Equine

It’s no secret, horses take a lot of time, care, money, attention and love. Coming from a horse family, Melissa understands the financial, time and emotional investment that proud owners are more than willing to give to their horses. You’ve spent time training, caring for and, most likely, competing with your horse, so ensuring it’s safety and well being is of the utmost importance. Medical expenses and a variety of other costs & expenses can add up.

Melissa Ems Insurance Agency offers vital protection for virtually anything involving equine: covering horse owners, stable owners, farm & ranch owners, trainers, instructors, and others who work with horses. We provide coverage for bodily injury, property damage, and property losses from equine-related activities. Serving all breeds & disciplines including: Racing, Showing, Cutting, Dressage, Hunter/Jumper, Driving, Reining, Saddleseat and Pleasure riding. We specialize in equine insurance for the horse and for commercial & hobby horse farms.

Melissa Ems Insurance can tailor a policy to your needs to include all or selected options for costs related to the upkeep of your horses, such as:

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Equine Major Medical & Surgical, Mortality & Death (including theft)

This policy provides reimbursement for the cost of medical and surgical bills caused by accident, sickness or disease. This type of insurance is usually purchased as an endorsement to an existing mortality policy. It typically provides coverage for the reasonable and customary veterinary fees due to accident, illness, injury, disease, or lameness. In the case of colic surgery, the coverage on this policy is in addition to the $3000 to $5000 limits on the typical mortality policy.

Equine mortality insurance is like life insurance for your horse, with the owner as the beneficiary. When considering the purchase price, upkeep costs, exercise, training, showing expenses, veterinary expenses, and the hours of time and energy spent with them and for them, horse ownership is a substantial investment worth protecting. The cost of insurance becomes less significant when compared to that total.

Horses are known to have extraordinary talent for finding ways to get "into a pickle" usually resulting in injury or even death. Mortality insurance covers horses from almost all causes of death: whether by disease, accident, or humane termination by a veterinarian. This coverage would provide the replacement value of the horse, which is established when the policy is initially written and later renewed.

The standard mortality policy also covers not only the theft of the insured horse, but also colic surgery coverage up to 60% of the covered value of the horse or a maximum of $3000.00. Additional endorsements to mortality policies are Major Medical and Surgery protection.

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Loss of Use

This policy will compensate you in the event your horse becomes totally and permanently unable to perform the duty for which it was insured. There are a variety of reasons horses are usually purchased. Most performance horses are to perform a specific function at a specific level. Often, the hope is that they will improve their level of performance at that function over time. If a horse becomes totally and permanently incapable of fulfilling the function or functions for which it is intended, as stated on the mortality insurance policy, but is not in a situation that requires humane termination, then the owner can potentially experience a financial loss. A "Loss of Use" extension on the mortality policy will pay a percentage of the mortality limit, subject to the terms & limits of the insurer, to cover this loss. Over time, this coverage has become increasingly hard, but not impossible to secure. Subtle changes, like some of those due to EPM are hard to document, and horse owners and insurance companies may have a difference of opinion.

A performance horse that is successfully competing but develops a chronic lameness and can no longer continue to complete is a clear-cut situation. A performance horse that can no longer compete at its previous level per the assessment of the owner, but can actually still compete is a convoluted situation that may require some further evaluation by the insurance company.

Originally, "Loss of Use" Insurance was intended for situations as described above. Due to the inability to define a performance horse’s original baseline of athletic ability and well as the usefulness at the time of being insured, in some cases the loss of that usefulness was very difficult to demonstrate. As a result, insurance companies no longer like to write equine loss of use insurance. If the owner wants this insurance, the insurance company may require a soundness examination along the order of a pre-purchase exam in order to establish the horse’s baseline of athletic ability and usefulness prior to agreeing to insure the horse.

In the event of a claim, another extensive examination may be required to establish the validity of said claim. Because of the complexities involved with the examinations pre and post coverage, as well as the time involved with the discussions initiated by the difference of opinions between the horse owner and the insurance companies, the popularity of this coverage has waned considerably and is no longer as popular as it was initially.

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Stallion Infertility

This policy provides coverage in the event your stallion becomes permanently incapable of producing offspring due to disease, accident or illness. This coverage takes some risk out of breeding. For most stallion owners, the financial commitment is substantial as horses are big business. The income the owner stands to make stud fees can be substantial, whether for live cover or artificial insemination.  Equine stallion fertility insurance is available for a stallion’s owner/shareholders to replace the income his/her stallion generates for them in the event the stallion is either no longer able to physically breed a mare or is no longer able to get the mares in foal that he breeds. Problems affecting a stallion’s fertility can be hard to diagnose and are varied. They usually fall under one of three categories: accident, sickness, or disease. As a result, stallion fertility insurance is commonly referred to "ASD" coverage for stallions who have a successful breeding history.

Horse owners and/or shareholders who are considering investing in a young male horse for breeding purposes have the option to purchase "Stallion First Season Infertility Insurance". It is not unusual for a young, healthy stallion to not be able to successfully get the mare he breeds in foal. The reasons for this are also varied: some are correctable, but many are not.  An investor may choose to protect his investment in a young horse against stallion infertility with this coverage.

The coverage limits & terms offered by carriers are determined by the income the stallion generates by breeding. The premium is dependent primarily on the limits of the policy.

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Other Coverage Available: 

• Equine Catastrophic Accident & Illness (Colic, Acute Injury, etc.)
• Trip Transit
• Foal Insurance
• General Liability including for instructors
• Commercial Equine Liability
• Commercial Trainer’s General Liability
• Farm, Ranch and Estate Property
• Tack, Equipment & Supplies
• Farm equipment, Tractors, ATVs, Trailers, RV, etc.
• Commercial Facilities
• Care, Custody & Control
• Clubs, Associations, Day Camps
• Horse Show/Events Liability
• Workers Compensation

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While the basic coverage concepts are similar between insurance carriers, there are usually variations between the policy language, exclusions and limits. Just as every horse is unique, so are the policies that Melissa Ems Insurance can build for the individual need since one size does not fit all. We are here to listen to your wish list of coverage and help navigate through the process of building tailored coverage to protect your investment. Let’s get started today (with a picture of your horse!  Melissa, a HUGE horse fan, will probably ask for that and a name first!)!

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Worried you aren’t completely covered? Consider an umbrella insurance policy that extends your coverage.

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