Sport Horse insurance

KBIS Sport Horse insurance is specifically designed for high value sport horses, typically valued above £20,000. The comprehensive policy provides cover for Death and Theft with the option to include Veterinary Fee cover, Permanent Loss of Use and Tack cover.

Cover is automatically included for transit (including aviation), training and competing in Western Europe on a temporary basis.

You can therefore be sure when travelling to compete in these countries for short periods of time that you do not need to have any additional cover in place.

Sport horse insurance

Features & Documents

Sport Horse Insurance – Eligibility

We can provide cover for horses from 24 hours for mortality cover, 30 days onwards for veterinary fee cover and three years onwards for permanent loss of use.

When on cover, a horse can remain on the policy until 19 years of age, although cover and rates will alter accordingly. Permanent loss of use cover can stay in place up to and including 14 years of age.

For new business the following maximum age limits apply:

  • For mortality and vet fee cover up to and including 15 years
  • For permanent loss of use cover up to and including 12 years

Policyholder and horse must be domiciled in the United Kingdom.

Sport Horse Insurance – Cover Available

The cover available through a KBIS Sport Horse Policy is listed below. Please note the information below outlines the standard cover available. If you have a policy with KBIS your exact cover will be specified on your certificate of insurance.

Under all sections of the policy cover is provided while in the UK and Western Europe.

1) All Risks of Mortality

The policy provides cover for ‘All Risks of Mortality’. This means that you will be able to claim under your sport horse insurance policy if the horse dies, is killed or has to be put down immediately on humane grounds by a vet, as a result of an accident, injury, illness or disease as per the terms of the policy. Cover for theft is also included and underwriters will pay up to the sum insured for the fair market value of the horse.

2) Vet Fee cover

Vet fee insurance is offered with a choice of two levels of cover:

  • Scale A – Pays 100% of vet fees after the fixed excess per incident of £350. Cover is limited to £5,000 per incident and in aggregate. Cover is not included for alternative treatment or stabling at a veterinary hospital.
  • Scale B – Pays 100% vets fees, after the fixed excess per incident of £500. Cover is limited to £5,000 per incident and in aggregate. Cover is not included for alternative treatment or stabling at a veterinary hospital

3) Permanent Loss of Use

Permanent Loss of use can be provided for horses insured before their 12th birthday up to and including 14 years of age. Permanent Loss of use provides cover against the horse sustaining an injury which leaves it unable to ever again perform the activity for which it was insured. In the event of a claim the horse can either be put down on economic grounds or kept in retirement, the amount paid will be dependent upon the decision made. More limited cover can be provided which just covers loss of use as a result of an accidental, external and violent injury only.

4) Tack cover

The policy will indemnify the assured in respect of the actual value at the time of loss but not exceeding the amount specified on the certificate, for physical loss or damage and theft. The excess under this section is £100 each and every loss.

Sport Horse Insurance – Claim Forms

Please note that if you are intending to make a mortality claim, it is a condition of the policy that a post mortem examination is carried out and the report sent to KBIS.

The following guide will help to ensure that you have complied with the terms of your policy with regards to claims notification. It is important to adhere to these conditions as failure to do so may prejudice your position with underwriters.

1) Initial notification

Contact KBIS as soon as possible. You can contact KBIS by:

Phone:

UK Telephone No: 0345 345 2323
Outside UK: +44 (0) 1635 247474

View our office opening times here

Email:
ask@kbis.co.uk

2) Obtain a Claim form

You can download a General Liability Claim Form above.

If you have contacted our offices we can arrange for a form to be sent by post, including a free post envelope for the return of your form and documentation

3) Collate all necessary information

In order for us to process your claim in the most efficient manner it is important that we have all of the relevant documentation, as requested, to enable us and the underwriters to consider the claim in its entirety.

4) Send the completed form and documentation to KBIS

Please note that we are unable to give any indication whether a claim is likely to be paid without the completed claim form and invoices.

