Increasing the value of a horse

[augermoon]

I bought Arnie just under 2 years ago and paid just over 2000 pounds for him. The reason he was sold so cheaply was that he hadn't been ridden for a year and had never actually 'done' anything so his owners were realistic about his value. However, since having him, he has come quite a long way and is now consistently in the top three in unaff Prelim Dressage, about to start aff dressage and working consistently at Novice-Elementary at home. Hence I think he is worth about double what we paid for him now (anyone agree / disagree, please let me know as I'm not really up on the latest horse prices.)

However, he is still insured for the original purchase price of 2.2k and so if (god forbid) anything happened to him, thats all I'd get back. If that was the case, I'd only have enough money to buy another unschooled horse and I'd have to start all over again (I hate to put values on them, but sometimes you have to.)

My question is how do I go about increasing his value for insurance purposes? I remember reading something in a magazine saying that you have to get 2 written statements from 'knowledgeable people' agreeing to the horse's new value and then send them off to your insurance company. But this was a long time ago and I dont know if this is still the case.

If anyone has done this in the past and can advise me where to start as well as how to try and determine his value (despite being priceless to me :) ) please let me know.

thanks very much

[teekay]

augermoon, that's kind of an interesting topic. I don't know anything about insuring animals, but when you insure a house, say, it has to be insured for at least 80% of the replacement value or the insurance co doesn't pay!

[eventerbabe]

i recently upped toby's value on his insurance policy. they didn't ask for any form of evidence/vets certificate, just asked what his value was.

to determine his value, i'd grab a copy of H&H and try and find horses of a similar height/level/ability and see what their asking prices were. in my case, toby was only insured for £2000, but to replace him (god forbid) i'd probably have to pay out more like £4k as cobs seem to have gone up in value as they are much more popular than when i bought him.

My friend recently sold a dressage horse, not competing affiliated dressage but doing novice unaff and a bit of jumping for £7k, so i'd say arnie was worth much more than £4k, he's an absolute stunner of a horse :D

[augermoon]

Thanks guys. Will give the insurance company a ring and have a chat. Does anyone know how much my policy is likely to increase if I decide to double his value for example to £4.5k. I currently pay £23 per month so does anyone know by how much this would go up roughly if I were to keep everything else the same? Will ring the insurance people regardless but was just wondering.

[Bozzy]

At a guess I'd say it'd go up to about £35-£40.

Ed's insured for £3000 with NFU and it's £26 (went down from £28 last year)

[rache]

the only time they will ask for proof is if the horse is worth over 5k.. they require a vets certificate after this. I would try and put arnie as close to 5k rachel as hes worth his weight in gold!