Equine Insurance

[AL-Erin]

Hello, everyone. I'm new to posting here but have been lurking for awhile now!

I just bought my first horse 2 weeks ago, a 10 year old, OTTB named Pierre! We are enjoying him so much! I will be doing low level eventing with him (no higher than 2'6" in the near future).

This past weekend we had a horrible accident and one of our horses sufferend what we believe is an aneursym on the trail and had to be put down. It's a very sad situation, Cosmo was well loved, and was only 5 years old.

I am now looking at having Pierre insured just so I could handle something like this financially (or any injury). Does anyone have any recommendations for insurance companies? I am trying to get the best price for the best coverage.

Thanks, Erin

[mjrtango93]

Well I have Hallmark and have loved them! I had a mortality claim 2 years ago and they paid all the vet bills promptly and I had the mortality check within a couple weeks.

I currently have a major medical claim going on with my young horse due to his pasture antics and so far submitted 1 part of the claim and had a check by 3 weeks (took 1 week for my vet to send something to them), and the agent has e-mailed me occassionally just checking in to see how he is doing.

[TuxWink]

I second the Hallmark referral. I had a major medical claim last year and they were super easy to work with and paid out very quickly on my claims.

[purplnurpl]

From what I have read on the board, people seem to like Hallmark or Great American.

I have a fairly substantial claim going with Great American.
They have been good.
I don't know if all insurances are the same but Great American won't pay any type of injections. Not even one time therapeutic injections for an acute injury.

But they are paying for the therapeutic farrier charges (for the injured foot). lol.
I think that's funny. They'll pay for one foot only.

And they pay 100% of Bone Scans and MRIs.

[scubed]

There have been several of these threads. A lot of people have and like Hallmark as previously mentioned. I go through Broadstone (official USEA sponsor). The policy is underwritten by the Hartford. I have had two major claims on two different horses (one injury, one illness) and they have been great to work with, paid promptly and have reasonable premiums

[evntr06]

I am also insured with Broadstone, and I had insurance through them wtih AIG. They were awesome! Claim process was easy, preminums are affordable, and coverage for medical stuff was great! I got 100% on all the diagnostic stuff, and maybe even a portion of treatment covered. They were super easy to work with. I have no first-hand experience with Hartford, but I know it covers only 50% of some major diagnostic procedures, such as MRI and bone scan. Something to consider as MRIs can run close to $2K.

[S4zeus]

Great American was great with my claim, but with a horse my size the major medical they offered didn't cover the whole hospital stay when he was there for a week in Iso and ICU. Now I am with Specialty Program Insurers. I haven't had to make a claim, but I was able to get Major Medical up to 12,500 (only 7500 with GreatAmerican) and I was able to increase his value with very little issue. I have one exclusion worded for Kidney Dysfunction, but after 6-12 months issue free they will remove that.

[galwaybay]

I have mine w/ Markel which I found to be the best coverage for the price. The only insurance I've had experience w/ is Agri-Risk and found they were very good. I will say given the news I would definitely NOT insure w/anything on AIG... if nothing else on principal.

[HCH]

Well, I was just insurance shopping and what i found is that most use a multiplier of 4.1 to 4.5%, however Broadstone is the most competitive, representing several different insurance companies, one of which (AIG) uses a 3.6% multiplier for any discipline and any level eventing. My personal experience has been with Hallmark and it has been all good, but after shopping, I am considering a change. Also Broadstone is an AEC sponsor and since I was a happy recipient of one of the awards they sponsored, may be inclined to support them.

[equestrianerd]

I have had Great American and currently use Markel. GA was good, though it took about 6 weeks after my mare died to get the check for mortality coverage. (I don't know how much -if any- of that was a delay with the vet filling out paperwork, though.)

So far (knock on wood) I've had to make no claims with Markel, but I agree that their coverage is excellent.

[Viva]

I've switched from Hallmark to Broadstone recently because I got a slightly better deal. However, I had a major colic surgery situation where I used Hallmark and they were great. I work in healthcare in addition to horses, so as far as I'm concerned, insurance companies are the antichrist. But after my horse colicked, not only did claims get paid promptly, but when they called to check how my horse was doing, they said things like "Oh, he's eating, that's great news! And how are YOU doing? Have you gotten any sleep yet?" I almost passed out from shock, but they really actually cared.

[Jleegriffith]

I have my horses insured with Dietrich and Co. (Great American). I have had to make several claims and they have been excellent to deal with. The claim adjusters have been patient and kind. I get paid very quickly after submitting bills and I feel like they cover a great deal. They do not cover injections regardless of whether they are being used to treat an injury which creates a big out of pocket expense for me. However, I am not sure that many of them do.

I feel better having the insurance and have had it for several years without needing to use it. This year I am getting my monies worth.

[Catalina]

I just switched from BlueBridle to Broadstone because they were slightly cheaper.

[JWB]

I got good rates using Equisure, Inc. though (fortunately) I've never had to file a claim so I don't know how they are on that end.... You have to be in some sort of equine orgainzation though (USEF, USEA etc...)

Congrats on the new horse. It's a great decision - especially the major medical/surgical because having to NOT save a horse based on finances is a decision you don't want to have to make.