insurance on a horse that had colic surgery?

[Everlong274]

Long story short, horse Im considering purchasing had colic surgery back in the winter. Turned out he didnt actually need the surgery, but vets insisted and admitted afterwards that it would have passed on its own.
He has not coliced since and has been healthy otherwise (know the owner).

So is colic like other injuries? excluded for a yr from date of surgery or is it something that can never be included again? Im willing to take the risk because the horse is a steal (not because of colic but bc of friend), but Ive heard varying opinions on this matter and would like some imput from all of you wondering COTH people.

I realize that surgery puts them at higher risk to do it again, but Im very active in my animals care and quick to notice colic and call vet. So it’s an issue Im willing to deal with considering the ability of the horse if its something that can possibly be covered again in the future.

TIA!

[TullyMars]

I bought a gelding that had surgery. He flipped the colon, but everything went back into place without a resection. The insurance company when I got him was only worried if he had actually had the resection. They covered him with a copy of the surgical report. All has been well since. He is covered through Great American. Good luck!!!

[horsepoor]

I had a horse insured with Markel when she had colic surgery. Hers was pretty similar in that she may well have recovered without the surgery, but at the time, they couldn’t tell for sure if she had an impact ion or what. No resection. Of course they excluded colic coverage after that, but after a year of no repeat problems, they were willing to cover her again. I switched to Great American, disclosing her entire history, and they covered her with no hassle at all.

This was, however, over 15 years ago, so who knows how things would go now.

[supershorty628]

I had insurance with Great American when my mare had colic surgery and for several years after (until she was old enough that they wouldn’t cover her without my paying a ton). IIRC, colic coverage was excluded for a year, but after no repeat issues, they covered her again.

[Zuri]

My horse has to be a year since last colic to be covered again. A vet statement has to be included to resume that coverage.

[meupatdoes]

Mine is another one that had colic surgery without resection and was insurable again once enough time had passed.

[vxf111]

I have never had a colic (knock on wood, thank god) but I have found Smith Embry (underwriter Lloyds of London) to be the best about writing coverage where other companies balked. I have been BEYOND happy with them.

[hype]

Colic Surgery

With my last policy, I had a rider which guaranteed me to have colic insurance at my renewal as long as my coverage was continuous.

How it was explained to me was that they usually discontinue colic coverage for a year after a colic surgery then will look the circumstances/vet report and decide if they will exclude colic surgery forever or will cover it again once the year is up.

This particular rider guaranteed coverage for the gap year. Of course if a horse colics in that gap year then no more colic surgery insurance once the policy is set to renew.

You might want to see if the current owner has that rider. If it is a deal breaker for you to not have colic insurance then I’d see if you could lease said horse for the year with the intent to purchase once the year is up.

My policy wouldn’t transfer if the horse was sold.

There are many out there who will not purchase a horse within that year of colic surgery unless the horse is significantly discounted. The seller may be really happy to lease you the horse for the year.

There is a reason that underwriters exclude colic surgery for the first year after an initial event. The chances are much higher that a repeat surgery will be required than if the horse hadn’t had a previous surgery.

The odds are also different depending on who did the surgery. If you were at a vet school that sees hundreds of colic surgeries a year your chances are better than if a local vet clinic did the surgery.

I believe that there is a published study which confirms above statement.

[gottagrey]

best thing would be to call a couple of different insurance companies to see what they would offer. Most will still insure the horse, they just won’t cover for colic surgery for a certain amount of time - might be a couple of years.

[kenyarider]

Interesting to hear that Great America would take a post surgery colic horse. They insured my horse through his twisted gut surgery and then excluded it forever. I switched to Blue Bridle because they would cover colic.