Thinking of scrapping horse/ cat insurance & saving - advice needed

CreditCrunchie

Hi,

I'm currently paying £57 per month for my 15 year old mare with NFU. It shot up from £34 after the most recent auto renewal and they've also now slapped on a load of exclusions after she sliced her leg open last year! I also have 3 cats insured with AXA, 2 15 year olds at £15 each and 2 8 year olds at £7 each. It's costing me a small fortune, which I don't mind paying as I'd rather that than ever face the awful choice of pay or pts! I also know how possible it is to be slapped with a massive unexpected bill - the surgery, vet care, vet hospital, follow up treatment, and box rest for my girl all came to a little over 6,000!!!!!!

But do to all these exclusions I'm wondering if I'd be better off now just having a savings account for all my babies and just cancelling their policies. The thought scares the hell out of me to be honest!!

Does anyone else do this? How much do you save every month if you do this?

meritaten

I know its really difficult to 'rehome' a horse right now, especially one getting on in years - but can I suggest you try? you never know, you may be lucky enough to find a new owner who doesn't want a 'pasture ornament'. I suggest you try locally first and offer to keep the pasture for the horse free, they own the horse and take responsibility for him. finding suitable fields often puts people off from owning a horse. may be easier if the horse is suitable for a novice rider/owner and you would be on hand with advice.
in the meantime - I assume you have looked on price comparison sites?
you can guarantee that as soon as you cancel a policy you will need it! if you put the money in a savings account how many years would it take to reach the level of, say, the £6000 that it cost you before?
also Vets differ in regards to paying bills, would yours allow you to pay in instalments if treatment was needed?
Think carefully and write down the pros and cons. I can see where you are coming from and of course if the animals DIDNT NEED any costly vet care you still have the money.

lostinrates

How much did her leg slice cost?

Could you get your hands on that without insurance tomorrow? And times that for all the other pets?

With horses the cost of drugs is considerable and the decision to self insure has to be made in the knowledge you can access money for an accident or illness or make the decision to PTS for some injuries.



Fwiw we neglected to note that as ours moved onto a veteran policy the insurer would require a post porter for PTS in the field for defining EXACT cause of injury. In one we lost last year (she fell in the field and had lost feeling to back end, she could not stand and had tried. Out very felt she fullfilled all guidelines for PTS and we would not have done other for a payout tbh! but it was galling. I would not Post Mortimer here in the field as we have poultry and other horses to consider and I felt drawing it out having her go to vets then disposal was just going to add to stress for us (she was so loved I cry even now as I type).

I would not self insure a horse of 'nominal' value unless I felt I could access say 5k for vets fees or was prepared to make a call fairly early in treatment. We did with a client/friend who was overseas self insure a very old horse, because we knew that first sign of trouble she was to be PTS ( she hung on forever though , only giving up after the other girl fell in the field.).

CreditCrunchie

meritaten wrote: »

I know its really difficult to 'rehome' a horse right now, especially one getting on in years - but can I suggest you try? you never know,

Think you must have the wrong end of the stick. I'm not looking to rehome her.

@Lostinrates I'm so sorry about your horse the fees for everything came to about 6k as I mentioned above. I certainly couldn't afford that tomorrow. I've had her for 7 years though and never had to have the vet for anything big before. But you never know what might happen. Inserting if it would be best to put in say £1,000 into a savings account then £100 per month. Just trying to weigh up the pros and cons.

meritaten

Well, slap my wrist and send me to bed early!lol, just trying to help with your 'Pasture Ornament'!

anyway, I WILL try to help. both my nieces love horses and riding. one is into dressage and jumping, the other just wants to go for a 'ride'. both know that owning horses is out of the question financially, as is getting enough riding time. the only time they ride is at weekly lessons. I was thinking, the ideal solution for them would be to pay a set amount monthly for unlimited 'riding time'. based on your cost of insurance, and the cost of an hours lesson, would an hour or so after school/work and a few hours on weekends cover your costs? Assuming your horse is suitable for novice or young riders, you would retain ownership and some lucky person would get their hearts desire.
and don't bite my head off please!

lostinrates

CreditCrunchie wrote: »

Think you must have the wrong end of the stick. I'm not looking to rehome her.

