Insurance
We recommend that horses be insured. Veterinary bills can be expensive and insurance can cover some or all of the costs involved depending on the type of policy.
We are not able to recommend any specific insurance companies or policies. However, we would recommend that clients look at different policies and check the small print and likely exclusions before insuring their horse. Some useful resources include the British Equine Veterinary Association guide for horse owners and insurance.
Some insurance companies offer a range of different policies covering some of the areas below and across a range of costs. Please be aware that for complicated wounds or colic surgery that require specialist care, policies that cover costs below £5,000 are unlikely to cover veterinary fees in full (which may also exceed this in horses requiring intensive care or who need more than one surgery).
- Veterinary fees
- Loss of animal
- Loss of use
- Personal accident
- Third-party cover
- Legal fees
- Saddlery, tack, and trailer cover.
Some things to note when choosing an equine insurance policy:
- Excess and amount covered – The excess may be a percentage of a claim or fixed amount. There may be a limit on the veterinary fee limit for each illness or it may be a total limit – check how much is covered and if there are any exclusions on this
- What the policy covers – check if there is a limit for diagnostic investigations, if other treatments such as physiotherapy are covered, or if livery costs are covered if the horse needs to be hospitalised
- Exclusions - Insurance companies will place exclusions on pre-existing conditions or will exclude these from policies starting from 1 year after the onset of initial injury, disease, or lameness. They can place exclusions whether or not the problem was claimed for
- Age – Some policies may not cover horses over a certain age or may restrict the conditions covered
- Activities covered for – some equine activities may be excluded depen0ding on the policy.
Completion of veterinary certificates on insurance forms
We are happy to complete veterinary certificates on insurance forms and liaise with companies at your request. To cover the cost of the time involved in the paperwork, we charge a small fee for this service.