Equine mortality insurance works like life insurance for your horse. It pays the insured value if your horse dies from accident, injury, illness, or humane destruction. For most owners it is the policy everything else builds on.
You set the insured value off the purchase price or a vet appraisal, then add the coverages that match how you ride. We pull terms from several carriers so you see the real spread before you commit.
What a mortality policy covers
- Full mortality
- Pays the insured value if your horse dies from accident, illness, injury, or humane destruction.
- Major medical
- Helps with diagnostics, treatment, and vet bills for illness and injury, usually with annual limits you choose.
- Surgical
- Covers colic surgery and other procedures when you would rather not carry full medical.
- Loss of use
- Pays out when an injury ends your horse’s career but not its life. Common for show and breeding stock.
- Emergency colic allowance
- Several carriers fold in a colic surgery allowance at no extra premium. We point out who does.
Who should carry it
- Show and competition horses with real replacement cost
- Breeding stock and started prospects
- Any horse worth more than you would want to absorb out of pocket
- Owners financing a purchase, where a lender requires coverage
Good to know before you quote
- How value is set
- Purchase price sets the value for most horses. Above a carrier threshold, a bill of sale, breeding record, or appraisal backs it up.
- Vet exam
- Lower-value horses often bind with a health statement. Higher values may need a current vet exam, sometimes blood work.
- What it runs
- Mortality usually costs about 2.9% to 4% of the insured value per year, so a $10,000 horse often lands near $300 to $400.
How much is equine mortality insurance?
Mortality is priced as a rate on your horse’s insured value. Most horses land between about 2.9% and 4% of that value each year, so a $10,000 horse often runs $290 to $400 a year, or roughly $24 to $33 a month.
The rate moves with age, use, and health. A sound pleasure horse sits near the low end. Racehorses, upper-level eventers, and horses in their late teens sit higher. Adding Major Medical or Surgical raises the premium again. The horse insurance cost guide has a full table by value.
Agreed value or market value
Mortality policies pay the insured value you set when you buy, subject to the carrier’s terms. If your horse’s value rises after a show season or a big win, ask your agent about raising the insured value at renewal. Insuring for more than a horse is worth does not raise the payout, and carriers can ask for proof of value at claim time.
See prices by horse value in the horse insurance cost guide.
