Your Questions

You must tell the police as soon as you discover your horse has been stolen or is missing. Then tell your insurance company as soon as possible.

Some insurance policies include the cost of advertising and payment of a reward if the horse is found or returned.

Loss Adjusters are companies or individuals employed by Insurance Companies to assist them with the investigation or negotiation of a claim. Loss Adjusters may be appointed by the insurance company because of their local knowledge, ability to meet with policyholders and other parties interested in the claim, or to negotiate discounts with suppliers. They are rarely used where the claim is straightforward, but it is likely they will be involved where the claim is for high value items, or where there is a need for someone to meet with the client to interview them, or to examine the location of the loss.

'Permanent' means forever. Permanent Loss of Use therefore means the insured horse can never again be used for any one of the activities you have insured it for.

For you to make a claim your vet must state that, due to an illness or injury occurring during your policy period, your horse will never again be able to participate in the activities it is insured for. This may take time to establish and you should expect payment under this benefit to take several months.

Yes, so before you buy Permanent Loss of Use insurance, check what you are buying. There are two distinct types of insurance sold:

• Insurance that will only pay out if your horse has an accident or external injury, which results in permanent loss of use.
• Insurance that will pay out if your horse has an accident or injury, or suffers an illness that results in Permanent Loss of Use.

Be sure that you choose the type of insurance that meets your needs.

As Permanent Loss of Use is designed to pay up to the full value of your horse, insurers charge quite a high premium for the cover. By offering different percentage options they allow you to benefit from the cover whilst keeping the premium affordable (the lower the percentage the lower the premium).

Most insurers will allow you to submit a claim for Permanent Loss of Use up to a maximum of 12 months from the date of the first clinical signs of the illness or the date the injury happened. However, it is preferable for you to advise your insurance company as soon as you become aware that Loss of Use is a possibility.

Following an injury or illness it may take many months of treatment or rehabilitation before it is clear whether or not a horse will be able to compete or participate in the discipline for which it is insured. After a period of rest the horse will then need to be brought back to fitness so that the vet can assess it's ability to compete or participate in the activity it was insured for.

Loss of Use claims usually involve discussions between your vet and a vet acting on behalf of the insurance company. Both parties will have to agree that the horse will never be able to participate in the insured activity before a claim will be settled.

Some conditions will need longer than others before a vet can determine whether it will satisfy the criteria for Loss of Use. Tendon and ligament injuries often take many months to heal and if it is in the horse's interest to allow more time before bringing it back to work, insurers may agree to extend the time limit on these claims.

An insurance company will only pay for Permanent Loss of Use if your horse cannot breed as a result of an injury or illness and it has been insured specifically for breeding, ie. as a broodmare or breeding stallion. It is unusual for insurance companies to cover infertility that is not related to injury or illness.

Insurance companies will not normally pay loss of use if blemishes or scars prevent a horse or pony from showing.

Most insurance companies give the owner the choice of keeping the horse or having it humanely destroyed. If the horse is destroyed the insurer will require proof of destruction from your vet.

If the horse is not destroyed most insurance companies will need it to be freeze marked with the letter "L" in a circle. Some insurance companies will pay for this and others will deduct the cost from the amount they pay you.

With Petplan Equine, your horse will be eligible for Permanent Loss of Use cover if the following conditions apply:

• The sum insured is £2,000 or over
• Your horse is aged 2 to 16 years
• Your horse is insured in Activity Group 3 or higher.

Vet fees cover is an optional benefit on Petplan Equine policies. The cost of emergency surgery, such as a colic operation, can easily cost several thousand pound. The cost of ongoing treatment for longer term investigations often needed for conditions such as lameness can amount to many hundreds or even thousands of pounds. You should therefore check that the amount of cover you have is adequate and that it is not limited by the sum insured of your horse or pony.

Many vets now use or recommend alternative treatments in addition to, or instead of, traditional treatments. These may be administered by the vet or by another skilled practitioner and can include remedial farriery, physiothereapy and magnetotherapy. It is advisable to make sure that your policy covers you for these.

Most insurers will allow you to claim for treatment given for an injury or illness and related conditions for up to a maximum of 12 months from the date of the first clinical signs of the illness or injury. After this most insurers will not cover that illness or injury or part of the body and may exclude any associated conditions from further cover.

All policy terms and conditions will detail areas and circumstances that will not be covered (general exclusions).

Specific exclusions are additional to those detailed in the terms and conditions. These exclusions normally relate to an illness or injury, or to a condition related to a previous injury or illness, which occurred or first showed clinical signs before the policy was taken out and which the insurer will not cover.

Within the terms and conditions of most policies you will be able to claim for an injury or illness and related conditions for a specified time period.

If this incident then predisposes the horse to further incidents or weakness the insurance company is at liberty to decline to insure that part of the horse or that specific illness or injury again. A clause, known as an exclusion, will be added to your policy at renewal.

