Insurance

eventerbabe

eventerbabe

Well-Known Member
Dec 16, 2004
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It’s that time of year again… horse insurance renewal! I’m with NFU. Have been since 1996 (was parents policy then, mum handed over to me a few years ago). The renewal has gone up £600 in 2 years. That seems pretty staggering. This year I removed vets fees for Toby (it literally covers nothing) and tack cover (it’s covered under my home insurance). That leaves me with 2 standard horse policies, 1 veteran horse policy (minus vets fees), accident cover for me and trailer cover. Plus public liability on all 3 horse policies. I think I’m doubling up here as I’m a gold Harry hall member and I’m sure that includes public liability!

Do you insure? If you do, what do you cover? Do you insure your veterans? We’ve had 27 years with NFU, only claiming for Bonnie’s laminitis back in 2004. £2600 a year just strikes me as quite an outlay!
 
My veterans is with nfu but they wrote and told me now hes over 25 hes only going to be covered for minor vet fees. So they reduced his cover. He was reduced to veteran when he got to 18 as well.
My youngster now retired is stiil fully insured for vet fees. I was hoping by some miracle he might come sound enough to ride again but i think unlikely. I was contemplating not covering for the vet fees, but you can guarantee the minute i stop it he'll get something. In all honesty if he suffers anything that requires major surgery im not going to put him through it because his hock injury is too bad. So i do wonder why im paying the vet cover.
But even surface injuries may need multiple visits and treatment and those costs soon rack up and i think would work out more than the cost of what i pay to insure him. So for now im sticking with it.
 
Oh my god that's insane! Something has to be wrong with their maths, I claimed twice, no exclusions and it was £700.
I ditched them to source cheaper which I did.
BHS gold covers public liability, so you are paying for PL three times.

Do you insure? Yes
If you do, what do you cover? Vet fees with a horse policy, BHS for everything else.
Do you insure your veterans? If I stay with the company she will automatically be accepted onto their veteran policy. I don't know what age that will start.

For me it will depend on the cost of the premium verses quality of life investigating/likely to come right etc. Just because she's fully insured doesn't mean I will automatically go down the investigation route.
Its more for peace of mind that I have it in case, and access the situation.
 
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Good point @newforest Toby’s veteran cover for vets fees only covered bones and skin. Anything else (say he severed a tendon) was excluded. I think next year I’ll take off public liability, left it too late for this year.
 
I have fully ensured Eoin with KBIS. After well over 20 grand worth of vets bills with Ben, I wanted full cover. He is only 7 years old so I wanted to have the opportunity to fix him without the money worries if the need arises.
 
eventerbabe said:
Good point @newforest Toby’s veteran cover for vets fees only covered bones and skin. Anything else (say he severed a tendon) was excluded. I think next year I’ll take off public liability, left it too late for this year.
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NFU wouldn't remove the public liability, they said it was standard with the policy.
 
I no longer insure for vet fees. I had claims for Little Un in the last few months of his life and as a result NFU quoted me an enormous amount plus greatly increased excess for Luka. Thinking they'd made a mistake I questioned it saying he was a different and fairly young (then 7) horse, but no my previous claims meant that's what they were quoting. I took off vets fees despite them pushing to keep it, I can afford to pay if he runs up a big bill and what they were asking was unreasonable.
 
Mine is now £98 a month. I try hard not to notice. However I have had more back from insurance companies for various horses. 2 years ago I had 3 claims running at the same time adding up to around £10k. If I hadn’t had that we would have had to pts. So for now it’s worth it. However the exclusions are getting to a point I’m not sure whether it is worth it. Realistically it will be ulcers and hock medications he will need which are no longer covered.
 
I've just paid my £50 a year renewal for Harry Hall public liability. Other than that I just save but I always know at some point something may happen that I can't afford which will result in pts. Ale had so many exclusions that I figured I'm better off just saving. Over the last few years I've only had the vet a few times (touch everything in sight that is wood and pray) and they would have all been things he's excluded for.

His full list of exclusions was both eyes, entire back, skin excluding wounds, all legs excluding wounds, digestive issues including colic, stifles and a knee and hock he had cut which were completely excluded. What a disaster zone. I have considered getting the Harry Hall add on vet fees insurance as it isn't much but at the moment I'm in a position where I have adequate savings I can fall back on.
 
I am with Petplan as they offer the best veteran cover up to age 25 then accident only so i stopped it then. Sapphire was insured age 18 for £86 a month vets fees £5K, insured for what i paid for her, no exclusions. Buddy was with them until he went accident only so i stopped it.
 
I have public liability for all with BHS gold.

I never insured the little boys for anything else.

Jess was always insured for vets fees and for the last few years with her unsoundness I reduced her value to the minimum they would accept which was £500 and that significantly reduced my premiums without reducing the vet cover, but eventually her list of exclusions got so long it was no longer worth having so I cancelled it.

Niko I haven’t yet insured although I intended to, I really must get my butt in gear!

After I claimed for tack some years ago after mine was stolen SEIB wouldn’t reinsure me for it even though I’d moved yards and had replaced the stolen tack, which seemed weird but they were adamant so that’s not covered.
 
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Tack almost isnt worth its cover. You have to specify the saddle or its included in just the £500 of cover total.

By the time you add up the cost of a couple of bridles, bits, lunge reins, cavesson, girths, numnahs, headcollars etc. It values well over £500. If the whole tack room gets cleared out which sees to be what happens at most yard burglars. To replace the items costs a fortune.
That doesnt even include rug cost replacements.
 
Another note with tack insurance is do read the fine print regarding how it is to be locked up. I know only 2 out of the 15 plus yards in the area that meet the criteria that would cover tack theft if i had it on my horse policy. The amount thetly charge for livery against where I am now I could buy a new saddle ever 3rd month! I have my expensive stuff (saddle/bridle) at home or in the car where its covered by their respective insurance.
 
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It adds up really fast, I lost about £6k worth when my tack room was cleared out (£25+k went from the yard in total), only 2 saddles the rest was bits, bridles and sundries. Rugs weren’t covered if more than 2 years old as they said they only put a 3 year life on them. Most stuff wasn’t covered unless I had receipts, which you don’t after 20 years of buying stuff as you go.
 
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