Nutrition Feature of the Month: Should You Insure Your Horse?
Equine Insurance, Continued.
Cost to Insure. The annual cost to insure your horse will depend on its age, breed, use and determined value. Most companies rate a dressage horse between 3 and 14 years of age at 3 percent. If the horse is worth $10,000, mortality coverage will cost $300 per year. Steeplechase horses insured for mortality have a minimum mortality rate of 9 percent, so a steeplechaser worth $10,000 will cost about $900 a year to insure for mortality. Rates vary by company; therefore it is always best to check with your agent for specific figures.
Non-insurable Horses? While many companies insure horses as young as 24 hours old up through 18-20 years of age, there is such a thing as an “uninsurable horse.” For example, horses with multiple health problems or those identified as having Hyperkalemic Periodic Paralysis disease (HYPP) with an H/H test result will not be covered. HYPP is a muscular disease that can cause paralysis and sudden death, and H/H horses are affected homozygote carriers of the disease, thus making the horse uninsurable.
Limitations/Exclusions. When buying automobile insurance, car owners choose the specific coverage they want, such as collision, full or partial glass, etc. Equine insurance companies can choose to insure a horse for 100 percent of its value without limitations, or they might place limitations, known as “exclusions,” on the policy. Exclusions can include pre-existing medical conditions, such as colic and chronic degenerative complications such as laminitis. Some of these exclusions are only temporary. After a set “trial period,” the company can re-issue coverage if there has not been a recurrence during the designated time. On the other hand, diseases that have chronic flare-ups can qualify as permanent exclusions. In these cases, mortality and major medical are still available, but the chronic condition is excluded from coverage. For example, if your pony is in great shape but has had several bouts with colic recently, his insurance policy might exclude colic surgery.
Required Insurance. Many times boarding stables will require clients/boarders to purchase insurance. This is crucial if the caretaker must treat a medical emergency during an owner’s absence. The stable owner has peace of mind knowing that he or she can provide optimal medical care without worrying about how the procedures will be paid for. Another scenario: If the horse has been purchased with a loan, the lending bank might require the owners to buy an insurance policy.
Deciding to insure a horse, even if the original purchase price of the horse is not a huge investment, relieves horse owners of financial concerns in the time of a medical emergency. Rhonda Mack recalls a situation where a couple owned a pleasure horse worth about $4,000. Because of the relatively inexpensive initial cost of the horse, the couple chose not to insure the horse. When the horse had an episode of colic, however, the owners asked their veterinarian to try every procedure other than surgery because they were concerned that surgery would be very costly. After 4-5 days of treatment, the horse died, and the owner’s bills totaled more than the cost of an annual insurance premium. Had the couple purchased a policy, the surgical costs would have been covered, and the horse might have lived.
Freelancer Katie Navarra has been involved in the equine industry as a journalist and competitor, with experience in western pleasure, combined driving and other performance events. She is a recent graduate of the State University of Ney York at Geneseo and is an affiliate member of the American Horse Publications.
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