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Getting the Most From Your Horse Insurance Coverage 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.
Please give us a call when your current policy renews or if you just simply need to visit with a professional about your horse insurance. Ask for Conni or Stacy. 1-800-228-8664.
Or if you would like to work with our agents in Texas call Dixie at 800-801-9882 or Justa at 817-597-8127. And please, one last time, if your horse is sick or injured bad enough to call the vet, he is
bad enough to call your insurance company.
Contact: Conni, Stacy, Dixie or Justa PO Box 219 South Sioux City, Nebraska 68776 Phone: 1-800-228-8664 or 1-402-494-4300 Email: Csprlp@aol.com Website: www.rogerpeterslivestockins.com/
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