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Del Camino
Equestrian Enterprises, Inc.
3822 East Sahuaro Drive,
Phoenix,
Arizona,
85028-3442
United States of America
Tel: 480-314-9490
Fax: 602-953-9347
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Here's an online source for boots, pants, helmets, grooming supplies and
supplements:  
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Del Camino Equestrian Enterprises
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Balanced Seat
InstructionSM Safety First
HorsemanshipSM
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August 2007 Helpful Hint with Links
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Each quarter we offer
a horsemanship hint, often related to current affairs on people’s
minds. Our hints don’t tell
you how to treat thrush, or how to teach your horse to do a flying lead
change. You have (or should
have) a regular veterinarian and trainer for those kinds of topics. If you don’t, there are books
and webzines galore to choose from.
We try with our horsemanship hints to cover topics that are seldom
addressed elsewhere.
August is a month of
family vacations, moving to a new town for a new job, and unpredictable
(even if hot) weather.
This month seems to be a good time to mention “planning ahead.”
Our September 2005 Helpful
Hint covered Emergency Preparedness for your horses and barn. If you DID NOT enjoy the flooding in
Cave Creek and other parts of the Phoenix metropolitan area after just one night
of heavy rain a few weeks ago, it may be time to review those
suggestions. Did you get to
practice your plan? Has your
situation changed since you developed your plan? The Del Camino Emergency and
Disaster Procedures were based on us having as many as 20 horses stabled at
Sandspur in Scottsdale. Half of those were
client horses in training. It
also reflected the fact that we had paid, trained staff familiar with those
procedures. Today, we have only
four horses, boarded twice as far from our home, and only a tack locker at
the stable in which minimal grooming, first aid, and tack supplies can fit.
REVIEW AND UPDATE YOUR EMERGENCY
PROCEDURES ANNUALLY
For our beloved 10 year old boxer, LSR Clue, the
waterproof instructions that wrap around her collar are updated
accordingly. In the unlikely,
but possible event that both of us are incapacitated or killed in, say, a
car accident on the way home from the stable, and Clue is at home patiently
waiting for us, there must be someone local to call to retrieve her from
our home. Next, she must be
provided for through her old age.
What to do?
Clue is taken care of, completely outside of our
wills (so there is no waiting for probate, etc.) by means of a funded Pet
Trust. Never heard of a Pet
Trust? Pet Guardian, LLC Pet Trust Plan is
not the only means of creating and funding one, and Del Camino is not
endorsing their service, but their website gives an excellent explanation
and they offer a simple and convenient template.
What about the horses, should something happen
to us? What if board is due in
five days? What if they need
veterinary care? Again, a
funded Pet Trust ensures that a willing and qualified Executor will pay
their bills, even if that person is out-of-state at the time. Since the trust is revocable and
changeable, we can adjust the method and sources of funding, the individual
horses named, the Executor and Alternate Executor over time.
IF YOU CARE ABOUT WHAT HAPPENS TO
YOUR ANIMALS SHOULD SOMETHING HAPPEN TO YOU, CONSIDER CREATING A PET TRUST
Most people have some life insurance and a
retirement plan. They have
named beneficiaries who are family members, of course. Most responsible people with minor
children at home have made arrangements in their will or trust for those
children, including naming a guardian.
Do we assume that the beneficiaries of these instruments that wisely
fulfill our duties to people, will share with our pets as we would wish? You might reasonably predict that
the family dog would stay in the family. But if you are single with pets, are
you certain that relatives in Nebraska will fly
Fluffy out from Phoenix to join them for the rest of Fluffy’s life? If Fluffy is a St. Bernard, maybe
not. How will they know which
pet adoption agency to use to find him a new home? What if that no-kill adoption center
wants a support fee until he is adopted, which would be fair? Are they going to be willing to
spend $100 per month for however many months it takes to find him a
home? Who pays for those
vaccinations and groomings that might come due in the interim? Oh, ALL of my
relatives would take care of Fluffy.
They love Fluffy as much as their own pets. Good.
Now let’s move on to your two performance
horses that are boarded at a nice training facility, or your three backyard
horses that you spend 3 hours per day maintaining if not riding. One of those, by the way, is Sweet
Ole Paint, a 24 year old with Cushings who won you the State Championship
15 years ago, and is enjoying a quiet retirement just keeping the younger
horses company. What is going to happen to them, if something happens to
you? Don’t laugh, but we
have many friends whose lives revolve around their horses who would say,
“My spouse is utterly indifferent to the horses. It is my hobby, not his (hers). He (she) will sell them all as soon
as possible.”
Okay, fine.
Since your spouse (or if no spouse, other relatives not involved in
horses) will sell them, how long is that going to take, and what happens on
a daily, weekly, monthly basis in the meantime? He hires someone to care for
them? After all, he has other
issues on his mind, and demands on his time, with you hospitalized or deceased,
than doing it himself. Are
there written care instructions for that person to follow? How does he market the horses? How long will it take to find
buyers? Who is going to take
Sweet Ole Paint, the retiree?
If you pay for your horse habit with a job paycheck, with your
earned income gone, how long can your spouse or relatives carry the horses
in the manner you think appropriate and humane? If you own horses in a
business, such as a trail ride concession or breeding or racing program, or
are a trainer with “spec” horses, can the family carry on
without you?
These questions have to be thought through by
any responsible horse owner.
They are not easy, and we get quite an education as we research how
to make workable plans. Such
plans had to be made for the closing of our riding academy, and the
considerable past experience we have, and extensive research we did to
prepare, all turned out to be correct.
Anyone who has ever decided to sell a healthy, well-trained, pretty,
well-bred horse in its prime can tell you it can take two weeks or eleven
months. If you have a moral
duty to have life insurance and a will, if not a trust, to provide for your
human dependents in the event you cannot do so personally, you have the
same duty for your helpless domestic animals. In the event something happens to
us, our horses are provided for.
What about yours?
For assistance developing or updating a
practical Emergency & Disaster Plan for your horses or your stable, Del
Camino offers consulting services. Del Camino can also consult for planning
a Pet Trust designed for multiple horses. Inquire
We welcome your feedback, positive and
negative. Please let us know if
you found this article interesting or helpful, have suggestions for
improvement, or suggestions for future articles. Feedback
© Copyright Del Camino Equestrian Enterprises,
Inc., 2007 All rights reserved. Safety First Horsemanship, Balanced
Seat Instruction, Discovery Class, and Equicise Class are service marks of
Del Camino Equestrian Enterprises, Inc.
Contact us for
quotation or reproduction permissions.
Only non-profit 501c organizations may reproduce articles with full attribution
and website link.
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SPECIAL
THANKS to
Arizona Equine Rescue Organization (AERO) for mentioning our Angel on their
website. AERO needs a horse
trailer of its own to transport rescues, and the present fund raising
campaign is focused on this urgent need.
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