Want to Adopt a Rescue Horse? - Things You Should Know

I had seven acres of land that needed grazing, a fair amount of horse experience and enough time to care for a horse that might have special needs. The time seemed right to consider a rescue horse. I had owned horses on and off for twenty years, but I'd always bought mine from individuals and occasionally from auctions. I knew there were rescue organizations for horses, but I had no idea how to begin or what I might be getting into. In my search for the right situation, I learned quite a bit about rescuing horses and the twenty-three year old mare now in my pasture seems content in her retirement. It hasn't been without pitfalls, though, so perhaps others can benefit from some of my experience and gathered research.

Before you even worry about evaluating your property or figuring out where to obtain a rescue horse, sit down and consider some important issues that might save you some heartache. If you are a total beginner with horses, you may be better off to purchase a well-trained horse from a reputable seller, and save adoption for a later time. You can read more tips on becoming a first-time horse owner in this article on "Thinking of Buying a Horse." After that, the first two things I would suggest evaluating are the types of rescue horses that are available and the resources that you have to care for these types. It is easy at first just to look for any available horse, but this can definitely get you into trouble. Horses of average age that are well broke and healthy are rarely available for adoption. Horses that need "rescue" in the first place are going to involve some particular care. Most available rescue horses will be in one or more of these categories:

-Advanced age (usually over 15 and most over 20.)

-Very young age or green with an inexperienced owner

-Health problems, usually requiring ongoing and perhaps permanent treatment

-Health problems that are temporary but serious, such as extreme malnutrition

-Feral (wild) horses that haven't been handled or have been handled badly

-Vices that may be quite difficult to correct (serious bucking/biting/kicking/etc.)

Each of these categories will require different things from you as an adoptive owner. There is no one category that is really easier than another; each one depends on your own setup and skill set. So, next, evaluate those things. What do you have offer to your prospective horse? Consider the following:

-Shelter: Horses with health problems or age issues may need special consideration

-Space: Feral horses and ones with vices will usually need more room to exercise

-Available Grazing: especially important in situations where you won't have plenty of supplemental feed

-Access to medical care: Horses with health/malnutrition problems or older horses may need special access

-Experience: Caring for an green/feral horse or one with vices usually requires quite a bit of horse experience

-Abilities: Can you give shots, trim hooves, float teeth or do you have other special skills?

-Patience: Young/untrained horses or those will vices will require much patience

Once you feel you've matched your desires, setup and skills with the type(s) of horses you might be ready for, then you can consider the where and how of it. There are a number of different ways to acquire a horse that has need of tender loving care. Most of these options have both pros and cons. Some are much better suited to those with less horse experience than others.

Most areas will have one or more rescue operations that temporarily house problem horses. Those facilities are usually only equipped to take a certain number of horses and they are often in need of foster homes or permanent homes for their horses. These places can be excellent for a variety of reasons. Even if you don't have a great deal of horse experience, they may be able to match you with the right animal. A horse who is of advanced age but has no serious health issues can be good in this situation, though you may need to be prepared to offer emergency veterinary care and your equine friend will need gentle treatment. They've had time to observe the horses and know a fair amount about what needs they have. In many cases, there has been time to somewhat rehabilitate and treat horses who've been abused or malnourished. Adoptions make more room, and rescue centers can make use of adoption fees to provide good care for even more needy horses. When you wish to adopt from a rescue center, however, it is good to know what may be expected. They are likely to charge some kind of adoption fee. They will probably want to see your property and evaluate your background before allowing you to adopt. In many cases, you will need to sign an agreement that says that you cannot resell or re-home the adopted horse without the center's permission.

Individuals may advertise horses for adoption in classified ads, websites like craigslist.com or petfinder.com, or may have notices up at a local vet or feed store. In my own case, I adopted my horse from an individual who needed to locate a good home for an older mare. Sometimes a horse is in great shape but just is not ride-able anymore, and this makes it a bit harder for individuals to place. You will need to take caution in some areas when adopting from an individual, however. Some people will hide things from you- like the fact that the horse has a serious vice that you'll have to deal with at home. In other cases, you will see ads that say "re-homing" or "adoption" that are really just horses for sale. The owner may be trying to take advantage of free advertising on sites that don't allow outright animal sales. It can be discouraging to have a great bit of land and time to care for a horse, but not a great deal of money and then you see an ad for an adoptable horse that looks perfect for you. You contact the owner only to find out that it's a show horse with papers and they want a "re-homing fee" of five thousand dollars. Avoid these unless you really just wanted to buy a horse - and even then I'd wonder what else they are being dishonest about. Otherwise, adopting from an individual can be great and my personal experience was excellent.

Horse Auctions are not technically "rescues" in that you bid on a horse and "buy" it, but in many senses you can indeed rescue a horse from a poor fate by purchasing wisely at an auction. The thing to remember there is that you really have NO idea what you are getting and you should have no expectations. You may be able to purchase an older horse, very green horse, or often a foundered or lame horse at auction. You can often get these horses for very little money. If you have a good setup and the skills to help the horse, that animal is probably going to a much better home than it otherwise would have. Horse auctions draw crowds that want horses for many reasons, and some of those reasons are not in the best interest of the horse. Just remember again that you should not get your hopes up when you buy an auction horse. It may look great, but at home it could turn out that it was on painkillers to disguise lameness or on tranquilizers to disguise vices. I would only suggest the auction route if you have quite a bit of horse experience and are willing to deal compassionately with any result once you get home. Remember that horses that bite, kick or buck are not "born mean," but are usually the product of a bad situation. Sometimes they do these things to tell you that they have pain in their teeth or spine or legs or elsewhere. Other times they have been downright mistreated. Either way, if you are a good candidate as a rescuer, you'll be prepared to have compassion and patience in every situation.

You can also adopt feral horses from the Bureau of Land Management and other similar organizations. I have known less experienced horse owners to adopt this way and be successful, but overall this is another choice that I would recommend only to experienced horse people. The BLM does require and application process and an adoption fee. The fee is usually quite low if the horse has not yet been handled. (There are some special adoptions for wild horses that have had some basic green breaking.) When adopting these horses, you will have to keep some things in mind that might not apply to other adoptions. These may be horses that are well past the usually breaking ages of two to five years. They will have to be transported carefully since they have never been loaded into a standard two-horse trailer and will feel panicked if hauled that way. They need a fair amount of room to exercise in the early stages. In most cases, barbed wire fencing is not considered acceptable for penning feral horses, so keep that in mind. Feral horses may try to run or push through wire fencing. Feral horses are also usually best kept alone, so if you have other horses you will want to reconsider or plan for that.

Before closing this article, I do want to mention that many of these tips can apply to rescue equines in general. There are often ponies, miniatures, donkeys, mules and other four-legged creatures that have some of the same needs as horses. If you have the right setup for one of these, don't rule out some of these wonderful animals for companion or working friends. A pony that I adopted years ago couldn't be ridden by me, but he pulled a cart very nicely and gave great joy to my niece when she came to visit.

If you are considering a rescue horse, hopefully this will give you some tips to evaluate your situation and go from there. I've been very happy with my rescue horse, but I can tell you that it has taken more patience than I had to have even when raising a foal. My mare needed months to get used to me and to allow me to approach her in the open pasture, and she still has "freak-out" days. In spite of her age, she spooks easily and is high-strung. If I had tried to rush her into things that she wasn't ready for, we'd have both been sorry for it. I think horse adoption is fantastic, but do think it through before you jump in. You and your prospective horse will be glad that you were cautious.