

I have gold BHS membership for public liability. My current horse is 22 and I wouldn't put her through a large operation for colic etc. She is very fit and healthy. I keep about £5000 in the savings account in case. If I ever get a new horse I would consider whether it was worth insuring again then but probably wouldn't.

 

[w1bbler]

I only insure new animals for first year or so whilst I work out if they are sickly / accident prone. Between 3 horses 2 cats & a dog my insurance would be in excess of £1k a year, few years of saving their monthly premiums & the animals have a very healthy bank balance! Hope they leave it to me when they pass on, but its there if needed.

 

[DW Team]

I have 13 horses at the moment and only 2 have insurance. The stallion and my big daft Grey. All money that would have been in paid in premiums is in a horse account and that has a massive amount in it now. So much that OH said we should use some on the rugs we need for this winter.

 

[JillA]

I have had multiple horses and the cost would just be prohibitive - so I have savings instead, which, all being well and no major health problems, I get to spend on ME!! World Horse Welfare top end membership also includes third party liability insurance - and does good for horses as well.

 

[loopiesteff]

I don't have insurance for my horse. No point. Everything that is very likely to go wrong with him, is exempt! Just got him covered for liability

 

[Landcruiser]

Same. Everything exempt, so I haven't bothered, just got BHS Gold.

 

[whisp&willow]

Does The bhs gold membership cover you for one horse only? Only want public liability for my 3...

 

[Goldenstar]

World Horse Welfare top end membership also includes third party liability insurance - and does good for horses as well.

The BHS membership does good for horses as well.

 

[Goldenstar]

Does The bhs gold membership cover you for one horse only? Only want public liability for my 3...

Yes as long as you are non commercial it covers all your horses.

 

[whisp&willow]

Thanks goldenstar! Will look into that today. x

 

[BHS_official]

The BHS membership does good for horses as well.

Thanks - we do! We have over 200 Welfare Officers throughout the country plus dedicated Access and Safety teams both at HQ and throughout local areas, not to mention world-class education and training and promoting the highest standards at equestrian establishments.

Money from membership (which includes Public Liability and Personal Accident insurances provided by SEIB at Gold level) contributes directly to this charitable work. An overview is here: http://www.bhs.org.uk/our-charity/our-purpose

 

[Polos Mum]

I don't insure mine (other than PL with BHS) because
- he's 19 so most stuff not covered
- he has a list of exclusions litterally three A4 pages long!
- to get any sort of sensible premium the excess was £500 - for that I think I can get a vet to come in an emergancy and stitch up a silly field accident or similar
- I wouldn't put him through colic/ similar surgery and I wouldn't do anything that needed months of box rest
- I have my own fields so I can easily do a course of Dr Green or have him as an ornament
- Have savings/ credit card would cover major surgery if in the heat of the moment I changed my mind!!

I agree with the poster above if I have a new horse in the future I'll probably insure for the first year - just incase they are a self harmer!!

 

[star26]

We did have full insurance for ours, but after working out the cost and having a serious think about what we'd do if faced with a major problem, e.g broken leg, old horse needing surgery etc, we decided it wasn't worth it. If anything like this happened we'd most likely PTS. For minor things we'd rather pay the vets bill ourself, than have the hassle of doing a claim etc. That being said, i do have both savings and family support for emergencies- a safety net!

We are now BHS Gold Members (and Countryside Alliance members), so just have public liability/personal accident cover, which is fine. I think everyone should at least have this. If you have a particularly valuable horse, don't realistically think you would be able to PTS in such a situation, or wouldn't be able to raise emergency funds if needed, then maybe this isn't a viable option.

If you do cancel your policy and become a BHS Gold Member, putting the money you would have been paying into savings each month is a very sensible idea. Hopefully you won't need it, but at least you would have peace of mind it's there if you do.

 

[Ruth_Cymru]

I cancelled my insurance this year. The exclusions were mounting and as he's 15, the premiums were creeping up. I wouldn't put him through colic surgery and I doubt I'd put him through anything that was likely to cost thousands.

But, I have my safety net- I put what my yearly premium would have been, in to a savings account and add £40 per month, I also have other savings that I can use, if needed. I have BHS Gold membership for 3rd party.

It is scary at first, and I'm only a few months in without insurance, so who knows what my darling boy has in store for me with regards vets bills! But I'm comfortable with my decision, and I have my safety net.