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by Conni
Peters
Roger Peters Livestock Insurance
If your horse is sick or injured bad enough to
call your vet,
you must call your insurance company!
As a seasoned, career
horse insurance agent, if I could stand at the highest point in the
world and scream out one piece of advice about horse insurance coverage
for all policy holders to hear and heed to it would be “If your horse is
sick or injured bad enough to call your vet, you must call your
insurance company!”! It is so simple, yet when the client does not
follow this one simple step, they run the risk of jeopardizing their
insurance coverage. With each insurance policy our office mails to the
client, we attach a brightly colored card with the 24 hour toll-free
phone number to call in the event your insured animal becomes sick,
injured or dies. I already know what many of you are thinking, “Well, if
I call this into the insurance company they won’t renew my coverage, or
my rate will go up next year.” This thought is absolutely not true.
Very few of us read our insurance policies, we stick them in a file and
forget about them. I would like to take this opportunity to inform you
of some of the conditions of the insurance policy that you, the horse
owner and the policy holder are responsible for. There are times that
coverage is denied only because the horse owner did not make that one
simple call to report their animal was under a vets care.
A livestock mortality policy is a “term policy”. Which means it is
written for a one-year term only, renewable on a healthy horse. Each
year, the company and the agent must review the insurability of the
animal. If the horse has sustained an illness or an injury and you have
in fact made that report to the insurance company, you will trigger what
is called a 12-month extension of coverage. This means if your horse
should die or have to be humanely destroyed due to the same reported
problem during a full 12-month period from the expiration date of your
coverage the company will pay the claim under this extension. Decide not
to make the call and you will not have the benefit of the 12 month
extension of coverage under the mortality portion of the policy.
You may ask yourself:
Do I call if my horse is lame? Yes.
Do I call even if I have not bought the major medical - surgical? Yes!
Do I call if my horse is a little colicy? Yes
Do I call if my horse has a hoof absess, is a little colicy, is being
treated for epm, has an infection? Yes. Absolutely.
When don’t I need to call? Only when normal care and maintenance are
going on with your horse. Shots, floating teeth, hock injections (for
maintenance only.) But if you are injecting the hocks due to a lameness
you need to call the company
If nothing else, please at least call your agent and talk to him or her
about the situation. Let the agent help you. It is our job. My office
enjoys the opportunity to better inform our clients. It makes for a much
easier claim situation if your horses condition would get worse. The
insurance adjuster will remain in contact with you and your vet until
the horse is released from the vets care.
There are a few very good reasons for this condition in your policy.
1. As the insured,
you must do everything the Vet tells you to do,
regardless of cost, to treat your insured horse. If an insured
horse dies as a result of not receiving the proper treatment, the
company can deny your claim. Reporting a problem at the time it
occurs will allow the insurance company and the vet to remain in
contact.
2. If you have been treating your horse for a problem and suddenly
the condition worsens and the horse needs to be humanely destroyed
you will be able to do this in a timely manner as the insurance
company has been following the condition with you and the vet from
the very beginning. If agreed between the insurance company and
the Vet, permission will be granted by the company for the animal
to be humanely destroyed. A current file between these two parties
will make this process much easier and your animal will not have
to suffer any longer then it already has.
3. Last, if you do not report a condition, you do not receive the 12
month extension of coverage under the mortality portion of your
policy. This is a benefit to you. Use it.
 I
can speak about this important policy condition due to a great deal of
experience. Our agency,
Roger Peters Livestock Insurer, Inc
opened its doors in
the 1970’s. Back when we did not have hock injections, epm, major
medical and successful colic surgeries. Much has changed in the 27 years
I have run this horse insurance agency for my father, Roger Peters. But
some things remain the same. When you call my office you will get a
friendly, real person. Not a menu of options. . We have immediate
binding authority. We keep things simple and easy to understand. We
currently have offices in Texas and Nebraska. We are extremely proud of
our reputation within the Horse Insurance Industry as well as our long
term relationship with our A+ rated companies. Roger Peters is one of
the pioneers of the horse insurance industry still competing in the
cutting pen in his retirement. Honesty is paramount in this office. You
may not always like what our agents tell you about the way an insurance
policy is written, but it will be the truth and not what you want to
hear in order to intice you to do business with our agency. In the rush
of today’s business world if you can offer personal attention, sincere
concern, knowledge of your product and honesty I feel you have what it
takes to be around for a very long time. Roger Peters Livestock Insurer,
Inc. offers all of this and more. I know, I have been here over half of
my life and enjoy my job everyday.
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