Cob Jockey

Growing up, we had a ton of pets and livestock - horse, donkey, cattle, dogs, chickens, parrots, cats, guinea pig, hamsters, rats, rabbits - and so we were never shielded from end-of-life decisions.  My mom always said, "You just know, they tell you," when asked how she made the decision to put an ailing pet to sleep.  We also had good vets in our corner that were always honest about what they would do in the situation, which helped.

None of us expect or want to go through what L. Williams at Viva Carlos had to do this week, and my thoughts are with her.  It's so brave to do the right thing even when it's unexpected and it hurts.  He told her, and she unselfishly obeyed, and I have so much respect for her for handling it like she did.

But what if you weren't prepared or even there to be for a decision like that?  I was chatting with our new working student yesterday, who had just been on a cruise to Jamaica for ten days without cell service recently, and she told me how she had essentially given a living will to my trainer for her horse before she left.  It basically said, "If this type of injury occurs I prefer him taken to Purdue or Rood and Riddle, if he is in pain and the vet determines it would be more humane to put him down, I authorize you to put him to sleep, if he needs colic surgery, go for it" etc.  It's something I haven't thought about before, but it would be a good idea to have one for those of us who are boarders.

She said her previous barn made every boarder fill out a questionnaire with their "in case I am unreachable"  veterinary preferences on it.  For example, some people just cannot afford colic surgery, and would put their horse to sleep in that case, while others may be able to afford it out of pocket or with insurance help, and if the BM doesn't know what the owner's situation is, that can be a tough call to make, especially when a horse is in pain.  So the questionnaire had questions like "If my horse colics badly enough to need surgery and I am unreachable, I prefer that you:__________________"

It's tough to think about, but it's something that should be decided with a clear head ahead of time and not when your emotions are running high in an emergency.  What would you like to see on a questionnaire like that?