I am looking into getting my mare insured, but she does have PSSM. Does anybody else have their PSSM horse (or horse with similar genetic diseases) insured? What company? How much does it cost? And what kind (if any) of hoops did you have to jump through to get them insured? Does having a genetic disease reduce the amount that the insurance is willing to cover? I am mostly just looking for loss of use/mortality insurance. As my mare’s training progresses I know that there is no way I could replace her with a similar trained horse on my own.
You don’t want loss of use insurance.
It’s incredibly expensive and may or may not require you to surrender the horse to the insurance company in exchange for a payout. It makes sense on a high $$$ or income producing horse but it does not make sense on the average riding horse. It’s not usually even available on horses valued at less than $25,000.
As for Mortality, depends on the value of the horse (I pay $242/yr for my horse to be insured for $10,000 mortality). I don’t know if they would insure for mortality on a horse with congenital disease that could potentially lead to organ damage and death.
Typically, unless you have a professional appraisal done, you can only insure for the price you paid for the horse unless you can substantiate an increase with results at recognized shows, professional training bills, etc. You’d need to ask an agent about this part. I use Jennifer Oliver at Central VA Insurance.
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Most companies probably would insure your horse with an exclusion for PSSM, so long as the horse is stable with no major side effects, and sound for its job. The cost would be 3-4% of the horse’s insured value, more if the horse is 15 or older. Loss of use availability depends upon the breed, use, and age of the horse, but it’s doubtful you’d be allowed that coverage on a PSSM horse. You’re better off skipping loss of use and getting medical coverage in addition to mortality.
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I would email Jennifer Oliver, she would definitely be able to tell you!
Just be aware that ANYTHING that could be the result of PSSM would be excluded since that is a pre-existing condition.
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Loss of use is probably going to be a non-starter, unless your horse is worth a ton and/or competing at a high level. (They will verify.) They also often have the discretion to put the horse down/require it to be put down in order to pay out on a loss of use claim.
I would never bother with loss of use insurance. Really, don’t bother.
You basically only want major medical and/or mortality.
BUT with this specific pre-existing condition, I would definitely call Jennifer to see if it would would even be worth it. Like, can you get a policy that literally only covers accidents? Because too many other things, including colic like symptoms, could be atttributed to the PSSM, thus excluded.
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Is this diagnosed, with a biopsy, there is a vet record of it pssm? Because if not, the horse does not have pssm. At least not for insurance purposes
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I did the hair testing for type 1, which came back positive.
After asking on a pssm group I’m thinking it might not be worth it. Sounds like insurance has blamed even totally unrelated problems/diseases on the horse having pssm.
I was hoping I could get something. 
Mostly because horses with the same level of training as her our way over my head in affordability.
Call an insurance agent, if you’re mostly interested in mortality, you may very well be able to get that, but you do need justification, like recognized show results. My horse is way underinsured for mortality…just enough to get me another nice, but young (unstarted) warmblood.
This is what I do as well because I don’t want to pay the premiums on full value. Slash sometimes can’t.
I think it’s worth investigating your options and getting some quotes. A lot may wind up being excluded, but if you are worried about accidents, it could wind up being where the premium is cost effective.
You need to really understand how loss of use insurance works before considering it. It’s not what you think. Certainly not worth the cost on horses of average cost with no added value from substantial recognized competition results. Most folks keep an open credit card or put the premium equivalent in cash into a seperate bank account.
But you do need to talk with an agent and be aware agents are commissioned sales people, they don’t approve and pay claims. The actual underwriting company does that and there’s really only a half dozen or so of them despite the hundreds of agents who work for them.
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If you didn’t pay a lot for her to begin with and didn’t put a decent show record on her, any insurance company is going to give you a hard time about loss for use for more than you paid (and may even give you a hard time about that much if they feel her value is actually less). Loss of use is generally not worth it.
Mortality/major medical generally is but again if you didn’t pay a whole lot to begin with, you may find that the mortality/major medical is also capped low enough to not be that helpful. You really need to call an agent, get some quotes, and see.
I’ve had a plenty fine experience insuring horses with some pre-existing conditions (not PSSM). Lloyds in particular was very very good to deal with on that front. These were show horses with records and I tend to UNDER insure them… so it’s a bit different. But I did not find that Lloyds was over broad in interpreting the exclusions. They were quite generous/fair and compassionate.
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Do NOT get Loss of Use unless you don’t care if they take your horse and do whatever they want with your mare - including euthanasia or shipping her to an auction. Unfortunately I’ve seen it happen (spent over five years working at an emergency equine hospital). The worst was watching a young lady having to euth her gelding due to a neck issue. He was perfectly fine being a pasture pet which she wanted (he couldn’t be ridden) but insurance said they’d only pay the claim if he was put down (claim was over 10k). I fed him his last meal and it truly sucked.
