8 things to know before taking out insurance for your horse

In equestrian sport, insurance companies also have a substantial turnover to make. That responds to riders' need to be covered in the event of an accident or incident. If you too are planning to take this precaution, here are 8 things you need to know.

What to know about yourself

If you are planning to take out insurance for your horse, you need to know your spending power. It sets your limits and clearly shows you, for example on La Sellerie Française, which offers are within your reach among those available to everyone.

With a decent budget, a rider knows what sort of service to expect for what outlay. They can then take out insurance for their horse and carry on dealing with day-to-day matters, both privately and professionally. They choose the right cover for their situation.

Their level of expertise in riding should also come into play. The more they know about their own abilities and the challenges they can take on right now in the equestrian world, whether for leisure or as a professional, the better they can steer their choice of insurance.

What to know about your horse

Information about the owner is not enough to decide which policy to take out. You first need to know the environment the horse lives in. If it is at full or part livery, the situation will be different from a horse kept out in a field. The risks will differ too.

The horse's needs matter as well. Here it is a question of establishing whether the horse has any particular health problems and whether it has specific habits. If the horse likes to head off into the wind with no limits, the risk of it escaping is high.

What to know about the insurance

As someone looking for an insurance policy, you must above all make sure the offers match your needs. Ideally, they should be tailored to each request so that both rider and horse can thrive.

Before taking out insurance, then, you need to understand exactly how your policy works from start to finish. To that end, it is sensible to arrange a meeting with the insurer to discuss the terms of the contract and what they imply. How it works should be explained to you in plain language that a layperson can follow.

That way you will have a clear view of the benefits of working with one insurer or another. So it is not enough to meet a single insurer and sign a contract. It is worth seeing several and choosing the one that suits your needs best.

The most significant benefits relate to riding itself, to customer service and to how quickly the insurer responds in the event of an incident or accident.

There are also drawbacks, which form the limits of the contract. Beyond its clauses, the rider must manage on their own to look after their horse. They are therefore legally bound to keep their side of the contract in order to retain their provider's trust.