9 Best Horse Insurance Providers in 2024 – Reviews & Comparisons

When it comes to horses, they’re not just pets. They’re our family members, best friends, and partners. Any experienced horse owner knows that horses are special animals with special needs. The vet bills can rack up, and no one wants to be caught making a life-altering decision because they can’t afford proper medical care or surgery. Purchasing horse insurance is a way to avoid that unpleasant process and gain peace of mind for the welfare of your animals.

With so many options available, which one is the best? Insurance ranges from accident and illness to loss of use. Which one do you need? Which is most affordable? These reviews give you the best horse insurance available this year.

A Quick Comparison of Our Winners in 2024

Rating	Image	Product	Details
Best Overall		Blue Bridle Equine Insurance	Multiple types of coverage Air Transit and Territory Extension coverages are available Customizable policies	Click to Get Quote
Best Value		ASPCA	Offers wellness coverage Affordable Extensive accident/illness coverage	Click to Get Quote
		Kay Cassell Equine Insurance	Extensive coverage options Cover many conditions that other insurance companies don’t Personalized policies	Click to Get Quote
		Broadstone Equine Insurance Agency	Insurance available for $1,000 to $100,000 value Offers liability insurance 24/7 claims department	Click to Get Quote
		Hallmark Equine Insurance Agency	Liability coverage is not available in all states No vet certificate required Add-ons for colic surgery and loss of use	Click to Get Quote

The 9 Best Horse Insurance Providers

1. Blue Bridle Equine Insurance — Best Overall

Blue Bridle Equine Insurance is our recommendation as the best overall horse insurance this year. This company pioneered equine insurance and has been in business for 40 years. It’s reliable and offers a wide variety of medical and surgical policies to meet your needs.

Options for coverage include accident-and-illness insurance, loss of use, surgical or colic-only policies, medical assistance, and multiple add-on options to combine more than one type of coverage. Blue Bridle also offers Air Transit and Territory Extension plans that offer coverage if your horse leaves the U.S. or Canada. To reduce your policy premiums, you can add per-incident deductibles.

2. ASPCA — Best Value

ASPCA is well-known for its pet insurance policies, but it has extended its healthcare plans to cover horses. ASPCA is the best horse insurance for the money. Since it’s primarily been in the pet insurance business rather than the equine business, its policies look different than other equine insurance policies.

You can choose colic, accident, and illness coverage for your horse or add preventative care benefits. This isn’t something that most companies offer, making ASPCA stand out from the competition. Accident-and-illness coverage with ASPCA is extensive and covers conditions that include colic from impaction, displacement, spasmodic, and enteritis. Hoof abscesses, ingestions, cuts, and trailer accidents are also covered.

Unfortunately, ASPCA doesn’t offer any reimbursement for the treatment of pre-existing conditions. If your horse requires joint injections or has arthritis or navicular disease, you’re out of luck. Wellness plans may cover diagnoses like Cushing’s disease, strangles, or cancer, but only if your horse is diagnosed after you have purchased the policy and the waiting period for coverage has passed.

3. Kay Cassell Equine Insurance

Kay Cassell Equine Insurance is our premium recommendation for horse insurance this year. This family-owned company prides itself on offering personalized, customizable policies. It includes major medical, surgical, and transportation insurance. Unlike many other companies, this one enables you to make decisions for your horse’s health. Policies have maximum payout limits but are less restrictive on what care they will pay for.

The options for coverage with Kay Cassell are extensive. There are many policy options for performance horses and even lease horses, which many other companies don’t offer. Examples include Cutting Horse insurance, Barrel Racing horse insurance, Polo Horse insurance, and Prospective Foal insurance. There are 33 different policy packages to choose from, so you’re sure to find one that meets your needs.

4. Broadstone Equine Insurance Agency

Broadstone Equine Insurance Agency offers a wide variety of equine insurance plans that are centered around major medical and surgical coverage. Horses can be insured for values as low as $1,000, so you don’t need a high-value competition horse to obtain insurance. Broadstone also offers liability insurance for trainers, boarders, or riding instructors.

