Protect your pocket

Insurance is a big monthly hit, but small tweaks can lower your premium. Sarah Isaacs finds out how to save costs appropriately

- Sarah Isaacs

INSURANCE is the product people pay for that they will hopefully never have to use. Yet with costs on the rise – feed, livery bills, fuel and so on – it’s tempting to cut corners on insurance, or cancel it altogether. But while doing this may lift the pressure on your monthly bills in the short term, it could be more damaging for you and your horse in the long run.

We take a closer look at what levers you can pull to make horse insurance work harder for you, while still getting the cover you need to keep your horse protected.

UNDER OR OVER

WHETHER it’s done by accident or on purpose, a lot of owners underinsure.

“People might step up a level in competition and forget to review what they actually insured the horse for when they originally set up their insurance, or they’ll forget their horse’s value changes over time,” explains Lawrence Gill, executive director of KBIS.

The problem is that if you’ve underinsured, this could affect your position in the event of a claim.

You can of course end up going the other way and have cover that you don’t need. Alice Holborow, equine partnership manager at Agria, explains that some owners overinsure their youngsters.

“Owners of young horses often tend to insure their horses for what they hope to be doing with them, rather than what they are currently doing, which may take the horse into a higher activity category,” she says. “But you can increase your activity group at any time – don’t feel you have to cover novice eventing if you’re not doing it yet.”