A friend recently asked me about my horse insurance. I told her that horse insurance, like all insurance, is one of those things that is really annoying (paying premiums, etc) until you need it. Once you need it, you are very grateful to have it and it can greatly reduce stress and financial hardship in an otherwise difficult situation.  

I have owned 3 horses; one that was given to me, one that I paid just under $10,000 for and one who, let’s just say I paid a lot more than $10,000 for. Regardless of purchase price, I insured all of these horses for some amount of mortality insurance and major medical coverage. In this post, I want to explain the pros and cons of obtaining horse insurance so my readers (like my friend) can make an informed decision about insuring their horses BEFORE the insurance is needed.

Why insure your horse? Does it make sense for you?

I believe that insuring a horse for its value should it die (mortality insurance) is worthwhile if, in the event your horse did die you’d have trouble coming up with the money to replace him. In such a case, the insurance money could allow you to replace your partner with a new horse. Another reason to obtain life insurance for your horse is that most, if not all, equine insurance companies require that horses be insured for some amount BEFORE they will insure the horse for major medical. So if you want major medical, you need some life coverage first.

As for major medical coverage for horses, I think it’s a type of coverage that most recreational, non-professional horse owners and their horses can benefit from.

Insuring horses makes the most sense if you own one horse or a very small number of animals. This is because you have to pay a premium on each horse and if you insure the horses for a substantial amount, those premiums can add up quickly. If you own more than a small number of horses, it is impossible to predict which one will get sick or injured or die. Therefore in such a case, it might be more useful to do what I call “self-insuring” your horses.  Instead of using an insurance company, you set aside a fixed amount of money ever y month that is designated specifically for unforeseen horse medical expenses or to replace a horse in the event of its unexpected death.  If you choose this method, instead of paying premiums on say, 5 different horses for life plus $10,000 worth of catastrophic medical coverage(these premiums would easily add up to several thousand dollars) you put the money you would have paid in premiums into a savings account. Now, no matter which horse requires medical treatment, you can use your “self-insurance” money to pay.

However, if you do own one horse or a small number of horses, getting some mortality coverage and major medical coverage for your horses is a good idea.

Mortality Insurance

Mortality insurance will pay you a set amount you agree upon beforehand in the event that your horse dies. Generally, the death must be accidental. As sick as it sounds, there have been cases of valuable show horses killed for insurance money. What you insure your horse for in mortality does not have to be for the horse’s purchase price. You can insure a horse for more or less than what you paid for him. However, under certain circumstances, you need to prove the value of the horse to get the insurance company to pay out. Just because you insure the horse for, say $10,000 doesn’t mean they will pay out $10,000 in the event of his death. You may need to prove the horse’s value through an appraisal, show records, etc.

Major Medical Coverage

Major medical coverage is the main reason I insure my horses and the coverage that is used most frequently. As the name suggests, major medical coverage is not for routine veterinary expenses. Major medical coverage also (generally) will not cover degenerative problems such as arthritis-related problems/lameness or some degenerative neurological conditions like Wobbler’s Syndrome. It will not cover routine maintenance like hock injections.  Each insurance company and policy is different in how it works and what it includes and excludes for covered conditions, so it is very important to read your policy before signing it and asking questions of your insurer as necessary.

What major medical insurance generally will cover is diagnostics, including advanced diagnostics such as nuclear scintigraphy, MRI, X-rays, and ultrasound. It will cover treatment for non-degenerative injuries (such as a tendon injury, ligament injury, boney injury or fracture) and it will cover illnesses including surgery for colic.

The details: Most Major Medical policies have a relatively high deductible of about $350 per incident, so you won’t use your insurance unless the condition will cost significantly more than that to treat. Not all horses are insurable. If your horse is older or has had a previous medical event such as colic requiring colic surgery, he may not be insurable. Check with your insurance company for details.

Major medical coverage is great to have in the event that your horse gets sick, injured or develops a mystery lameness. I insure my horse for $10,000 per year of major medical coverage. It gives me peace of mind and prevents me from having to consider financial factors as much in the event that he has a medical problem. For example, if I got a phone call from my barn manager right now that my horse was colicking, I know that I could put him on my trailer as quickly as possible and rush him to the clinic for colic surgery, no questions asked. Colic surgery and recovery these days can easily cost $10,000, but I know my insurance will cover it.