A veterinary exam will be required when purchasing mortality insurance. This can only be purchased prior to your horse’s 15 birthday, and they must be insured for under $100,000.

If you need to make a claim, Broadstone offers 24/7 access to its claims departments to answer all your questions.

5. Hallmark Equine Insurance Agency

Hallmark Equine Insurance Agency specializes in Full Mortality coverage resulting from an injury, illness, or human destruction. Its policies also cover death as a result of theft. While we don’t like to think about this possibility, it does happen, and Hallmark can provide you with peace of mind by giving you the replacement cost of your horse. You can even purchase a Guaranteed Extension option if a condition occurs during your policy period. This extension gives you coverage for an extra 12 months beyond the plan’s expiration date.

Coverage with Hallmark is anywhere in the continental U.S. or Canada, and your horse doesn’t need to be vet-certified to obtain coverage (assuming that their value is under $100,000). If you are insuring a foal under 30 days of age, you will require a Foal Vet Certificate when applying.

Add-on options with Hallmark include colic surgery coverage up to $3,000 and a full loss-of-use plan, which will reimburse you up to 50% of their value if they permanently become unable to perform.

6. Great American Insurance Group

Great American offers customizable insurance policies to meet your needs. Its customer service is top-notch. It has on-staff experts in all horse breeds and disciplines, including racing, cutting, showing, dressage, driving, hunter/jumper, saddle seat, reining, and pleasure riding.

Policies include major medical and mortality coverage, with optional surgical and medical add-ons. They cover every competition discipline imaginable, including racing, which many other policies refuse to cover. Liability coverage is also available, and you can even obtain extra coverage for short-term events, meetings, or fundraisers within the industry.

The Great American mobile app makes it easy to submit claims and view your account information. It also gives you 24/7 access to a customer service agent. Since its policies are more extensive than those of the others on our list, the premiums are also higher. These policies are designed to meet the needs of equine businesses, boarding barns, or owners of high-level competitors rather than everyday pleasure horses.

7. Markel Insurance

Markel Insurance offers mortality and liability policies for private horse owners, farriers, and instructors. No vet certificate is required for horses valued at less than $50,000 with no pre-existing conditions.

Markel has several specialized policies for equine operations, including farm and ranch insurance, farrier liability, horse club, horse instructor, show animal club, and therapeutic riding insurance. What it doesn’t offer is medical or surgical insurance. Individual animals can only be covered with mortality insurance to cover the financial loss of death due to theft or accident. However, it reimburses for mortality due to humane euthanasia when it’s medically necessary.

8. USRider Horse Insurance

USRider offers comprehensive coverage for theft, death, humane euthanasia, or illness/disease mortality. If the basic plans aren’t quite enough for you, you can add on medical/surgical coverage, liability, and equine essentials for preventative care reimbursement.

In order to qualify for coverage, your horse must be under 15 years of age and have a clean bill of health. You will require a veterinary certificate upon enrollment.

9. Horse Insurance Specialists

Horse Insurance Specialists is a good choice for full mortality coverage and emergency colic surgery coverage all in one. Its coverage cap is $3,000 past the first year of enrollment. Monthly premiums aren’t standard and are decided based on your horse’s age, breed, use, and value. However, $250 is the policy minimum that you can expect to pay.

Major medical coverage cannot be purchased without a mortality policy and is only available as an add-on. There are options for a stallion infertility plan and a limited mortality plan that will cover death as a result of a natural disaster, including fire, hail, earthquake, flood, accidental shooting, or an attack by a wild animal.

It’s important to note that the value of your stock must be agreed upon with the insurance company prior to establishing a policy. Even if you feel that your horse is worth more, you will still only receive coverage for the agreed-upon value. If you wish for a higher value, you will have to prove your horse’s worth.

Buyer’s Guide: Choosing the Right Horse Insurance Provider

Do You Need Horse Insurance?

Equine insurance policies cover different aspects of your horse’s care. Unlike dogs or cats, horses aren’t usually considered pets when it comes to insurance. They are considered livestock, competition tools, or working animals, so they are insured a little differently. You won’t find wellness care packages for horses as you might for dogs or cats. In most cases, policies are designed to reduce liability for injuries caused by your horse and replace your horse’s value should they die or receive an injury that renders them unusable.