@Lostinrates I'm so sorry about your horse the fees for everything came to about 6k as I mentioned above. I certainly couldn't afford that tomorrow. I've had her for 7 years though and never had to have the vet for anything big before. But you never know what might happen. Inserting if it would be best to put in say £1,000 into a savings account then £100 per month. Just trying to weigh up the pros and cons.

When we first started to self insure some of ours it was because we had our house deposite sitting in a bank and Internet rates were high. It made far more sense IN OUR financial situation to self insure.


Now we have built up a separate fund for a buffer for the pets. We did this by paying the premiums WHILE also duplicating the premiums into an account we could put against spending (if need be borrowing) up to a set amount. This is obvious
Y a very expensive measure, but no worse than being left with a minor illness or life long illness. (Two huge dogs , one small one, two cats, etc) Tomorrow one of the dogs is being spayed out of 'our own 'money but this will be duplicated to the pet account until we have reached a certain buffer find we feel more comfortable with to draw from for things. Eventually it will cover two horses against too we hope.


The girl we didn't get the insurance pay put from? She had a serious injury when she was 5 , a very long time ago, that cost 14k vets and two years ( at grass and having a foal) to put right . That would no where near cover the coat now. Yet we had 17 more years together. . Pie cannot quite see me having working young horses and not wanting THEM insured.

A paddock ornament veteran might make different decisions.




Merit, rehoming is REALLY he hard right now. We have had people offering us all sorts. If I were well enough to take care of them all I'd be really torn. Its a terrible time, the wet grazing is not gone yet just cos floods aren't on the news and horses are being left to rot by people who might normally sell them for meat. Its a really bad time for welfare right now.

CreditCrunchie

meritaten wrote: »

Well, slap my wrist and send me to bed early!lol, just trying to help with your 'Pasture Ornament'!

anyway, I WILL try to help. both my nieces love horses and riding. one is into dressage and jumping, the other just wants to go for a 'ride'. both know that owning horses is out of the question financially, as is getting enough riding time. the only time they ride is at weekly lessons. I was thinking, the ideal solution for them would be to pay a set amount monthly for unlimited 'riding time'. based on your cost of insurance, and the cost of an hours lesson, would an hour or so after school/work and a few hours on weekends cover your costs? Assuming your horse is suitable for novice or young riders, you would retain ownership and some lucky person would get their hearts desire.
and don't bite my head off please!

I'm confused why you're trying to get me to give away my horse when I asked for advice about putting money aside instead of paying into an insurance policy? The why's and wherefore's of her 'pasture ornament' status is really none of your concern.

CreditCrunchie

@Lost I didn't think of that, thanks. Putting money aside while keeping on the policy is a sensible idea. I might do that this year and see how confident I feel then. I'm not so worried about the cats (touch wood) as their costs tend to be lower. I have also considered moving to kbis as they have lower premiums, but the concern is still the same I.e if they'd actually pay out after a claim. I think a lot of the pet insurers now are actively trying to put people off as they don't actually want to be in the business anymore.

lostinrates

CreditCrunchie wrote: »

@Lost I didn't think of that, thanks. Putting money aside while keeping on the policy is a sensible idea. I might do that this year and see how confident I feel then. I'm not so worried about the cats (touch wood) as their costs tend to be lower. I have also considered moving to kbis as they have lower premiums, but the concern is still the same I.e if they'd actually pay out after a claim. I think a lot of the pet insurers now are actively trying to put people off as they don't actually want to be in the business anymore.

Ask your vets who they get paid swiftly and easily by.

meritaten

CreditCrunchie wrote: »

I'm confused why you're trying to get me to give away my horse when I asked for advice about putting money aside instead of paying into an insurance policy? The why's and wherefore's of her 'pasture ornament' status is really none of your concern.

No, I am trying to help you keep your horse. and it was YOU who said she is a 'pasture ornament'. I really don't understand why you want to keep a horse who you don't ride and is just 'at pasture'. but that is your prerogative.
as you don't seem to understand where I am coming from. or that I am trying to help you. I am leaving the thread.

CreditCrunchie

I don't have any issue with keeping my horse. I can afford her, and I want her. I think leaving the thread is the most helpful thing you can do as I have found your comments offensive and intrusive.