I realize the amounts spent on vet care can truly be endless… when I was younger my family had 2 horses, a pony with off and on laminitis and a Hanoverian mare who colicked often… we went to New Bolton, Mid Atlantic, did everything under the sun to try and figure out the cause of the colic and prevent it from happening and went bankrupt trying to do it. It did not end well. Still, I would love to have a horse again someday and I’m starting to save…both for the purchase price of the horse and for non-routine and emergency vet care. So my question is…how much would you put aside a year for non-routine and emergency vet care?
Insurance is the best way to cope with major bills. My horse’s bill is at 13k and counting but insurance is paying a good chunk.
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Well…luckily, I have a thus far had mostly healthy and sound horses and have been able to save and have “self-insurance” (a 5 figure savings account). I put at least $200 per month in it and often can do more so over the years, I have a nice nest egg–my critter account :)–which is a totally separate account from my general finances. I can’t and won’t go to the end of the earth to keep things going. I board. I still work full time and am a caregiver for my parents. I can’t put her in my garage to do around the clock nursing. Certainly a short term gig at a rehab barn is feasible but months then years? I can’t do it.
I would like like to say my good fortune is good management but in dealing those self destructive creatures called horses, most likely it is just good luck. Hopefully not gone now that I said that:lol:.
Susan
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Yes, I know what you mean Kyrabee. Knock on wood! Lol
Thank you both for your comments!
It really varies. I’ve spent over $15k in two of the last three years. Insurance has covered a fair bit of that.
Like Kyrabee said, I think you also have to put a realistic budget on yourself and what you can and will spend. While COTH is a wonderful resource, there tends to be a good number of people who advocate a “whatever it takes” approach to vet care. That’s fine if your income allows you that kind of freedom. But it’s very easy to do just what you did, OP- try to do “everything under the sun” and “go bankrupt” on vet bills, even if you have a massive emergency fund set aside.
I budget for routine vet care, but my emergency fund is a line of credit. It’s not ideal, but as someone who has grown up chronically horse poor, liquid funds don’t last long! They seem to be an invitation for horses to find creative ways to spend them. I currently have one horse who manages to rack up $1000-$5000 in emergency bills every year without fail, yet my others rarely have such costly emergencies.
It is very wise to be putting aside something every month in a savings account dedicated to equine emergencies. Even if it is only $50 per month, that’s $600 per year saved … whatever amount you can do will add up over time.
I keep around $5k in savings for emergencies, and when it is used, replenish. That is for all of the critters. That isn’t going to treat a super-major equine health issue but I have alternative plans for those eventualities.
Just as important: Make some decisions as to what you will not treat, how much your spending limit is. Think ahead about how you would retire a horse at a young age, or euthanize. Should some event actually occur, you can modify your plan as you go. But it is much, much easier to at least have an outline already decided than to try to deal with hard and emotional decisions for the first time under stress.
Some amounts to plan for: A major colic can easily end up $2k-$7k even without surgery. With surgery, it’s a big hole into which your life savings are poured - as you already know. A suspensory, with vet diagnostics and treatment to get the horse through it, can run several hundred to over $1k. Less serious things like the equine equivalent of head flu, or minor eye injury, etc. can cost much less, but still in the $100-$300 range. Hopefully these things won’t be needed, but if the horse is in active work then it is just like any other athlete, things happen.
I learned to be prepared that a year with one major health event is likely to have some others as well. It is just something about the winds of fate, I guess.
You can insure for mortality and major colic, with or without surgery, the rate varies but I’m paying $350/year. It’s really for the colic, as far as I’m concerned. Even carrying the insurance for several years, plus paying the deductible, is likely to cost far, far less than an actual major colic. It is harder to find equine insurance for other medical treatment these days. I’ve carried insurance over most of my horse ownership time, haven’t used it every year, but when it was needed it paid out in a big way.
Definitely need the savings as well as insurance, for the deductible and all the costs not covered by insurance.
Some people keep an open balance on a credit card for emergencies. That will get you through the event, hopefully, but you still have to pay out the full cost, plus credit card interest. Balance that against the insurance.
