How good is your horse insurance?

There is a lot of confusion over the different types of equine insurance policies currently available, and the small print is rarely read until problems occur.

Your horse can be insured in different ways for different eventualities, including:

all risks of mortality (ARM) or destruction on humane grounds (death cover)
theft
permanent incapacity for the purposes for which the horse is insured (loss of use – not short-term “loss of use” while convalescing!)
vet fees for varying amounts, ranging from cover where you pay a small excess to so-called catastrophe cover, where insurers assist with major vet bills only, for instance surgical or medical fees greater than £500

The British Equine Veterinary Association, in conjunction with the insurance industry, has defined the criteria for destruction on humane grounds as follows: “That the insured horse sustains an injury, or manifests an illness or disease, that is so severe as to warrant immediate destruction to relieve incurable and excessive pain, and that no other treatment options are available to that horse at that time.”

Failure to disclose a minor health problem may jeopardise a major claim in the future. For example, presume that your horse had low-grade colic that resolved rapidly following examination and treatment, but the insurance company was not informed. If in the future Lucy required colic surgery the insurance company could legitimately refuse payment. The vet would be obliged to disclose all previous records, which would document that Lucy had previously had colic.

While it could be argued that many horses have an occasional bout of colic, it must be recognised that some horses may have a predisposition to the problem. Insurance companies operate as a business based on risk factors and it is therefore a precondition of insurance that they are informed of previous problems. It is the owner’s responsibility to keep the insurance company informed and there is no doubt that honesty is the best policy. Do not expect your vet to distort the truth.

This happened with Molly, a nine-year-old advanced eventer, who had a low-grade foot lameness attributed to foot imbalance. The insurance company was not informed. Despite corrective trimming and shoeing, the lameness persisted and six months later more thorough clinical assessment revealed chronic damage of the deep digital flexor tendon. At this stage Molly’s owner was becoming frustrated and after nine months she filed a claim for loss of use. The insurers legitimately refused to consider the claim because they were not informed of the problem until six months after its onset.

It is well known that in association with lameness, especially foot-related, the foot of the lame limb may become contracted and more upright. Thus, asymmetry of the front feet implies that the horse may be at increased risk of future lameness. So while the vet may recommend purchase based on his clinical evaluation, the horse may still represent an increased risk to an insurance company, which may refuse cover or place legitimate exclusions.

It is important that exclusions on a policy are not too generalised. A tendon injury of the right forelimb will correctly be excluded from future cover after injury. Sometimes the entire limb is excluded, or all tendon and ligament injuries. This is unfair, because there is no evidence to suggest that a tendon injury may predispose to other injuries in that limb. It is reasonable to exclude strain-related injuries of other tendons, but not a laceration due to external trauma for example.

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