The road is where a lot can go wrong. Horse transport insurance covers your horse while it travels and the trailer that carries it, whether you haul a few times a year or run loads for hire.
Most people need two pieces: cover for the trailer and truck, and cover for the horse inside them. Owners hauling to shows and the vet need a different setup than a commercial hauler moving other people’s horses. We sort out which fits and route you to agents who write transit risk.
What transport cover includes
- In-transit mortality
- Covers your horse if it dies from an accident or injury while loading, hauling, or unloading.
- Trailer physical damage
- Repairs or replaces your trailer after a collision, theft, fire, or other covered loss.
- Non-owned horses in transit
- For haulers carrying horses they do not own, the cover that handles a client’s animal on the road.
- On-the-road injury
- Options that help with vet costs for injuries that happen during transport.
- Commercial hauling liability
- Liability built for businesses that move horses for a fee, beyond a personal auto policy.
Who it fits
- Owners hauling to shows, sales, and the vet
- Trainers moving client horses
- Commercial haulers and shippers
- Anyone whose horse rides in a trailer worth protecting
Good to know before you quote
- Auto policy gaps
- A personal auto or trailer policy rarely pays for the horse inside. Transit mortality is what covers the animal.
- Owned versus for hire
- Moving your own horse and hauling for a fee are priced and written differently. Be clear which you do.
- Value on the move
- In-transit mortality ties to the horse’s insured value, the same as a standing mortality policy.
Horse trailer insurance: what it covers and what it misses
A horse trailer can usually ride on your auto policy, or a carrier can write it on its own. Either way, physical damage cover pays to repair or replace the trailer after a collision, theft, fire, or storm, and your auto liability follows the truck that tows it.
What trailer insurance leaves out is the horse. Physical damage and auto liability pay for metal and for other people, not for your horse’s vet bills or value after a wreck. That gap is why owners pair trailer cover with equine transit or mortality cover.
Living quarters and gooseneck trailers with sleeping space are often written more like an RV, with cover for contents and the living area. Tell your agent what kind of trailer you pull so the policy matches it.
Equine transit insurance for the horse on the road
Equine transit insurance covers the horse from the moment it steps on the ramp until it is unloaded at the other end. It pays if the horse dies or is injured in a covered accident on the way.
If your horse already carries a full mortality policy, death from an accident on the road may already be covered. Ask your agent before you pay for transit cover twice. Owners without mortality cover, or shipping a horse a long way to a sale or a new home, often buy transit cover for the trip.
Commercial horse transport insurance for haulers
Hauling horses for pay changes the whole picture. A personal auto policy usually excludes driving for hire, and a client’s horse is not yours to insure under a mortality policy.
Commercial haulers generally carry commercial auto liability for the truck, physical damage for the truck and trailer, and cover for the non-owned horses in their care, sometimes called care, custody and control or animal cargo cover. If you haul across state lines for pay, you may also need operating authority and a minimum level of liability. An agent who writes commercial horse transport can tell you what your routes require.
Horse trucks, box vans, and the rig as a whole
The truck that pulls your trailer needs its own auto policy, and a truck used in a horse business usually belongs on a commercial auto policy. Horse trucks and box vans with built-in stalls are written as one vehicle, so the cover for the vehicle and the cover for the horse still come from separate parts of the policy.
When you request quotes, list the truck, the trailer, how often you haul, and whether any of the horses belong to someone else. That is what lets an agent quote the whole rig at once.
Wondering what coverage runs? Read the horse insurance cost guide or see how quotes work.