Some of your best protection against medical costs is to buy a thoroughly healthy horse without issues, and take good care of him or her! 
First, buy good horses. Spend some time looking not only at the horse in front of you but also siblings, offspring (if any), and sires, dams, and their siblings. This will give you a good idea of what your buying. Folks often say, “you can’t ride the papers” but in reality you do.
Second, get a good PPE if you don’t have the eye to make intelligent calls on health issues.
Third, don’t buy out of sympathy. Just because a horse has had a hard life doesn’t mean you should take it home. Unless, of course, your name is Gates or Kerry or Clinton or Buffet. Then do anything you want to.
Fourth, and controversially, don’t buy at low end auctions or buy “rescues.” Unless, of course, you’re a trust fund baby or really rich.
After you buy a horse then insurance is an option but ensure your read the policy and know what you’re buying. Equine morbidity and mortality insurance covers property. It’s in the category of “property and casualty” insurance, not “health insurance.”
Feed and care for the horse to meet the needs of its use. Every horse needs good basic nutrition, farrier care, and exercise. Putting horse in a stall for six days a week and then riding the hair off them on a Sat. or Sun. does not meet their needs.
Ensure your skills are up to the use you plan for the horse. Money spent on lessons to improve rider skills is better than money spent to fix injuries inept riding causes.
Our credit union has some “sub accounts” that you can open for specific things. One is call the Mad Money account. Open one and put a few bucks in every month to cover the annual stuff (Coggins, vaccinations, floating, etc.) as well as a start on a vet bill from illness or injury. You might even address a reality that most horse owners ignore and think about how you’ll fund the euthanasia and carcass disposal when you have to put the horse down due to age and infirmity.
Owning a horse is a lifestyle, not an activity. It’s not cheap but it can be very rewarding.
G.
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I will add that I have had horses insured in the past. Then myself and my friend had some issues.
I reported every bump, boo-boo and issue my new to me 2yo had. The next renewal, the insurance excluded every limb or organ involved. No vet check no nothing…just excluded. Never mind I made NO claims, just reported them as required. I would think I would have at least had the option to get a thorough vet check. Whatever, they lost my business and that is when I decided to self insure. I had control of my horse and the peace of mind not to have to make snap decisions in the middle of the night.
My friend had an instance where she had a very lame gelding and insurance kept insisting on certain treatments (including nerving him) before they would give the OK to euthanize. Well they conveniently drug that out until > 1 year post renewal when they finally listened to her vets…oops…no mortality payout (of a whopping $6500). She ended up being out thousands for all the ineffective treatment ( horse had torn BOTH impar ligaments in his front feet) and no $$$ for the horse. She wished she had just said screw it and put him down about 6 months earlier she would have been ahead and the horse wouldn’t have suffered 6 months more.
Unfortuntately, due to the increased use and all the new dangled treatments and diagnostics, horse insurance is rapidly going the way of human health insurance. Major medical premiumns are going to be sky high. If you want to get insurance, one should at least, start a “critter” account to fund the insurance and deductibles. Savings is a good habit that takes some discipline but well worth it.
Susan
I keep what I would spend on my ponies vet care in a savings acct. I have an amount that my vet knows I’m willing to spend and I will not do colic surgery. He’s 14 and not a good patient. I refuse to let him go through any extensive treatments that he would hate life on. I owe it to him to make sure he doesn’t suffer in any way.
How you manage your horses has a lot to do costs too. I’ve got 8 mostly retired trail riding horses living at home on 25 acres. The accident prone one stabbed himself in the neck with a foot long, inch wide splinter inbetween the skin and the muscle. Pulled threw splinter out, smeared some furzone and dmso on it, and kept an eye out for infection. He stepped on a front hoof, so we housed it and smeared goo on it and left it alone to heal up. Down with colic, gave him some bute and hung out with him til the very showed up, then pulled all grain for two weeks and he got sloppy alfalfa pellets for meals instead.
my hopeful competition horse runs up the bill a bit, but that’s mostly more intensive maintenance than emergencies.
having had horses at home, I’d be hard pressed to keep them any place on stall board ever again.
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