Diet and supplementary feed after horse surgery: not insured

After horse surgery, vets often recommend special feed such as mash. Barmenia does not reimburse diet and supplementary feed under horse surgery insurance, however, not even where it is medically necessary. We show where the line to genuine medication runs.

Diet feed after horse surgery: Barmenia's rule

Diet feed and supplementary feed are not covered by Barmenia's surgery cost insurance after a horse operation. In the general insurance conditions (AVB Pferde-OP-Kosten, as at 01.01.2024), exclusion clause 3.2 f) expressly excludes such special feed. This exclusion applies unchanged even when the treating vet explicitly orders the special feed as part of the follow-up treatment, whether for therapy or to spare the horse.

For horse keepers, this contractual rule draws a clear line. While surgical procedures, anaesthesia and directly administered veterinary medicines are reimbursed within the insured scope, every product for oral nutrition falls to the owner's own account. The contract terms make no distinction here between ordinary roughage, special diet feed and nutritional supplements.

• Clause 3.2 f) of the AVB excludes diet and supplementary feed from reimbursement entirely.
• An instruction or a prescription from the vet does not lift this exclusion.
• The exclusion covers both therapeutic diets and preventive mineral and vitamin preparations.

European feed law supports this classification too: dietetic feed, that is feed for particular nutritional purposes, is defined in Article 3(2)(o) of Regulation (EC) No 767/2009 as feed which can serve a particular nutritional purpose by virtue of its particular composition or method of manufacture. Medicated feed, by contrast, is a form of oral administration of veterinary medicines and is subject to the separate rules of Regulation (EU) 2019/4 on the manufacture, placing on the market and use of medicated feed. Below we look at what this rule means in practice after surgical procedures.

The classic case: mash and light feed after colic surgery

After a colic operation, gently restarting bowel function is at the centre of medical aftercare. In this phase veterinary clinics frequently prescribe oat-free, easily digestible slobber mash or special diet feed to spare the digestive tract and prevent renewed impaction.

Although this choice of feeding makes medical sense and is often unavoidable for the horse's successful recovery, the cost of mash and dietetic preparations stays with the horse's owner. The insurance conditions regard such special feed as general feeding costs rather than as treatment subject to reimbursement.

1. 1. Starting to feed at the clinic: gradually introducing mash and easily digestible roughage - feed costs are not taken into account.
2. 2. The transition phase at home: continuing specialised light feed over several weeks - entirely at the keeper's own expense.
3. 3. Accompanying care: giving psyllium husks or digestive aids - also falls under clause 3.2 f).

Even where mash and diet feed contribute to convalescence from a veterinary point of view, in feed law they remain products of oral animal nutrition. By definition, feed serves to meet animals' nutritional needs or to maintain the productivity of normally healthy animals, not to provide a pharmaceutical intervention.

Feed or medicine: where the law draws the line

The distinction between a supplementary or dietetic feed and a veterinary medicine subject to prescription rests on strict statutory criteria. For settling a claim under surgery cost insurance, that distinction is central.

Under European feed law, dietetic feed is feed for particular nutritional purposes: it serves the appropriate nutrition of animals whose digestive, absorptive or metabolic processes are temporarily or permanently impaired. With feed it is also not permitted to create the impression, through labelling or presentation, that it prevents, treats or cures a disease. A medicine, by contrast, exists where a product exerts a pharmacological, immunological or metabolic effect as a medicine by function, or where its presentation creates the impression of a medicine, making it a medicine by presentation.

This clear legal separation lets insurers draw unambiguous limits on cover, so that tariffs concentrate on covering high surgical and medical treatment costs.

Reimbursable under clause 2.3.5: genuine veterinary medicines

While diet feed is not reimbursed, genuine veterinary medicines prescribed and administered by the vet in the course of the follow-up treatment are covered in full. Under Barmenia's conditions, prescribed medication as well as dressings and consumables fall within the agreed scope of cover.

Cover requires that the medicines are used within the agreed follow-up treatment period. Depending on the tariff chosen, that period usually runs to the 14th calendar day after the procedure, and in extended tariffs even to the 20th day. Which costs medication after horse surgery covers in detail depends on the vet's billing under the German scale of veterinary fees (GOT).

• Painkillers and anti-inflammatories for post-operative pain therapy.
• Antibiotics to prevent or fight bacterial infections.
• Infusion solutions and sedatives during intensive care.
• Medical consumables such as wound dressings, cannulas and suture material.

Therapeutic measures such as vet-prescribed physiotherapy after horse surgery are also included in defined tariffs. Pure feed, however, stays separate from these medical building blocks.

Preventive preparations: vitamins and minerals

Alongside diet and supplementary feed, clause 3.2 f) of the AVB also expressly excludes preventive vitamin and mineral preparations from cover. This applies in particular to supplements used after orthopaedic procedures to support the musculoskeletal system.

A typical example is the aftercare following an arthroscopy or chip operation on the hock or fetlock joint. Vets frequently recommend high-dose supplements afterwards, such as hyaluronic acid powder, mussel extracts or specific mineral mixtures to support the cartilage. Whether such a product counts as feed or as a medicine is assessed by the competent authority on the basis of its composition, its pharmacological properties in the light of the quantity administered, and the way the product is presented. Without a marketing authorisation as a medicine, these preparations remain feeding rather than treatment for insurance purposes.

1. 1. Excluded: supplementary feed containing zinc, selenium or vitamins for general strengthening.
2. 2. Excluded: cartilage-protecting supplements without a marketing authorisation as a medicine.
3. 3. Insured: injections of veterinary medicines given directly by the vet.

The assessment under insurance law depends strictly on whether the preparation is authorised as a medicine and is used directly as part of the medical treatment.

Horse surgery insurance: protection against high operation costs

Even though diet and supplementary feed do not form part of the scope of cover under clause 3.2 f), horse surgery insurance performs a central protective function for horse keepers. In cases of severe colic, fractures or joint procedures, the policy reliably absorbs operation costs that usually run into four figures.

The cover pays for the surgical procedure itself, the anaesthesia, the diagnostic imaging and the immediate follow-up treatment for up to 14 or 20 days after the operation. Accommodation at the animal clinic is covered financially for up to 10 calendar days as well.

At nextsure we offer you transparent comparisons and independent advice on specialist insurance. With our horse surgery insurance you benefit from flexible tariffs with reimbursement of up to twice the GOT rate and a free choice of clinic worldwide, so that your horse is in the best possible care when it matters.