Equine Vet Insurance

The cost of emergency surgery, such as a colic operation, can easily cost several thousand pounds. 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.