Is it possible to find colic insurance for a horse that recently coliced?

[Equkelly]

Hello all, yes I know I should’ve planned ahead and purchased colic insurance before this became an issue. But I didn’t and 2 weeks ago my mare coliced and spent 36 hours at the local vet hospital. She recovered without needing surgical intervention thank god but now I’m terrified it’s going to happen again. Until this episode she had never coliced in the 2 years I’ve had her and she just turned 4. Not an excuse, I know. I’m already beating myself up about it.

Any how, I’m trying to get something in place to help out if this does happen again and if she needs surgery but as you can imagine, no insurance company that I’ve reached out to will even touch us for at least 12 months. Smart Pak and platinum won’t enroll her in their colic programs either, and I’m still waiting to hear back from succeed. Does anyone have any ideas?

[RockyMountainMare]

I absolutely feel you here.

My 10 year old had a severe colic episode that resulted into surgery about 4 months into buying her. She had 20 medium sized stones along her gut, likely been developing in there since she was a yearling. No one could have guessed without xrays as she was operating totally fine. Her poop had likely been dodging around them but they were too big to pass, and one day she didn’t drink enough water and she impacted, with all the stones bunching up one side of her intestine and causing a total blockage. She almost lost her life and about 12k later I had my horse back. One thing that massively helped was that right when I bought her I insured her for mortality insurance through Hallmark, which included 3k in colic surgery coverage. I’ve never been more grateful for coverage even if I still had to pay most of it.

I recently got called to renew my insurance policy and also was told I can’t get her covered with colic insurance for one year like your situation. It’s unlikely any insurance company will let you insure again right away, but thankfully your horse is young and you’ll just have to watch them like a hawk for the next year until you can insure again. Check poop daily, monitor water intake and if ever their stool looks even a little harder than normal, toss some mineral oil in their feed that night. I’m in the same boat as you, and unfortunately I don’t know a way around this.

[Equkelly]

@RockyMountainMare

I absolutely feel you here.
.

Thanks, yea it’s tough. The hard part is that neither the vets at CSU or my vet have any ideas as to what caused it. They believe it was an enteritis case but anterior enteritis is really rare in my area.

[twelvebelles]

Every insurer has different rules, but generally will allow some form of colic coverage back after a period of time has passed. My horse had two colic surgeries back to back, and my insurer said because he had no resection, if he was okay in two years he could be covered again. It has been four years now.

[Where_sMyWhite]

In the mean time, start putting the $$ away that you would spend on a premium into a savings account in the event that she colics again.

I’m with you, colic is scary.

My mare had 2 colic surgeries within 36 hours (I feel like I own a stall at Littleton Large Animal ) and lived another 15+ years. Nasty colics are survivable.

:encouragement:

[wsmoak]

Sorry to hear of your troubles! I’m glad surgery wasn’t necessary.

Insurers will generally exclude any body part that a veterinarian has so much as breathed upon in the last 12 months. So if the horse was just treated for colic, that will most likely be excluded.

If you are trying to protect against large unexpected expenses (and don’t want to self-insure by saving up an emergency fund) then your best bet is probably to go ahead with the insurance now even with the exclusion. Because what if the horse bangs an eye on the stall door edge and you’re right back at the clinic next month?

Then next year at renewal time, you will be a year + past the colic incident and you should be able to get them to drop the exclusion.

[Atlas_Shrugged]

My horse had colic surgery, after which my insurance company naturally had an exclusion for colic. Six months later he had another episode and I brought him to the clinic to be safe. Had he not gone to the clinic, the exclusion would have been removed one year later. Instead I had to begin the year from the time of the second incident. And true to their word, a year after that second scare, colic coverage was reinstated. That was several years ago and fortunately there have been no further incidents.

[joiedevie99]

Stick the premium payments in a savings account for now. You’ll be able to get insurance once she is 12 months colic-free.

[Puffergrrl]

Yeah, there’s no way you can get colic coverage right now. Insurers see your horse as a walking liability. Some might agree to take you after a year or two without incident, but I expect your premium will be quite high, since the horse is still a known risk. Unfortunately, one severe colic episode does tend to make horses more prone to having trouble in the future.

I’m glad your horse is okay, remains healthy, and good luck to you!

[theresak]

Shop around - I found there are a few companies who will exclude for a medical colic (not surgical) for only 3 or 6 months rather than a year. I’m with the Allen Financial Insurance Group/The Equestrian Group, which was one with a shorter exclusion period.

[Lieslot]

I doubt you ever will be able to insure for colic again. I feel your pain, I took my horse in for a scope and was found to have pyloric & hindgut ulcers, as a result I lost colic coverage on him. I am rather upset about this, because a) he never ever colicked!!! and b) he’s still so young, but after calling a number of agents, seems once excluded for colic, it’s same or even other underwriters will be willing to insure him again.
I discussed this with my vet and he had had another case were the horse had scoped positive for pyloric ulcers and lost colic coverage :sadsmile:

[joiedevie99]

@Lieslot

I doubt you ever will be able to insure for colic again. I feel your pain, I took my horse in for a scope and was found to have pyloric & hindgut ulcers, as a result I lost colic coverage on him. I am rather upset about this, because a) he never ever colicked!!! and b) he’s still so young, but after calling a number of agents, seems once excluded for colic, it’s same or even other underwriters will be willing to insure him again.
I discussed this with my vet and he had had another case were the horse had scoped positive for pyloric ulcers and lost colic coverage :sadsmile:

I was told I could get my colic exclusion removed if the horse had a clean scope, and then stayed ulcer and colic free for 12 months post-scope. Unfortunately, I never got to test it because the horse did not remain symptom free.

[soloudinhere]

No. They almost never allow euthanasia unless the horse is in an unrecoverable situation with normal, reasonable treatment.

In that case, if the horse was unlikely to survive a second surgery, then yes, euth, but you personally not wanting to pay for surgery doesn’t usually result in a mortality payout.

[fourfillies]

I had no trouble getting colic coverage reinstated after a year (surgery but no resection) with EMO. Markel would have done the same when I called around. But also agree I don’t think you’ll find a reputable insurer that will drop the exclusion prior to the year. Hope your baby stays well.