Care for animals after your gone

[PonyTrot]

This is going to sound a bit pathetic, sorry it's not meant to be that way.
Recent events have left me alone. I just don't make friends easy. Not many people want to be around me....it just is what it is. My family may try to help but they will be very quickly overwhelmed. But I have horses, often when an owner is gone, horses get a bad fate, often hauled straight to auction. Maybe I can have a little time at the end to set things up.... but sometimes it's just instant. I have a few that are old that need special care...I guess I could pre arrange with the vet to have them put down, that may be kinder then massive changes. But I have younger ones that will be with me for decades, hopefully. Anyone else in my shoes? Have any better answer then to make some better friends?

 

[Daedalus]

Your last line can still be the best hope, if you can put the time into finding the right sort of person. This is why long-term networking and keeping up friendships with zoos is vital. Because it'll take so long to find the right candidate. It's something I've been working on for the past few years too -- finding my peers, building the small circle of close-knit zoo exclusives. Like you, I also, have been alone my whole life and running a farm as an army of one. Only now, this many years into it, do I realize how unsustainable it was, to go on thinking I could keep all this up one-manned til I drop dead.

To that end, I've been making drastic life changes lately. As we speak in fact, I'm preparing to consolidate and join forces with another zoo this year, and test drive that into next year. And in the years ahead, I hope to make more connections between us (he already has more than I do because he's older) such that when my time comes, I have someone good, rock solid, in the next generation of zoos to hand it down to. Thus, my advice is to 'keep it in the family' so to speak. I'm guessing you're exclusive too and we're not the types to have had kids ourselves, so a younger zoo is your next best thing. Choose your family. Be a mentor. Take somebody under your wing and teach them. Rent them a room, train them up. Hand down the knowledge first, then when the time comes, you hand down land and animals, and they stay with 'us'.

 

[kyhorse]

Well yeah, you have to get out and meet some people

As far as afterlife planning, I have a large life insurance plan and my will is set up in such a way that the funds will care for my animals until they die a natural death. A close friend will inherit them and has agreed to keep them till they pass, and I trust them to do so. I’d suggest you do something similar if that is doable.

 

[saddlebum66]

There are places that act as retirement homes for older horses... One place in Maryland teaches disabled kids to ride and basic Horsekeeping with the oldsters that are not rideable by adults. The very old are given a place to live out their days after they aren't "useful" anymore. I'm sure there are similar places in most States. It's a worthwhile cause, and worth looking into