Sport Horse Insurance – Veterinary Requirements

The veterinary requirements and documentation that will be requested by KBIS in order to put your horse on cover are outlined below. These requests vary depending on the value of the horse and type of cover being taken out.

For mortality and vets fees cover:

Values up to £25,000 Completed proposal form
Values £25,001 to £150,000 Completed proposal form and a minimum 2 stage vet certificate
Values over £150,000 Requirements will be stipulated upon quotation

Including loss of cover

Values up to £100,000 Completed proposal form five stage vetting and xrays as stipulated

Please note underwriters may required additional documentations and requirements are viewed on an individual basis.

Sport Horse insurance FAQs

The KBIS Sport Horse insurance policy includes cover for Western Europe on a temporary basis. As long as you, as the policyholder, are a resident within the UK then the insured horse is covered for training/competing in these countries, including during transit to and from.

If your horse is going further afield, then you will need to contact KBIS to advise of the length of stay and the country the horse will be competing in. We can then approach Underwriters to extend the cover. An additional premium will need to be charged for the extended cover.

Our sports horse policy is a 12-month policy but it is possible to cancel the insurance policy on a short rate basis, the full details of which are outlined in the policy terms and conditions. As an example if you choose to cancel your policy after 4 months on cover you will only receive a return premium equivalent to 50% of the full annual premium, assuming that you paid for your policy in full.

Policies that have been taken out to cover a specific risk are not refundable after the event.

In addition if any claim has been settled on the policy then there would be no return in premium.

Yes the policy will automatically include transit cover, including aviation, when the insured horse is travelling to a country within Western Europe. Additional transit can be arrange if the horse is going further afield, such as America, subject to underwriters prior agreement and terms. You will need to contact KBIS as soon as possible to extend the cover, ideally two weeks prior to departure although cover can normally be arranged at shorter notice.

Permanent Loss of Use insurance is designed to cover you should the insured horse sustain an injury or illness which leaves them permanently incapable of performing the task for which they were insured. You can choose between two different levels of cover, the most comprehensive cover is permanent loss of use due to an accident, sickness or disease. There is a cheaper cover option, permanent loss of use due to an accidental, external, violent injury only i.e. involving an external wound, but it is much more limited cover.

Permanent loss of use claims can often be lengthy as in most cases the condition will need to be given adequate time to respond to treatment. We will normally appoint a veterinary advisor to review and discuss the case with your own vet. In some cases the horse may require more time to recover then is available within the policy period, in a situation as this we will always look at options available including extending the policy to give every chance of the horse making a full recovery.

Once a loss of use claim has been agreed you will be given the choice of either having the horse humanely destroyed or keeping the horse in retirement. If the latter option is chosen then the payment you receive will be reduced by a minimum of 10% or the residual value, whichever is greater.

Having to have a horse put to sleep is always a distressing time, however due to the varying circumstances which can arise and lead to such a situation it is difficult to state a definitive answer. We do however have guidelines, which if followed should help to avoid further distress.

As a guide the British Equine Veterinary Association (BEVA) considers a horse to satisfy a claim under mortality insurance in the following circumstances:

“That the insured horse sustains an injury or manifests an illness or disease that is so severe as to warrant immediate destruction to relieve incurable and excessive pain and that no other options of treatment are available to that horse at that time. Where a horse is exhibiting signs of sever and unremitting pain that can no longer be managed so that no other options are available for treatment, then it is the veterinary surgeon’s responsibility to destroy the horse immediately.”

In all other cases it is important that you contact KBIS in order for us to give our prior agreement to the horse being put to sleep. It is common practice for an insurer to appoint a consulting veterinary surgeon in such cases.

A post mortem will be required unless a prior agreement with KBIS has been otherwise made. Where we have not requested a post mortem the attending vet will have to positively identify the horse and confirm it has been destroyed.

WHAT OUR POLICYHOLDERS SAY

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