Here is another less dramatic example:  I know a case of an insured horse that went mildly lame, but got no better over time. The local vet and farrier couldn’t figure it out, so the horse was shipped to a vet clinic that specialized in diagnosing and treating lameness. At the clinic, the vets did a bone scan on the horse to pin point the lameness, then followed up with nerve blocks and x-rays to confirm a diagnosis. The horse’s injury was diagnosed and the horse was prescribed rest, given some medicine, and some shockwave therapy treatments were performed to the affected areas. Thanks to a correct diagnosis and treatment, the horse made a full recovery and continued at its sporting job. The owner’s bill was $6,000 for the clinic visit! However, the owner had the horse insured prior to the incident and paid only her deductible of several hundred dollars for the incident. The owner got a sound, useable horse and did not have to suffer financial hardship to do so.

There is a lot more that can be done for horses these days, when they get sick or injured. Advanced diagnostics and interventions like surgery can be life-saving or career-saving for horses, but often come at a steep price. When deciding if horse insurance is right for you, you have to think about the unthinkable. If your horse became seriously ill or injured, would you be able to afford the care that you wanted to provide to the horse or would the cost be prohibitive for you? If you think that cost would unduly affect decisions about your horse’s care, horse insurance might be just the thing to fill the gap.

A couple of weeks ago, Erin, Patrick, Julie and many of our Southern Maryland friends attended the Black Eyed Susan series (BEST) horse show. These shows are typically well run and use a very nice venue (Prince George Equestrian Center) the same place where The Capital Challenge and several other ‘A’ shows are held. BEST is a local show, but some divisions are rated by the Maryland Horse Show Association, a large, well-establish local horse show governing body.

Maybe it was the timing of the show, the fact that it was March and that everyone was ready to get out and go show for the year. Or maybe it was that some rated riders wanted to go to this venue before the April rated shows that are held there. I don’t know. All I know is that the show was packed. It was huge. It ran from 8 in the morning until probably at least 10 at night (I was outta there by 7:30, but there was a lot left of the prizelist.)

I rode Patrick in two divisions in two rings under two judges. Julie rode him in the California style warm up in both rings. She had such good rounds that afterward she was like, “can I get a ribbon for my warm up round?”

Then I took him in a schooling hunter division and the MHSA rated pre-adult (2’6”) division. My largest class was 25 entries and my smallest class was 14. Like I said, huge show! Patrick really flipped the show pony “on switch.” He was a little bit like a jumping and showing machine in a fur suit. He basically auto-piloted his way around the courses. I would look down after a line of jumps to see if we needed a lead change, and he would already be in the process of doing the change. “Good horse, carry on…guess you’ve got this.”

My notoriously slow horse even needed a half halt in the outside 5 stride lines! My courses weren’t perfect. We had at least one minor missed distance in each class, but nothing terrible. I had one chip in one class that I’m sure looked pretty ugly. It was in an unrelated distance bending line that I had been riding in 9 strides. I thought Patrick was leaving the ground in 9 strides on this occasion, but he decided to chip in a 10th and I felt myself get ahead of him and I’m sure it was pretty obvious. He forgave me for the less than perfect ride to the fence and we went on to complete an otherwise strong course. Overall, the quality of our courses was pretty strong, although as I said, there was still room for improvement in each course. Patrick flatted well as usual but was stronger than usual, especially in the first hack. I actually had to half halt quite a bit in my first hack though he never misbehaved.  Someone was a little excited to be at the big Spring show!

In the end, we placed in all six of our classes under two different judges, including 4th out of 24 in one of our over fences classes and 4th out of 18 in one of the hacks. I’ll take it! Sometimes a lower ribbon can be a lot more meaningful than a blue when you’re in big classes and good company!

Overall, this show was a really good experience. I, for whatever reason, was less nervous than usual and enjoyed the day catching up with friends and doing some riding. Julie was great support. I thanked her profusely for a 12 hour hunter show with me. She is more of an eventer person and enjoys having ride times, so a hunter show that drags on forever is kind of like death to her. We also had our friend Susan and her young event horse, Tempyst (of Retired Racehorse Training Project Challenge fame) along with us in the trailer and they are great company. In addition to the Woodbury Crew, we also got to spend time with friends from Blue Ring Farm and Love’s Rest Farm.

What good is it having my own blog if I cannot (occasionally) do shameless self promotion?

I have been asked to give a judging clinic in Southern Maryland this weekend, Sunday, February 17th.

It is a great opportunity to ride in a simulated horse show division and then hear feedback from the judge. At only $30 to ride and FREE to audit, it is a great value and a great winter outing for you and your horse, so c'mon down! 

