The world of insurance as it pertains to equines can be a bit complicated for the average horse owner. Nowhere is this more true than with “loss of use” insurance. At the outset, it doesn’t seem all that complicated. If your horse can no longer perform in the discipline stated in the policy, you receive a sum of money that has been established in advance. Unfortunately, it isn’t quite that simple. What constitutes loss of use? Who decides? What if there is disagreement?

“It’s kind of like opening a can of worms with loss of use insurance,” says Kay Cassell of Kay Cassell Equine Insurance in Jonesborough, Tenn. “The insurance companies don’t like to write the policies, so they make them very expensive.”

Yet, says Richard Grossman, of Continental Bloodstock Agency in Lexington, Ky., it can be a good investment. “If you have a $100,000 horse that is performing at the Grand Prix level, the premium for loss of use isn’t going to be that significant.”

However, in order to add the loss of use endorsement, the horse owner must first have the animal covered for full mortality, which also includes surgical coverage