Need Equine mortality Insurance opinions asap

wgc517 · Postby **wgc517** » Mon Apr 16, 2012 4:42 am

Normally I would not consider insurance but my best mare is going to KY to be bred and I am thinking I should insure her (I can't afford to lose her) in case anything happens. She is a 16yo. and will have a foal by her side. I know she is old but she has a few stakes horses and one of them is a multiple graded G2 placed horse still racing. (no I don't own any of them)

I don't even know what she is worth. How can I value a mare that old? Am I thinking correctly or being over cautious? Can really use some guidance.

LB · Postby LB » Mon Apr 16, 2012 6:41 am

I'm not sure you will be able to get mortality insurance on a 16 yo mare (I believe the age cut-off is 15.) If you can find it, the cost will be prohibitive.

wgc517 · Postby **wgc517** » Mon Apr 16, 2012 7:05 am

Thanks LB, if that is correct then I don't have to make a decision. Can anyone verify whether or not you can insure a 16 yo mare? thanks

docjocoy · Postby **docjocoy** » Mon Apr 16, 2012 7:16 am

wgc517 wrote:Thanks LB, if that is correct then I don't have to make a decision. Can anyone verify whether or not you can insure a 16 yo mare? thanks

Yes you can. I had insured an 18 year old, wasn't a prohibitive cost. Gave me peace of mind. She is no longer insured, but I don't regret the decision at the time. I know there is quite a debate on insurance vs non-insurance, but I have been unfortunate to have 3 of my youngsters die and all 3 were insured and I did come out ahead as far as cost goes. Which sounds horrible because I was devasted at the loss of those three, but at least I had the insurance.

LB · Postby LB » Mon Apr 16, 2012 8:30 am

docjocoy, do you mind if I ask which insurance company you used for the older mare?

LB · Postby LB » Mon Apr 16, 2012 8:43 am

Just to explain further...when I talked about a prohibitive cost, it wasn't the premium per se but the way the policy was structured for an older mare. This may not apply for all insurance companies but we've had 20-25 horses insured over the last fifteen years and all the policies we were offered for older mares worked like this:

(Copied directly from a contract)
In the event of the horse being more than fifteen years of age at the time of death, our limit of liability shown on the schedule will automatically be reduced as follows:
25% if a horse is 16
33% if a horse is 17
40% if a horse is 18
50% if a horse is 19

So, wgc, with regard to your mare, you will pay a 100% premium for a potential 75% pay out should something go wrong.

docjocoy · Postby **docjocoy** » Mon Apr 16, 2012 9:04 am

LB wrote:Just to explain further...when I talked about a prohibitive cost, it wasn't the premium per se but the way the policy was structured for an older mare. This may not apply for all insurance companies but we've had 20-25 horses insured over the last fifteen years and all the policies we were offered for older mares worked like this:

(Copied directly from a contract)
In the event of the horse being more than fifteen years of age at the time of death, our limit of liability shown on the schedule will automatically be reduced as follows:
25% if a horse is 16
33% if a horse is 17
40% if a horse is 18
50% if a horse is 19

So, wgc, with regard to your mare, you will pay a 100% premium for a potential 75% pay out should something go wrong.

Interesting. Mine wasn't structured like that. She was insured for 100% of her purchase price, she was 16 when I first insured her, they kept the policy the same when she turned 17,18, and then I didn't re-insure her.

docjocoy · Postby **docjocoy** » Mon Apr 16, 2012 9:07 am

LB wrote:docjocoy, do you mind if I ask which insurance company you used for the older mare?

The insurance agency we use goes thru Great American.

LB · Postby LB » Mon Apr 16, 2012 9:17 am

Thanks for the info, docojoy! Sadly (for us) that was not our experience.

wgc, if you do insure your mare, I'd advise reading all the fine print. The information I posted above was buried deep in the back of our contracts.

Good luck!

ckaye · Postby **ckaye** » Mon Apr 16, 2012 9:25 am

Great American is an underwriter, not an agency. You cannot purchase a policy directly through Great American.

I like GA, too, and I purchase my policy through Blue Bridle. They've always been excellent.

docjocoy · Postby **docjocoy** » Mon Apr 16, 2012 9:29 am

ckaye wrote:Great American is an underwriter, not an agency. You cannot purchase a policy directly through Great American.

I like GA, too, and I purchase my policy through Blue Bridle. They've always been excellent.

Yes I know that. My agent is in California. They are small but have been wonderful to deal with.

wgc517 · Postby **wgc517** » Mon Apr 16, 2012 9:51 am

Ok so I called BB, (thanks for the info). It would cost me roughly $875.00 per 10K. The cut off was 15yo where the multiplier is 3.4 vs 8.75 for a 16yo. At this point I think I will leave it up to faith and hope that her trip to KY goes well. I guess I am more protective of this mare since she has been a pretty good producer. Thanks for all of your insights....

Laurierace · Postby **Laurierace** » Tue Apr 17, 2012 7:23 pm

Insure the foal. They are cheap.

madelyn · Postby **madelyn** » Wed Apr 18, 2012 4:43 am

I have a client who is looking for foal insurance - what is the best deal on that?

Laurierace · Postby **Laurierace** » Wed Apr 18, 2012 5:58 am

I don't know if it is the best deal but I use Independent Equine Agents. You can google them. Marla Moore has been my agent for almost 20 years. LaurieB had an agent that was a better deal on the horses that were actively racing but since I haven't had one of those in a long time I can't remember who that was.