Your insurance is a contract that runs for an agreed period, usually a year. Each year the insurer reviews your cover and decides if they will offer insurance for another year, at what premium and under what terms and conditions.

If a claim has been made during that year the insurer will view this illness or injury as a previous condition to the next year of cover and may exclude it.

If you are in the process of making a claim, an exclusion placed at renewal does not prevent you continuing to claim under your 12 month cover period or until you reach your maximum benefit, whichever comes first.

Most companies will agree to review certain exclusions after an agreed length of time.

This depends on the type of claim. If the insurance company receives all the information they need from you and your vet, claims can usually be settled in a matter of days. However, it is essential that all areas on the claim form are filled in and you give the insurance company all the information they ask for.

Whilst a straightforward Vet's Fees claim will usually be settled quickly, a Permanent Loss of Use claim will take longer to settle.

The simplest way to understand this is to think of the first party as the policyholder and the second party as the insurance company. The third party is anyone else who has been injured or whose property has been damaged. The injury or damage must result from the use of the horse or trailer/horse drawn carriage that is insured.

Your home contents insurance may give third party insurance for an incident that happens while you are riding or looking after your horse. However, you should check that your household policies do provide this cover as not all do.

It is unlikely that home contents insurance will include anyone who is not a member of your family, or permanently living with you, if they cause injury or damage to someone else's property while they are riding or looking after your horse.

Membership of a horse society or riding association may also include Third Party insurance. This may be limited to the time you are riding your horse at their events, so you should read the cover carefully to make sure that it includes any incident that could happen as a result of riding, handling or looking after your horse.

You should not admit any responsibility, agree to pay any claim or negotiate with any other person after any incident. You should contact your insurance company and allow them to take charge of your claim, send them any writ, summons or legal documents you receive and allow them to reply on your behalf.

Most insurance companies will cover anyone riding, leading or handling your horse with your permission if this person causes injury or damage to another person or their property, unless the horse is being used for business or professional purposes, eg. lessons in a riding school. However you should check this with the insurer.

If your horse is kept at a riding establishment and they are allowed to use it for their business, personal accident insurance cover will not usually apply to anyone who is using your horse in connection with the business, unless they are a member of your family.

If you loan your horse to a friend to ride in a lesson at a school or with a professional instructor then they will not be covered by Personal Accident insurance. The riding school should hold their own Personal Accident cover.

You are obliged to advise the insurance company of any physical or mental conditions that you have which might affect your policy. The insurer will advise you at the time you take out your policy how your condition might effect a claim.

Saddlery and Tack insurance will pay the cost of repairing saddlery and tack if it is damaged, or its value if it is lost, stolen, or destroyed. Saddles and tack kept in outbuildings where your horse is stabled or transported to and from events can all too easily go missing if you are not very careful.

It depends if the policy covers you for 'New for Old' or not. If you are covered for 'New for Old' you will need to insure your tack for it's full replacement value. If not, estimate how much all saddles, bridles and other tack you own are currently worth. The value is the price generally paid for the same saddle or item of tack of the same age, type and condition.

For most policies rugs, blankets, clothes, riding hats, grooming kits and personal effects are not normally included.

When not in use, saddlery and tack must be kept in a locked building. If the locked building is not at your home some insurance companies will specify what security the building must have, eg. a 5 lever mortice deadlock on the door and steel bars or a steel grid on any windows.

Like motor insurance companies, horse insurance companies will not normally pay if your saddlery and tack is stolen from an unlocked vehicle, or from a locked vehicle if it is not in the boot or out of sight in a covered luggage area.

No. Your cover is designed to protect you against damage that is unforeseen. They will view wear and tear as a natural result of age and use. Nor will they pay for damage caused by moths, insects, vermin, pests or things such as mildew and rot.

You should be careful when cleaning and maintaining your tack, as insurance companies will not pay for damage that happens when tack is being cleaned, dyed, repaired or restored.

Sometimes, under your household insurance you may also have cover for loss or damage for your tack. If this is the case, the insurers will generally share the loss.

The horse trailer/horse-drawn vehicle section of your insurance covers your trailer if it is damaged or destroyed while it is being towed.

Providing you are not transporting someone else's horse as part of your job or as a business, your insurance will cover your trailer or horse drawn vehicle if it is lost, stolen, damaged or destroyed.

This section of cover is designed to protect your trailer or horse drawn vehicle if it is lost, stolen, damaged or destroyed. If you require insurance to cover your legal liability if someone is killed or injured or your trailer damages their property, you need to take out Third Party Liability cover. However, there may be restrictions when the trailer is being towed so you should contact your trailer's liability insurer to discuss these in the first instance.

If a friend occasionally uses your trailer or horse drawn vehicle and they are not using it for business purposes or are not paying you for it, insurers do not generally need to be informed.

If someone other than the policyholder is regularly using or is totally or partly responsible for security or maintenance of the trailer or horse drawn vehicle you must tell your insurance company. They will then inform you how this may affect your insurance.