Ben Espy, DVM, Dipl. ACT, offers his advice on communicating with your veterinarian:

#1 Keep your own records Whether you are trying to schedule routine work or an emergency visit, your veterinarian relies on you to be all of their senses when talking to you on the phone. Although most veterinarians have evolved to using computers, e-mail, and PDA devices, no amount of high-tech electronics can take the place of notes on each animal. Many clients dealing with extremely valuable horses in Central Kentucky still rely on handwritten notes organized in a notebook.

Although your veterinarian will have a master list of medical procedures performed on each horse, it is wise to maintain your own records as well. This is especially true for night calls when your veterinarian will not have access to his computer and office staff.

Many large barns have multiple horses, multiple owners, and fractional ownerships. Transfer of ownership and medical records becomes very confusing. This is an inherent problem in our industry and can be called continuity of care. Although a horse might change ownership or location, it still has to be maintained by the farrier, it has to be current on vaccinations, negative EIA (Coggins test, for equine infectious anemia) status, deworming, and dental care. A useful technique is to use a dry erase board in the central aisleway of the barn where you can put, for example, the next scheduled foot trim, vaccination, or dental work. Each horse (and owner) is put on a separate line. Each time the veterinarian comes to your barn, the manager can look at the board and see if anything is due or close to being due