Insure or not....?

[frostyfingers]

My insurance has come up for renewal and as ever I'm dithering about whether to take it up. The premium is just under £200, and is pretty basic - loss of horse, (but with lots of exclusions) to the value of £3k, and public liability.

I hack him out round local fields, go to the occastional fun ride and that's about it. Vets bills aren't on there, which are my biggest expense and I just can't decide whether to carry on with it.

Do you insure, how much, what for - is it worth it?

umm well insured both ponies but mainly to cover vets bills, and public liability/theft etc. not for loss of use . mine cost £271 each but guess one episode of illness could create a vets bill of more than that so would insure and include vets bills

Hmm, tricky one. I had a horse which I bought for over £6k. He had a series of problems with one of his legs, which I claimed against. Eventually it got so bad, that we had to claim loss of use and were about to have him put down. Except the insurance company refused to pay as we had already claimed vets bills on the same injury. The vets bills hadn't even amounted to £1k.

So, I had to swallow the loss of a beautiful and much loved horse. I could no longer ride him. Luckily he was saved from being put down at the 11th hour - a local, and fabulous vet, heard about him and took him on for his wife. They lived in a fabulous place, where the conditions were much better for him and as far as I know, he is still there (must get in touch with them to see how he's doing).

Mine cost about £800 each including vet bills, loss of use, tack, rider injury, stabling, public liability etc.
For me it's peace of mind really that if something goes wrong we are generally covered for most eventualities it seems!

I would be wary of not insuring mostly for the loss of public liability- there is the risk these days that people are very keen to "get legal on your arse" if anything goes wrong.

We've just been frightened into upping the vet bills part of our insurance for dhorse. My friend's pony had a bout of severe colic and was taken to the vet hospital where he thankfully showed signs of recovery just as they were deciding he needed surgery. She was told the bill for the operation would have been about £5000 and as it was it still came to over £900.
We would struggle to come up with the £900 let alone £5000 so we thought we'd better make sure we were covered.

My mum uses either NFU for basic liability/3rd party. I've heard horror stories about trying to get vets bills/loss of use - e.g., they want you to sell it for meat live transport!

I think 3rd party is really important in our increasingly litigous society.

If you join british horse society as a gold member, you get free public liability but not sure of the amount. We haven't insured for the last 8 years and until October we didn't need a vet. However, following a cut to one of the ponies fetlock ligament which needed surgery and 7 days in hospital which cost over £2000, all 3 ponies are now insured. We still saved money by not having them insured but not sure our luck will hold again. Our vets recommended KBIS, you need to be really carefull as some won't pay for colic surgery for example if you don't have proof of a worming programme and even though our pony cut her leg on her corner manger in stable, most companies apparently wouldn't have paid as we have about 25m of wire between rails to stop them eating the roses next to field!!!

we are currently uninsured for first time, just for a month or so (PLEASE GOD DON'T LET ANYTHING BAD HAPPEN TO THEM!) - I forget how much it was, about £78 a month for both I think? was mainly for vet bills, but also loss of use and some other things, with petplan equine

If you're not going to insure for vets bills, you are definately better off just joining the BHS as a gold member. Assuming your horse isn't worth £10000s of pounds (in which case I assume you would want to insure for vets bills!)

Mine is currently uninsured. He is a fairly hardy type and I have an emergancy vets bills fund for him.

This might sound mercenary but I won't (for this horse) go for vet bill insurance. In the 5+ years I've had her she's had colic twice - this cost 50 euros a pop for an anti-analgesic jag. I would never get coverage for whatever underlying problem she seems to have with her shoulder anyway... and should something "very bad" happen then I think I'd have to question whether I wanted her saved or not as I'm not a fan of box rest.

I've heard BHS recommended before.

Thanks for your thoughts - still dithering! Just remembered that I have some public liability through Countryside Alliance, so may be that's enough.

If I get another horse I'll include vets bills as that is almost guaranteed to cost you, and I think that if I claimed for his loss they'd wriggle out of it somehow - it is NFU who I think are good, but I still wouldn't be that confident!

MitchyInge, join the BHS as a Gold member or see if your usual insurer will do you a public liabilty insurance. You keep yours on a yard where they come into contact with quite a lot of people on a daily basis, any damage by them to person/property (incl cars) and it could be very expensive. Let's face it, if our horses would damage any car it's not going to be some beaten up old banger, it'd be someone's shiny new Jag ...

I accidently kicked a wing mirror off a parked car once, when dpony swerved as we were trotting along a narrowish residential road. It was so embarrassing and I leapt off at once so that no one would think I was trying to get away with not saying anything. The owner had heard the almighty bang (you wouldn't believe how loud it was!) and came out but luckily for me was really nice about it. He said it was a company car and he would just deny all knowledge of how it had got damaged while innocently parked . I dread to think how much it would have cost me otherwise, because it was when the electronic adjustable mirrors were first out so it was a bit special!.

BTW, DH (who works in insurance, although not horse related) commented that a company widely known in the industry as Excuses and Lies seem to advertise in the horsey press a lot. Worth avoiding.

I've just renewed my insurance before logging on here!

I'm with NFU Mutual and have been for 6 years now. I have cover for loss of animal, vet bills (up to £5k) and theft/damage to my saddle. I use BHS membership to cover public liability.

My premium was £363. Considering he's nearly 20 years now it's a bargain.

I'm more concerned with covering the vet bills; a friend of mine had a horse who got a puncture wound, so small you couldn't see it, and the wound became infected. So my friend needed the whole of her £5k insurance - and then some! She was with NFU too. Never had a problem with them for claims.

oh god, thanks for reminder as still have not renewed

less £££ on unnecessary supplements should free more for the basic peace of mind

good points nekabu, one of the perils of my pathological optimism is that find it hard to imagine anything bad happening to me or my horses - until I witness something that brings it closer to home

I've decided against reinsuring. I have public liability with the C. Alliance. Vets bills werent' covered before, there was payout on death but only if it fulfilled loads of qualifications so I think I'll take that hit when it comes.

Fingers crossed!

We have public liability through bhs. Pl is a must! Otherwise, all 3 ponies are native, and are very hardy! (and cheap £600 the lot) my best friend is very wise, and has a sensible treatment for most MINOR ailments! They are all veteran, so insurance coveris minimal anyway. If there was a crisis, I would find the money somehow, but would also think hard about age/outlook! I love them all, and would hate to lose any!