Horse insurance

[mothermirth]

I've just had a renewal quote from the NFU, for £475 for insuring our 14.1hh, 14 year old mare. This seems extortionate!

All I want really is cover for vets' bills and third party. Any thoughts, pony people?

Thank you

horsey bump

Not sure this suits everyone but I no longer insure my horses for vets bills as the slightest thing gets an exclusion on the policy! My little pony who we recently lost would have cost me £350 per yr to insure but because she had previous bouts of laminitus they excluded it, so the illness that eventually took her from us (laminitus/Cushings) wouldn't have been covered anyway.

Instead I pay £58 per yr for Gold membership of BHS which covers all my horses for public liability and I pay between £30-£50 per month (depending upon what I have spare) into a separate acct which I then use for any vets bills (not including routine visits).

Works for me but may not suit everyone.

Thanks for your reply LisaD1.

I already have Gold BHS membership, but I'm paranoid about her being injured (ie, hit by a car) and having to work out how many thousands of £s I'm prepared to pay the vet to put her right. (She's very good on the road, so no idea why I'm so neurotic about this.)

Dare I not insure her? that's the question!

I'm another one here who has not insured my 12 yr old 16.2 warmblood. Premium was £650!! Also have BHS gold membership for public liability.

My perspective is that if she had serious injury I would either just pay up or put her down depending on what it was. Mind you she was kicked last week and i am expecting a hefty bill.

Thanks Elastamum, I'm starting to wonder if that's the way to go. Hmm?

nag nag

I was quoted a massive amount by NFU - no reward for 15 years loyalty.... - and took my business to SEIB who undercut by a decent amount, although I can't remember the exact sums. Within 2 weeks of taking the policy new dhorse went lame for 6 weeks and SEIB coughed up within a month without a squeak. Who knows what my premium will be next time, but they were fine.

I'll look into them, thank you, Frostyfingers

When I did have insurance it was with SEIB and I must say they were brilliant when it came to paying out, providing of course there were no exclusions on policy.

That said, sometimes I think we put our horses through treatments that we might reconsider if they weren't insured. For example, my old mare had a fractured pedal bone at the age of 23, she was a TB mare who had not had the greatest of lives. Anyway, she was insured with SEIB and her treatment cost thousands, which they paid for very promptly (except the livery costs while she was in hospital), she never really came back to the mare I knew and loved though and although we had another 5 years together I often wonder if it was the right thing for her and if she hadn't been insured my decision would have been different and possibly the right one..

Sorry have rambled, just food for thought really..

It is worth checking that your household insurance doesn't cover you for 3rd party liability.Ours does although they had to get back to us after checking to be sure.[I don't think they are asked the question very often].Dpony is insured with the NFU,which was discounted because my dad's farm is insured by them,but dpony is 20 so only insured for accident related vets bills,no medical.I think it was £143 for the year.

Thanks everyone for all the advice. Much appreciated

Very timely thread as I insure my 21 yo TB (and always have with the NFU). It now costs me £50 per month for public liability, vets bills, loss of horse, (£2000), tack and trailer. I know have a 8 yo TB that needs insuring - and the cost is the same, I cannot spend £100 month on horse insurance!
Any other suggestions for a more cost effective option?

I'm paying a fortune to NFU Mutual every month for our four horses and have been considering options. We'd have to be seriously unlucky to spend this much money on vet bills, but I'm nervous about not insuring Think I'll try SEIB for a quote and see how much I might save, good to know they're good

I like the idea of paying the insurance money into a separate account for vet's bills but am fearful - just my luck to have an accident/injury after 17 years of no claims! Let us know how yo get on with SEIB, olderyetwider (love your nickname btw!)

Bllody hell, I've just checked my NFU policy for this year, it was £1312, just vet cover and loss of animal and public liability (and one of them's on a veteran policy), and they said that my renewal will increase next year. Best quote from SEIB was £1,221 for next year. I wonder if I dare go for just public liabilty (which gd has through Pony Club, and we could join BHS)

I like the idea of a seperate account, and have been thinking about this, but it would turn into the lorry fund!

Is that for 4 horses? That would go towards a vet bill. How much is public liability on its own I wonder? I was only insured for vets fees up to £5000 anyway
Did you know that racehorses aren't insured?

Yes, that's for all four. Our cover is £5000 max each claim and anything claimed for once is excluded from future cover. It's also without the 7% for paying monthly

I didn't know racehorses weren't insured!

My pony is but not the horse, I do the separate account thing but then raid it and start again. When I last had them both insured for vet bills it was about £70 a month.

Just got my renewal quote from NFU. It's £1,658!!!! Bloody hell, it's time to do something about this!

I have liability via the Countryside Alliance membership (Republic of Ireland) and no vet-cover as what I'd spend on the premiums would go a long way toward vet fees to be honest

My horse ran up over £1300 in vet bills over the last year and he's now had to be retired. He was insured for loss of use up to £2000 so I definitely think the £1,200 I spent on insurance was worth it! We were with pet plan equine.

It is soo difficult! I tried to change mine but they wanted her to have a 5stage vetting so gave up. Stupidly I chose the lowest vet fees option but after 10 years, the value doesn't have the buying power it did so having to fork out for the current operation on top of the insurance pay out. I will pick the medium value for vet fees next time or try to review or more likely if DH has a say, not have a horse for 10 years!! I found NFU a bit odd, south essex have a good reputation, KBIS are worth a look aparantly and Scottish equestrian were good until they were taken over by pet plan, who I am sorry to say have had a bit of a rough press but by no means as bad as E&L who actually made it onto the watchdog TV programme! Insurance is a total nightmare, good luck I hope you find the right one for you!

Insurance has always been worth it ime. We're with SEIB and they will never recoup in premiums what we had from them in claims and that's for only three claims for two horses!