Rescuers vs. Traders | RES 057

Ride Every Stride | Horsemanship and Personal Growth with Van Hargis

I’m in high cotton this week, but the subject we’re bringing up gets me pretty upset. Last week we talked about Hurricane Harvey and evacuating. This week we are going to talk about people who pander to your heartstrings with their “displaced horses” to try and make money. These, quite frankly, scumbags will go to a horse sale and buy horses for cheap – then turn around and post pictures of them on Facebook saying, “If someone doesn’t buy this poor horse by Tuesday it’s going to the slaughterhouse.” Reputable rescue facilities don’t do this, and I’m here to give you an earful about it.

Key Takeaways

I’ve had the pleasure to work with wonderful rescue facilities in the past. They aren’t trying to turn a profit off of their horses. The most you’ll pay is an adoption fee and a fair one at that. I’m talking about $150 dollars, and maybe at most $500. Not $1,500 or $2,500 – and just the other day I saw a $3,500 adoption fee.

The whole point of a rescue facility is to prevent the horse from being slaughtered, not to threaten you into purchasing the horse.

This topic has come back up as people have rescued horses and cattle from the aftermath of Harvey, saying that if you don’t “adopt” the animal they’ll be shipped off to slaughter. This is preying on kindhearted people who buy into the scam to “save” the animal.

A legitimate rescue facility should happily give you their 501 C3 non-profit information. If they balk at this or stop responding or delete your post – you’ve likely caught them in the act. There are a few things you can ask a rescue facility to make sure they have good intentions:

Ask how long they’ve been in business and where they are located – on top of getting their 501 C3 information. Find out what their procedure and process is for acquiring and placing horses. Many facilities also let people foster their horses, where you can take care of them while the Rescue facility still owns them and is trying to place them.

Unfortunately, the only way these horse traders will stop this practice is if it stops working. They may very well go take those horses to slaughter if no one buys them, but the practice will sadly continue the longer and longer it works.

If you have any questions about adopting a horse from a rescue facility don’t hesitate to reach out to us at [e-mail]