Horse insurance question

[paintjumper63]

I am considering insuring my two horses (I have not insured any of my horses in the past and some were show horses). I didn’t pay much for either of them, but now they have show records and are worth more money. What do I need to consider? Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

This might be in the wrong discussion forum. I put it here because they show on the h/j circuit.

[Beam_Me_Up]

You can insure for more than you bought for–generally you have to submit the number you had in mind, the purchase price, show record, and $ spent on training and then they will approve it.

Things to consider:

• I have heard that insurance companies will sometimes accept your number, take your premiums, and then dispute the value when you make a claim. Maybe someone can say more about that?
• Mortality coverage is just a percentage, so as the insured value grows, so does your cost.
• What do you want/need from insurance?

For me, in a similar situation (train OTTBs for eventing), I’ve decided to focus more on the MM. In part because bringing along cheaper horses doesn’t feel like the same loss (If I bought a 40K horse and it died the following week, that feels worse than buying a 2K horse who 5 years later is valued at 40K and dies). And in part because I’ve found that expensive injuries are much more common and urgent than death (if a horse dies, I have time to gather myself, shop on a budget, etc, but if it needs 10K in surgery NOW, I need to make the call quickly). Also, knock on wood, horses dying in their prime seems less common than having career ending/limiting injuries, or stepping down due to chronic issues, none of which are covered by insurance anyway.

But everyone is different–it really depends on your reasons for insuring.

[paintjumper63]

Thanks for your insight. Is MM major medical? That would probably be the way that I would go because both are mares with nice conformation and papers and would be worth breeding as long as they are breeding sound.

[Beam_Me_Up]

Yes. You have to insure for mortality to get MM, but whether it makes sense to insure for the full value of the horse, or just enough to get decent MM coverage (varies by provider) depends on your goals.

[AmmyByNature]

I insure for just enough to get the major medical that i want - so I usually insure for $7500 to get $7500 worth of major medical, even if the horse is worth more than that.

I’ve used MM coverage before, but never actually cashed in on mortality. Any horse I’ve had that has passed has done so after becoming too old for MM, at which point I drop mortality anyway.