Estimate full mortality and major medical premiums for your horse
| Insured Value | Pleasure / Trail (3.0%) | Show / Jumper (3.9%) | Eventing / Racing (4.4%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| $5,000 | $200* | $200* | $220 |
| $10,000 | $300 | $390 | $440 |
| $15,000 | $450 | $585 | $660 |
| $25,000 | $750 | $975 | $1,100 |
| $50,000 | $1,500 | $1,950 | $2,200 |
Rates shown for a horse aged 10 or younger. Carriers add roughly 15% at ages 11–14, 35% at 15–17, and 60% at 18–20. *Most carriers enforce a minimum mortality premium of $150–$250, which is why low-value horses don't get proportionally cheaper.
| Coverage | Typical Annual Cost | Annual Benefit Limit | Typical Deductible |
|---|---|---|---|
| Surgical only | $150 – $300 | Surgery costs only | $250 – $500 |
| Major medical | $250 – $850 | $5,000 – $15,000 | $250 – $500 |
| Loss of use | ~25% – 35% of mortality premium | 50% – 60% of insured value | Per-claim |
| Horse-owner liability ($1M) | $100 – $300 | $1,000,000 | None |
Medical coverage almost always requires an active mortality policy. Loss of use pays a fraction of the horse's value if a permanent injury ends its intended career without killing it, and it's underwritten conservatively — eventers and jumpers are the disciplines it's built for.
Equine insurance is priced differently from pet insurance. Instead of a monthly premium keyed to breed and age bands, the core policy — full mortality — is written as a percentage of an agreed insured value: you and the carrier agree the horse is worth $12,000, and the premium is that number times a rate. The rate is what moves with discipline, age, and the carrier's own book.
Mortality premium = insured value × base rate × age factor. Base rates run about 3.0% for pleasure horses, 3.4% for breeding stock, 3.9% for show and jumper horses, and 4.4% for eventing and racing — riskier use, higher rate. Age factors are 1.0 through age 10, then 1.15 (ages 11–14), 1.35 (15–17), and 1.6 (18–20), reflecting how underwriting tightens on older horses. A minimum premium, usually $150–$250, replaces the raw math on inexpensive horses. Medical add-ons are flat annual fees layered on top.
Enter the value you'd want paid out if the horse died or was stolen — purchase price is the common starting point, and carriers will ask for support (shows results, breeding records, a bill of sale) above roughly $15,000–$30,000. Pick the discipline that best matches actual use; rating a horse "pleasure" that's jumping courses is how claims get denied. Then choose the medical tier and liability, and the calculator totals annual and monthly cost.
Take a $12,000 show jumper, age 8, with $10,000 of major medical and $1M liability. Mortality: $12,000 × 3.9% = $468. Medical: $525. Liability: $150. Total: $1,143 a year, or $95.25 a month. That $525 medical add-on is the interesting line — one colic surgery at $8,000–$12,000 would take more than a decade of premiums to match.
Now a $5,000 pleasure horse, age 6, with surgical-only coverage. The raw mortality math says $5,000 × 3.0% = $150, but the carrier's $200 minimum applies, so $200 plus $165 surgical = $365 a year, about $30 a month. Minimum premiums are why insuring cheap horses for mortality alone is often poor value, while the medical add-on is the part worth having.
Full mortality coverage, the base policy most owners buy, typically runs 2.5% to 4.5% of the horse's insured value per year. A $12,000 show horse at 3.9% pays about $468 a year; a $5,000 pleasure horse pays around $150, though most carriers enforce a minimum premium of $150 to $250. Major medical coverage adds another $250 to $850 a year on top of the mortality policy.
Major medical pays for diagnostics, surgery, hospitalization, and treatment of illness and injury, subject to an annual benefit limit (commonly $5,000, $10,000, or $15,000) and a per-incident deductible of roughly $250 to $500. It must usually be purchased alongside a mortality policy. Surgical-only coverage, which skips medical treatment and pays for surgery alone, costs less — often $150 to $300 a year.
It depends on the insured value. Most carriers waive the exam below a threshold that commonly sits between $15,000 and $30,000 and instead require a signed statement of health. Above the threshold, a recent vet certificate or a pre-insurance exam is standard. Horses with a notable medical history may need an exam at any value.
Full mortality is easiest to place from weanling to about age 15. Between 15 and 20 many carriers still write coverage but rate it up — our calculator applies a 1.35x factor at 15-17 and 1.6x at 18-20, which mirrors how underwriting tightens. Past 20, full mortality becomes hard to find, and named-peril or limited mortality is the usual fallback.
The math that usually decides it is colic. A colic surgery runs $8,000 to $12,000, and mortality-plus-medical on a $12,000 horse costs about $1,000 a year. If an unexpected $10,000 vet bill would force a euthanasia decision you'd rather not make, the premium buys real option value. If you could self-insure a five-figure vet bill without flinching, self-insuring the premium is defensible.