Insurance claim - loss of use

[notasausage]

I have a horse on loan that has been lame for the past 3 weeks with what my vet thinks is a ligament injury. He is a winter loan only and will return to his owners in the spring where he is used for regular fast paced riding. The owner has asked me to contact my insurance company and I think is lining up a loss of use claim. At this point I have no reason to believe he won’t come sound and have no further problems. At what point would loss of use be a reasonable prospect/accepted by my insurer?

LOU is usually claimed for career ending injuries where the horse is no longer able to perform at the level it was insured for. They are unlikely to pay out on an injury the horse is expected to make a full recovery from.

What has your vet said about the horse's prognosis?

Insurance companies are excellent and wrangling their way out of LOUs
The only successful one I’ve heard of was a friends £50k showjumper who had a terrible injury and was only suitable for light walk/trot hacking after

We didn't bother insuring for Loss of use as it's too much of a grey area and we thought the insurance company would be sure to wriggle out of it somehow. I don't think you'd have much chance of making a claim unless the vet is definite that there is no chance of recovery and the insurance company would require evidence of that directly from the vet. It sounds as if you are a long way from that situation yet.

Actually, maybe the owner just wants the insurance company to stump up for having tests done to confirm the diagnosis?

Why would you have LOU on a loan horse? I’ve never heard anyone other than an owner taking out LOU as it is an expensive premium, rarely needed and easily disputed. The few cases I know wher owners have claimed LOU an independent vet has had to certify the horse on behalf of the insurance, i can’t see how that would work out in the case of a ligament injury the horse is expected to recover from.

Perhaps the OP just took over paying the existing insurance on the horse. Is it possible to do that or does the loaner have to get insurance from scratch?