I have a couple of horses who are close to aging out of their insurance coverage. Has anyone had experience with any of the supplement programs that offer colic overage? Are the programs good, worth it, ect? All opinions or personal experience appreciated. And, these horses are in good shape, they are historically very healthy, and are healthy now. Thank you!
I have SmartPak ColiCare coverage on both of my mares. Aged 3 and 19. It was easy to get them in, and I already do all of the vet requirements anyways (fecal exams, vaccinations etc) every year. This program is the difference between surgery and the pink stuff for my gals. Without the coverage, I wouldn’t be able to afford surgery if they were a candidate. It gives some peace of mind, but it’s only for colic surgery. I do not have any other insurance on the girls, so I can’t speak on that.
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I am on Platinum’s program but I haven’t had to use it. As said above, these are only for colic surgery costs, not any other medical expenses including for non-surgical colic. I am on the program primarily because I like the product. So you should consider if your horses would be surgery candidates and whether they need the supplement and if paying for the supplement is worth it to you for the coverage.
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I have Colicare on all my horses. I had to make a claim and it was super easy. I had a $10,000 check in my hand before the staples were removed from my mare’s incision!
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I had a very positive experience with SmartPak’s ColicCare this February. My 24-year-old gelding had aged out of traditional insurance sometime ago but I kept him on the SmartDigest Ultra which came with ColicCare coverage. Without a doubt this program was the difference between life and death for him. And they do only pay for colic surgery not for medical colics that can be resolved with IV fluids and pain medication etc. In his case my gelding had a pretty severe impaction that would not have resolved without surgery. One question I did ask when speaking to the ColicCare representative was if surgery was unsuccessful and he couldn’t be saved how much of that would they pay for and they said that they would pay for the surgery up to the point of euthanasia and then also contribute something towards the disposal of his remains. It made the decision to go to surgery a no brainer -without the coverage it would’ve been a much more difficult decision to go ahead. My gelding stayed in the hospital for a week I submitted the paperwork for reimbursement of the day he was discharged and had a check for the entire invoice of his stay 10 days later. I can’t speak highly enough about the program.
Full disclosure- ColicCare asked if they could use Bob’s story to highlights the coverage and what all is involved. Below is a link to the blog post and you’ll see advertising etc. with our photo but I didn’t receive any kind of compensation for using our story or photos for the campaign. I won’t ever not have ColiCare or similar coverage for my horses.
https://blog.smartpakequine.com/successstory/meet-sandra-m-and-bob/
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Succeed also has a colic coverage program and there’s also covers 800 dollars in medical colics in addition to surgical colics. If you think your horse can really benefit from the supplement then it’s an option but if you’re just doing it for the insurance, it’s not worth it. Way too pricey for just insurance.
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Succeed is a good product, and for those it helps I think it’s great–certainly helped my last horse with some hindgut stuff. However, considering I spent around $3k for a medically managed colic in July and considering the high price of Succeed, this does not seem like a benefit if you wanted to buy the supplement just for that coverage (and not for a noticeable increase in the horse’s comfort on the day-to-day).
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Thank you everyone for the great information!! I am going to go for it!
I like succeed a lot too. There’s the otc supplement but then there’s the succeed VF formula too which is the one with their colic guarentee. Obviously 800 bucks won’t help you much if it’s a medical colic requiring hospitalization but I think it’s more for like an emergency visit where your vet comes out and manages the colic without you going to the hospital.
The SmartPak products are excellent. I believe in them. Years ago I took a horse off one of the SmartGut packs, and he got ulcery within a month or two.
Last year I had a horse suddenly die of a strangulating lipoma. Not even a digestive issue, but technically a colic, He was on Smartpaks and had ColicCare and Smartpak paid up without a glitch.
I apologize if this is a stupid question. Is colic insurance available without buying a specific product? I had mortality insurance, but decided to self insure for major medical as it cost a fortune. A year ago I began to self insure on both mortality and major medical, but the idea of just colic insurance is interesting.
No, usually you need to purchase at least mortality insurance to have a colic surgery rider. And you’d need major medical to have coverage for non-surgical colic.
I know there are less than full colic and medical coverage mortality policies you can get (I had to buy one for a year when my horse was otherwise not considered to be insurable), and those cover more accident and specific types of events resulting in death/euthanasia like trailer accidents, wildfire, lightning, and possibly certain pasture accidents like horse impales itself on a fence. Given fire risk in my area, this was worth it for the year I couldn’t get other coverage. But even though my horse had no colic history at that time, I could not get any colic coverage with that.
