When I was a kid there was a definite local surplus of range bred horses as ranches were just finishing the transition to mechanisation.
We had low end horse dealers who bought at auction, and trail ride strings that did the same and then sold their horses to local clients.
You can’t do this today without marketing yourself as a rescue and saying you are rehoming.
It’s a spill over from how the SPCA and other groups market cats and dogs. Ironically our local SPCA has done such a good job with spay and neuter that there are virtually no good natured mixed breed dogs available, if you don’t want to take your chances on a pitbull Rottweiler chow cross surrendered by a drug dealer on his way to jail for murder charges. Or his ex girlfriends traumatized and yippy pocket chihuahua.
So people who want nice mutts are paying $500 plus to adopt adult Mexican and Thai street dogs, or animals from Texas kill shelters. Because they are rescues. Also of course half the price of any purebred.
I digress.
But I see no difference in dogs changing owners whether you call it a sale or a rescue. Interestingly if I had a 2 year old lab cross mutt and I wanted to sell him outright for $250 that would probably be considered outrageous on many levels but the rescue back story makes it fine to pay twice that for a Thai mutt.
Anyhow this language has transferred over to the low end of horses but is not really current in the higher levels.
Though I know someone who paid $5000 for an OK warmblood in perfect health who got a late start, and refers to him as a rescue because she thought his trainer had heavy hands.
