Determine your equine financial limit before you're in an emotional decision-making position. | Photo: Anne M. Eberhardt/The Horse

Understand the costs of veterinary care before you’re faced with a sick or injured horse

Over the last 20 years I have owned eight horses. Unfortunately, I’ve dealt with serious injuries or illnesses with three of them. My first horse required arthroscopic surgery to remove a bone chip from her ankle. There went $1,500. She later contracted the potentially fatal neurologic disease botulism while in foal. After maxing out my $5,000 in major medical coverage to treat that condition, I made the difficult decision to euthanize her and her unborn colt simply because I couldn’t afford to continue treating a horse that my veterinarian gave only a 20% chance of survival.

My next horse suffered from a rare bile duct blockage that caused recurring infections and damaged part of her liver. We did all we could for her, and again I used every dime of my $7,500 in major medical coverage. As happens with insurance, the pre-existing condition was excluded when it came time to renew her policy. I continued to spend my own money to treat her, but as her conditioned worsened, I knew I was spending hundreds of dollars a month just to prolong her life, and to what end? Eventually I made the difficult decision to euthanize her, as well.

Then came a talented gelding who was in training as a dressage horse. He was progressing nicely but started to become very resistant to my aids, along with showing signs of hind-end lameness. Turns out he had injured his right hind suspensory ligament. Fortunately, it was not a complete tear, so six months of stall rest and about $2,500 worth of platelet-rich plasma (PRP) and shock wave treatments brought him back to soundness. Again, the major medical policy covered much of the costs