So the other night, I went to the barn but had another appointment afterward, so I ended up with not enough time to ride. It was nearly 70 degrees out here (yes, at the end of January in Maryland, very atypical) so Patrick was caked in mud. I decided I had better groom him before his blanket went back on.

For a while now, HJC.com has had a Q & A page. I noticed that most of the questions I get are related either to show apparel (i.e. what to wear vs. what not to wear for hunter and equitation shows) or what kind of tack to use (i.e. can I use a black saddle for hunters, etc). 

So I came up with the idea this week to make a few videos on what to wear for hunter shows, what to wear for equitation classes and what type of tack is best to use.

I will post them in this blog entry but I also plan to give them a permanent home on my web page at "Show Clothes".

One disclaimer: I couldn't make the videos alone and therefore recruited two of my best rider/girlfriends to help me make the videos/model the clothes. I may have bribed them with some wine, and yes, the wine makes an appearance in the video. Everyone "on set" was well over 21 and we had a lot of fun making these videos for our audience. If you are offended by the wine drinking in the video, please feel free not to watch. I, for one, thought it added a bit of humor to a slightly dry instructional segment, and c'mon, we all know that most adult riders love wine!

I judged a local show this past weekend. To change things up, I asked for a couple of somewhat unusual commands in the more advanced equitation flat classes. I call for turn on the forehand, which most riders seemed to know. I also called for half turn in reverse, which seemed to be new to most riders, although I know it isn’t new. I can recall being asked to perform half turn in reverse in equitation classes about 15 years ago. To be fair to the riders at the schooling show, we posted diagrams of turn on the forehand and half turn in reverse next to the jump course diagrams. After all, I wasn’t trying to throw the riders for a loop, just to make things a bit more interesting and possibly teach them something new if they did not already know it.

I am still actively riding and competing, and I don’t like asking other riders to do things I wouldn’t do myself. So the day after the show, I recruited Patrick to help me do some half turns in reverse, turn on the forehand and other flatwork exercises (see video). Notice when we do turn on the forehand, I let him take a quick pause in the middle after he takes a nice big cross-over step in the back. There is no need to fluster the horse by rushing through a turn on the forehand. I find it is best to take it one step at a time, especially if the horse is just learning to do them or is rusty.

Winter is a great time to brush up on flatwork and especially lateral work. I’m not going to describe all of the exercises in detail here. One of the best places to find basic lateral work exercises described is in George Morris’s’ book, “Hunter Seat Equitation,” Chapter 5, Horse and Rider at Work – Laterally. The book includes diagrams as well.

Exercises include:

• Bending
• Circling (you can do 10 meter, 20 meter, bigger is easier)
• Figure eight
• Volte (little circle, ~6 meters or 20 ft)
• Serpentine (I love this one, see my post on "Serpentine over fences", video on hunterjumperconnect youtube channel)
• Broken line
• Half turn
• Half turn in reverse (yup, it’s in there)
• Turn on the Forehand
• Turn on the Haunches
• Change through the circle
• Flying change
• Counter canter
  

Work with these exercises over the winter and you will have more interesting flat work rides and a much improved horse by spring! If you can only have on book on the subject of hunters and equitation, “Hunter Seat Equitation” by George Morris is the one to have. It would make a great Christmas gift to yourself or the rider in your life.

We are back to showing this fall after taking the summer off. I was out of town for over a month during the summer (went to Hawaii and California, cry me a river) and Patrick was recovering from a minor injury he did while “horse playing” in his paddock. With him good-as-new again and me actually at home and riding, it was time for some outings to test our skill.

We chose a local series at Country Haven Stables in St. Leonard, Maryland. Country Haven has a nice large ring, a good set of hunter jumps, and provides a relaxing, small schooling show environment for the horses. It’s a really enjoyable show experience for the riders too and less than an hour away from our home barn.

We set out from our barn, Woodbury, with Patrick and his friend Lincoln the eventing paint draft cross in Diane’s trailer with Diane, her mother Mary Anne and me. My trainer, Julie, arrived with her gooseneck and two client horses. I wondered how Patrick would act since he hadn’t been to a show for awhile, but I had nothing to worry about. He didn’t even look left and right after backing off the trailer before plunging his head into the grass. His anxiety level about being away from home was somewhere between 0 and -3!


