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When horses get sick or injured, it can quickly become expensive. With horse health insurance, you can protect yourself from the high costs and give your horse the best care at the vet or in the veterinary clinic.

Here you can find out exactly what horse health insurance is, how much such insurance roughly costs and what you should consider.

What is equine health insurance?

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Horse health insurance works like human health insurance: you, the horse owner, take out insurance and pay a certain monthly fee to the insurance company. In return, they assume all veterinary costs specified in the contract.

If you choose horse health insurance with full coverage, you will be reimbursed for almost every visit to the vet. Only normal check-ups such as vaccinations or deworming are not covered by every insurance policy but are usually supported by subsidies from the insurance company.

What does equine health insurance cover?

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Depending on the provider, horse health insurance covers various services. It can therefore make sense if you contact an insurance agency or an insurance advisor who will give you the best advice that is tailored to your needs.

There is also horse health insurance that offers complete full protection, i.e. covering almost all services at the vet.

The horse health insurance includes the following services:

  • Coverage of up to 100% of the 2-fold rate of the GOT for outpatient and inpatient
  • treatments and operations
  • standing or general anesthesia
  • outpatient and inpatient treatments
  • prescribed drugs and bandages
  • Laboratory and X-ray examinations
  • Imaging procedures such as MRI
  • 10 days follow-up
  • Subsidy of 100 euros per year for check-ups such as vaccinations or deworming
  • Joint chip (OCD)
  • Alternative treatments such as homeopathy/acupuncture
  • Regenerative therapies up to $1,000
  • abdominal cavity surgeries
  • tooth extraction
  • laparoscopy
  • joint irrigation
  • salivary gland disease
  • Inclusion of the anesthetic risk
  • A flat-rate accommodation fee of $25 per day in the veterinary clinic

The insurance also offers the following advantages:

  • There is no annual limit
  • No age limit – you can insure your horse even if it is older
  • Insurance possible from the 3rd month of life
  • Free choice of vet

If you join before your horse’s 12th birthday, 100 percent of the costs will be covered, after that 80 percent, with an increase to 100 percent being possible.

Surgical insurance for horses

Instead of horse health insurance, you can also take out horse surgery insurance, such as Höper horse surgery insurance. This only takes over certain interventions and is correspondingly cheaper. It usually protects against expensive operations, while the usual vet visits for minor problems are still completely paid for by yourself.

When does horse health insurance take effect?

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The horse health insurance actually takes effect after three months, but if your horse suffers from colic, the insurance covers the treatment just seven days after the conclusion of the contract. A joint chip operation, on the other hand, is only paid for if the intervention takes place at the earliest one year after the conclusion of the contract.

How much does horse health insurance cost?

How much you have to pay for horse health insurance depends on which plan you choose. Roughly speaking, you can expect costs in the low three-digit range. The costs are therefore between around $100 for cheap and up to $250 for expensive and full protection tariffs.

The tariffs usually differ in the proportion of the deductible, but also in the number of insured horses and the term of the contract.

Does equine health insurance make sense for me?

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Ultimately, you have to decide for yourself how sensible such insurance is for you and your horse. On the one hand, the insurance offers solid all-around protection, on the other hand, with costs between around $100 and $250 per month, it is not exactly cheap.

But keep in mind: Visits to the vet can be expensive, especially for horses. Especially if a clinic visit is pending or the horse even has to be operated on, this can cost several thousand dollars. With full insurance, you are protected against high and unexpected costs. So it is up to you whether you feel able to bear the high costs of an emergency procedure. If this is not the case, you should take out insurance – although this does not necessarily have to be full-coverage insurance.

If you only want to be covered for the worst case, you can also take out horse surgery insurance instead of full insurance – although you still bear a lot of the costs yourself, the expensive surgical interventions are insured, so that an intervention doesn’t suddenly put you in the drives to ruin.

You can also start saving early and put some money aside each month. This is how you create your own little insurance. The advantage here: You only pay for the expenses that your horse actually costs and you can use the remaining amount for yourself. The disadvantage: If you have an operation early or if there are several expensive interventions, you may not have saved enough money.

Conclusion on horse health insurance

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Horse health insurance with full protection has so far only been offered by one insurance company and offers all-around protection for most interventions. So you are covered against most costs that may arise due to your horse’s health. At the same time, you pay between $1,350 and $2,600 per year to the insurance company – depending on the lifespan of your horse over a period of up to 25 years.

The horse health insurance with full protection remains the all-around carefree package, with which you no longer have to worry about veterinary costs – but that also has its price. It is up to you to consider what you want to be covered and whether full protection or surgical insurance is the right choice for you.