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Well we are showing training level, got scores in the high 60s at one USDF show, and scores in the low 70s at a schooling show so far this year. We are schooling first level at home. I have started to look around at possibly getting a second horse, but prices in my area seem to just be going up and up for horses that are only schooling training level. That is why I started to think that maybe I should get insurance on her. Loss of use doesn’t sound like the route I want to go though, I guess I didn’t realize what all was involved in an insurance claim having only dealt with cars and not a living animal. :no:
With all due respect, going to one recognized show and getting a good score at training level is not going to equate to an insurance company allowing you to significantly increase the horse’s insured value over sales price. I think that’s a super accomplishment and I get why you’re proud, but that’s not going to mean any meaningful increase in value. From their perspective she’s an 8 year old crossbred horse who showed once at training level. They’re not going to see that as having a whole lot of value on the market. She’s valuable to YOU and I get that she’d be hard to replace… but I’d be surprised if they’d insure her for much. They want to see a show record that makes the horse substantially more marketable. Most people wouldn’t pay a whole lot extra for one rated show at training versus no record. It’s just not enough from a “what is this horse worth on the market” perspective to make the horse worth much.
Anytime you buy the horse for a low price, don’t insure it, and then later try to insure it for more than sales price-- it’s going to be a red flag. They’re looking out for fraud, people who would buy a cheap horse and then lie to inflate it’s value (and then kill it for the mortality, a la the horse killers). So insurance companies are a bit skeptical when a cheap horse is suddenly claimed to be worth more. They’re going to want to see verifiable show records against good company. And possible have you get an appraisal. I believe you when you say horses in your area are $$$ but they’re going to make you prove HER worth, not what other horses are listed for.
Often they cap major medical based on the mortality value. So they may not give you more MM than they say her M value is worth. If her M value is sufficiently low, you might not be getting enough MM to make it worthwhile. For a lower valued horse, it’s often just a better bet to take the $500-1000 you’d spend on insurance premiums each year and put it in an interest bearing account as your emergency fund.
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You could probably increase her value 25-50% over her purchase price if she has had professional training. I increased my young horse from $7500 (his purchase price) to $12K with no recognized record and just a handful of schooling shows. He was winning most of his dressage schooling shows and starter horse trials, and had a weekly dressage training ride and jump training about every other week. Other than filling out the valuation form (you can probably find an example on Broadstone’s website) the only verification I sent them was a couple of score sheets. This year I only upped him to $15K, which is no where near what it would cost to replace him, but as others have said it does start to get expensive as you increase in value.
My other horse (IIRC) went from $6K to $8K to $10K, again with no recognized show record. But he fox hunts, so that alone probably justified the increase.
Good luck, it’s certainly worth talking to Jennifer.
I do not believe the OP’s horse has had significant professional training. And also keep in mind the horse is a draft cross with PSSM which I think it likely to impact the value.
I bought a 3 year old warmblood with 30 days and insured him for the purchase price. When I went to insure him for probably half what it would take to replace him a few years later (nowhere near his actual value), having 2 years of pro training, lots of ribbons at rated hunter and dressage shows, and oodles of schooling show experience-- they still gave me a hard time and made me substantiate the increase in value. The problem was… I paid so little for him to start-- the increase seemed too big. I got him for a steal 
But it meant that I got a bit of a hard time when I wanted to increase his value.
I believe OP’s horse is a nice solid all around type (that I am guessing cost a couple thousand) and that the OP has done all the work with her. And she’s still a nice solid all around type that’s done a little more but now has one rated show dressage score at training more of a “record.” I don’t think many insurance companies are going to let OP significantly increase the value of the horse. It’s a little different when you have a real show record and/or can prove you put professional training into the horse. I’m sure OP’s horse is better than where she started but not to a degree that an insurance company is likely to accept as significant increased value.
But… she can ask. Can’t hurt to ask, right?
Unless you can get the mortality up to $5K/$7500 I’m not sure the MM is going to be worth it. That’s been my experience. Because the MM is usually capped at the M value and if the M value is a couple thousand-- you’re better off just saving the money. ESPECIALLY if you’re going to get some exclusions on the MM. She’s going to have to disclose the horse’s vet history and it not long ago had a WICKED leg injury. They’re likely to exclude that too. By the time they exclude a bunch of stuff, you’re paying for a lack of coverage and it’s just not worth it.
Unfortunately a horse can be WORTH a lot more to the owner than it’s worth to an insurance company. I have some priceless horses with literally no insurable value.
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You have to read the policy to be certain what is covered, what isn’t, and the requirements for notice to the company in the event of a loss (claim).
With most policies the company will pay the fair market value of the horse in the event of a loss. They will NOT pay the face value on the Declaration Page unless you have purchased “Declared Value” coverage. That kind of coverage is usually quite expensive and constitutes a major “moral” risk to the company. It’s not unknown in the equine world for owners in difficulty to kill their stock and claim “accidental death” in order to generate cash. This means that if you put a big price tag on a low value horse insured for market value you have just made a nice gift to the owners of the insurance company.
You insure any property to protect your economic interest in that property. Horses are property. Morbidity and mortality insurance is not “medical” and “life insurance” for horses. Be very careful to know what you’re buying before you commit to a purchase.
G.