He was great in warm up other than the fact that he was so slow I had to put my spurs on half way through to get him rolling. He jumped all of the decorated fences unceremoniously. There was one single oxer that had been artfully decorated with shiny, tinsel-like, fake red and orange leaves. Heck, I was spooking at that fence, but Patrick didn’t care at all.

I rode in a low adult eq and and a low open hunter division (2’6”) at each show as well as going in a two round hunter classic at the first show. Patrick was second in the classic (to my trainer, Julie on a client’s horse). He was Champion of both equitation and both hunter divisions, which was sort of like icing on the cake. I will post a couple videos from the second show. We got all of our striding in the lines, even with the jumps set on a 12’ stride and the fences being low. We had good tracks and I am really proud of the roll back in the handy hunter round. It looks easy on the video, but it actually isn’t easy when you ride it wrong. I think that my equitation has improved, especially my posture. The feedback from one of the judges was that I flap with my elbows a bit and need to tuck them in both on the flat and over fences. She also thought my lower leg swung a bit when I sit the canter on the flat. I agree with her 100% on both points and have been working to improve. The sitting of the canter is going better but I am having one heck of a time pulling my elbows in! We didn’t have any horrible take off spots at the fences, but if you look at the video you will see that some are not perfect; they are a bit too long or short. I mostly notice the short ones because we aren’t as good at disguising those. I also saw that Pat was a stride late behind on his flying lead change, but Julie told me not to worry about that since the ring was deep on that end. She doesn’t think it’s a problem. The jumps are starting to look small to me. I think if things keep going the way they are going I will have a good shot at moving up to the 3’ adult divisions without being too scared. We’ll see. No promises.

We had beautiful weather for both shows and my husband, Will, was able to attend the first show, which was very special to me. Will is an excellent horse husband. He is very understanding of my riding habit and never makes me feel guilty about all of the time and resources I put into riding/training/owning/competing my horse. Will used to attend most of my shows when I owned my previous horse, Ziggie and when Will’s job was less demanding than it is now. Will is also a great horse show husband, though he explains it is easy.

He says, “You just sling a towel over your shoulder for wiping boots, green slime from the horse’s mouth, etc. Then on the other arm you sling all of the tack; bridle, martingale, rider’s jacket, crop, spurs. You just walk around like a human coat rack, provide whatever is needed and let the horse rub his mouth on your clothes and slime you.”

Hmm. Sounds a little too close to the truth for my comfort!

Another fun development was that at the second show, we had the re-debut of my friend Susan’s older, former event horse (he’s 21, I believe), Cool Hand Luke. Luke has been semi-retired in Florida for the past several years with a young leaser. However, this summer Susan shipped him up to Woodbury where one of Julie’s young students, Emma, took over the lease. Emma had been out of the show ring for quite some time after a bad fall at show while riding with a different trainer and Luke had been away from eventing for years. After lots of hard work at home and with Julie’s help, Emma and Luke gave a great performance at Country Haven in two divisions. They are proving to be a great team! Furthermore, if there was a horsemanship award for this show series, Emma would be my pick. At both shows (including the show she did not show in), she volunteered to groom, tack and untack, and hold horses for the other Woodbury riders. Being a good rider and a good horseman are both venerable goals, but are not the same. To me, being a good horseman is more important. Good horsemen demonstrate empathy, caring, and helpfulness toward their horses and fellow riders alike. It was nice to see these qualities reflected in a young rider.

All and all we had a fabulous couple of shows at Country Haven. I really got the chance to relax with friends and family while enjoying my horse while testing my skill. To me, that’s what it’s all about. Well, it’s about that and the pictures! 

At the second show our friend, Debbie Patterson of www.4leggedfotos.com took pictures of the show as well as taking some candids and portraits of the Woodbury riders and their horses. All of the photos in this post are courtesy of 4leggedfotos. Debbie uses her “big silver disk” to help capture the perfect light. It was also a very effective device for getting Patrick’s attention!

I’ve gotten a smattering of “Ask HJC” emails
lately. I love it when folks write in and try to respond to most of the emails. One email that arrived lately really struck a chord with me and I’ve been
pondering it over looking for an answer for the past few days. I think that part of the reason I keep thinking about it is because it’s my birthday today. It’s my 30thbirthday to be exact, so I can’t really pretend to be a kid anymore, even if, ahem, I look no older than a vivacious 21.  Being 30 makes me
a genuine adult.

  The emailed question was from a young female reader who asked, “I am riding hunter/jumpers and I love it, but I want my own horse more than anything. Got any suggestions to convince my
parents?”