Whether you need horse insurance depends on what you use your horses for and whether you feel that you can take the financial hit if they are hurt. Many horse owners will only insure horses over a certain value, as the premiums can be high for low-valued animals. Please note that we only mean “low value” in financial terms, as that is the only value that insurance companies take into account.

Types of Horse Insurance

Here are the most common types of equine insurance available.

Mortality Insurance

Mortality insurance for horses is similar to life insurance for people. It covers death due to illness, injury, or illness. Some (but not all) companies cover humane euthanasia if it is deemed medically necessary by a licensed veterinarian.

You can purchase full mortality coverage or limited mortality coverage. These policies cover a percentage of the predetermined value of your horse, and rates typically increase as your horse ages.

Major Medical

Major medical coverage varies drastically between insurance companies, so you need to know what you’re looking for. Some plans offer coverage for illnesses, vet visits, accidents, diagnostic procedures, medications, surgeries, and aftercare.

There is usually a deductible and a maximum annual coverage limit. Bills have to be submitted for approval by your insurance provider, and you are reimbursed a predetermined portion of your vet bill. These plans usually do not cover pre-existing conditions, preventative care, elective procedures, alternative therapies, or dental care.

Surgical

Surgical policies primarily cover life-saving or emergency surgery, namely colic surgery. These are not all-encompassing policies, and many only cover colic surgery because this is the most common life-saving procedure required in horses.

It’s worth noting that coverage for colic surgery only extends to the cost of the surgery itself and doesn’t cover the costs of hospital stays or aftercare.

Loss of Use

Loss-of-use policies can offer significant peace of mind for horse owners who use their horses in competition or breeding. These policies usually require extensive documentation from your vet, including any prior diagnostic tests, to ensure that your horse is healthy at the time of purchase.

These aren’t standalone policies and require the purchase of a mortality or medical policy. However, if your horse is deemed unusable, they will provide you with the subsidized income that you would have received from your horse’s activities.

Liability

At a minimum, horse owners should hold liability insurance. Sometimes, this is included as part of farm or ranch policies, but you need liability coverage if you ever take your horse off your own property. You need it on your own property, too, but this doesn’t require a separate policy.

While we don’t like to think about it, having a 1,000-pound animal involves risk. Should your horse damage someone’s property or injure someone, you could be sued for thousands of dollars in damages. This is where liability coverage can help.

FAQ

Do I need insurance as a horse rider?

If you lease or ride someone else’s horse for non-commercial purposes, you should still arm yourself with liability insurance. This will ensure that you are covered for any accidents or injuries that occur while the horse is in your care.

Am I covered while traveling?

Most insurance companies on this list provide coverage for incidents that occur anywhere in the U.S. and Canada. They also offer extended short-term coverage that you can purchase if you take your horse outside that jurisdiction.

If you are looking for roadside assistance coverage, some companies, like USRider, offer services like emergency veterinary care and emergency boarding arrangements if you purchase its Horse Roadside Assistance Policy.

What documents do I need to provide for equine insurance?

Generally speaking, you need documentation that shows your horse’s health history. This includes their background, veterinary certificates of health, X-rays, age, breed, sex, and documentation showing their purpose and use. These will be used by the company to determine the overall value of your horse.

Can my horse be covered by pet insurance?

No. Pet insurance companies do not offer policies that cover horses, even if you consider them pets.

Summary

When it comes to choosing horse insurance, you want the best provider possible. Our recommendation for the best overall horse insurance is Blue Bridle Equine Insurance. It has customizable policies that meet the unique needs of any horse owner. ASPCA offers the best horse insurance for the money. Since it specializes in pet insurance, its policies are more reminiscent of pet policies than equine ones. Not only do they provide good value, but they also cover several conditions that most other insurance companies don’t. For premium coverage, we recommend Kay Cassell Equine Insurance. It has more policy choices and more customizable options than any other insurance company.

Featured Image Credit: hedgehog94, Shutterstock