EISK IN A HORSE INSURANCE POLICY. 233 



improper use, or unskilful treatment, from overlocading, or 

 improper loading of any vehicle to which it may be harnessed 

 or attached, or from breaking of the harness, or by reason of 

 the horse being left unattended, or by the intoxication of its 

 rider or driver, or from poison, or malicious injury, or by 

 reason of the horse being loose ; or loss occasioned by invasion 

 of foreign enemy, or by civil commotion, riot, or any military 

 or usurped power. The risks of hunting, foaling, castration, 

 and fire are also, as a rule, excluded ; and, if desired to be 

 covered, are undertaken only at special rates. These 

 contracts are usually the subject of separate policies, as are 

 also contracts of indemnity against the risks of driving 

 accidents, and insurance of vehicles against loss by collision. 



Sucli policies are invariably " valued " ones, the amount 

 recoverable for loss to a horse being considerably below the 

 declared value, generally two-thirds of it ; and, in estimating 

 the loss, the declared value is taxative, and the company 

 reserve to themselves the salvacje. 



The usual conditions in such a policy are, that when a claim 

 is made under the policy, the company shall contribute only 

 rateably along with other insurers of the same interest and risk ; 

 that in the case of illness, accident, or death, the company shall 

 receive notice of it, with full particulars ; and that in such a case 

 the assured shall immediately secure the services of a "duly 

 qualified" veterinary surgeon,(a) and send his report to the com- 

 pany, and give notice also to the company's veterinary surgeon, 

 if any in the district. A horse insured under a policy con- 

 taining these conditions sustained a fracture of the leg, and the 

 owner, on advice of a veterinary surgeon, who was not 

 registered as such, had it killed at once, and by telegraph 

 intimated to an agent of the company that the horse had 

 broken its leg, and had been condemned. This intimation 

 was at once communicated by the agent to the manager of 

 the company, by whom liability was repudiated. No report 

 by a veterinary surgeon was forwarded to the company. It 



(a) See Appendix i. 