I can’t seem to put this question from my mind because I relate to this question on two levels. On one hand, I was this girl. I have been horse
crazy practically since my first memory. My parents tried to put me in ballet class, girl scouts and soccer league. I was never too interested in any of these
activities, and by age seven, I was finally old enough to enroll in riding lessons at the local stable. I loved it and the rest was history. The natural progression from riding lessons was, of course, that I began dreaming of a pony of my own. I dreamt about what the pony would look like, where we would go and
what we would do. I had an excellent imagination. 
 
When I asked my parents to buy me a pony, the answer was always “no”. I kept asking though. I wasn’t hopeful of success after the first few
tries, but every Christmas, birthday and even Easter (the Easter Bunny was pretty generous at my house) every year I would ask for a pony. I accumulated quite an extensive collection of Breyer horses from these holidays. “Tricky parents! You know I meant a REAL pony!” 
 
As I got older and taller, not much changed. I simply started asking for a horse instead of a pony. My parents’ answer was still the same. “No.” I rode at a nice lesson barn, and it was difficult, because new students would come in, and six months later, bingo bango, parents buy the kid a horse. Here I was, this nice, responsible, appreciative, honor student who had been riding much longer than and could ride much better than the girls who got horses
just like that!


By this time, I was also aware of the costs
associated with keeping horses. I knew it was very expensive, but I was miffed that my parents seemed a lot better off financially than many of the parents who bought their kids horses in the blink of an eye. My parents were not totally unsupportive in any sense. They paid for my riding lessons, horse shows, they leased me a couple of extremely nice horses and ponies and shuttled me to and
from the barn constantly in the family minivan. My parents were supportive of my riding, but were not interested in the commitment of actually owning a large sport animal. This is why they were much more comfortable with leasing.  I also mucked stalls in exchange for riding the school horses and rode sale horses. I may not have owned a horse, but
I was not lacking for riding time. Still, it was hard to see all of the girls in the barn who owned their own horses when I didn’t, especially when it seemed
like some of them didn’t seem worthy or appreciative of what they had and how easy it was for them to get it.

 So, on one level, I can empathize with the reader. I never owned my own horse until adulthood. Now, as a real life 30-year-old adult, I also have a secondary perspective on her letter, an adult rider and horse owner’s perspective.

 When I was 17 or 18, I finally gave up and accepted the fact that my parents truly would never buy me a horse (that only took ten years; I’m tenacious). It made me sad, but it also made me set some goals and make some decisions. I knew I wanted to have access to one or more nice horses to ride and that I wanted to be an amateur rider, not a professional. I’m way too chicken to be a professional rider for starters! I also wanted to have the freedom to do whatever I wanted to do with the horse such as showing or taking lessons with a trainer. That probably meant that at some point, I would need to
buy a suitable horse and have plenty of financial resources available to acquire, care for, and have help training and improving my own riding on the
horse.

 I decided that, if my parents weren’t going to
buy me a horse, I was going to make sure that
I could buy me a horse. This decision became one of the major motivations of my life and I made a long term plan. It burned like a fire inside of me. I decided that I needed to do extremely
well in college and to pick a degree program that would translate into a high paying, in-demand job. Over the next few years, I executed the plan by studying biological sciences, graduating at the top of my class and hiring on as a biotech sales rep. I have owned horses for most of my adult life. I bought them myself. I take full responsibility for them, including paying their many bills and making decsions about their care. I think I appreciate the privilege of having them more because I worked for
  the privilege myself instead of having my parents do it for me. This might make me sound like an old fogy, but the experience was character building.

 So, to the reader, you cannot convince your parents to buy you a horse if they do not want to be convinced. Perhaps they will decide that they
are willing and able to buy you a horse, and if they do, that’s great. However, owning your own horse is not a right, it’s a privilege and also a tremendous
responsibility. If your parents buy the horse, then the horse becomes their responsibility, not yours. If they don’t want the responsibility of owning a horse (like my parents didn’t), you should not hold it against them. There are many other ways that you can advance your riding and knowledge in the
hunter/jumper sport without owning a horse. If you do that over the years and still have the desire to own a horse, then harness your passion and desire. Use it to make a plan that will allow you to make the dream of horse ownership happen for yourself instead of waiting for someone else to make it happen for you. When you choose this approach, you can not only have a horse of your own. You can use your passion for horses to create many other personal accomplishments along the way to your goal. That is the advice I can give as a horseless, horse crazy girl turned horse owning adult.