Donating a Horse to a Good College Program

[MHM]

Many years ago, I donated a very sweet horse to a college where the head of the riding program assured me they would keep him forever, and if anything changed they would call me. I stopped in to feed him carrots whenever I was in the neighborhood. That went on for a few years.

Then I stopped in one day with a bag of carrots and he was gone. Nobody would tell me where he went or what happened to him. The head of the riding program had changed, and apparently the new person in charge did not get the memo about that horse being a permanent resident.

I heard later that they did sell horses for slaughter when they were done with them. It makes me sick to this day to think of what might have happened to that horse.

Just FYI.

[MintHillFarm]

[QUOTE=rockonxox;n10181359]

A difficult horse is likely not going to be a good fit for a college program. This is a newish thread that might have some good info for you:
https://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/f…ecommendations

I donated 2 that were difficult several years apart many, many years ago to the same prep school . The school kept them for a short time and then sold them. I was not told until I ran into the trainer as he was dropping one off back in my town! Both horses lucked out and got forever homes. They were the lucky ones as I am sure there are plenty that don’t end up as fortunate! I would suggest a contract to protect your horse’s welfare. I didn’t have one as I was young and not too bright!

[vxf111]

@findeight

Colleges don’t take unsaleable, unuseable donated horses to slaughter, they just put them down to avoid carrying the expenses a day longer then necessary.

I know of a college that (at least last time I checked) took donated horses to New Holland and sold them to whoever bid, which included the kill buyer. They did not take them directly to the slaughter house and do the deal with the slaughter house, but same difference really.

[Elouise]

It is kind of like selling them…some places (people) do right by the horse and contact the previous owner when it is time for the horse to retire and some don’t. I know three people who have donated horses to college programs and all three received the call that the horse needed to retire. In only one circumstance did the college send an email informing the owner that the horse had foundered and was in significant pain and so they would like to do right by the horse and put it down and the owner was very much on board with the decision after speaking with the school’s vet (and the school had spent a few months trying to save the horse!).

It depends on the people who run the riding program and the school’s budget. Word of mouth is your best resource.

[Lucie_Too]

I’m an extremely long time lurker and this is the thread that motivated me to make an account so I could post, lol. I was at Mount Holyoke for a year. MHC has one of the most successful IHSA teams in the area and pretty much all of our Open horses came from success but were very quirky (one was an ex big eq horse that started stopping, one was an I1 horse that very suddenly stopped liking dressage and was quite violent about being ridden ‘dressage-y’ but took a liking to jumping, etc).

Placing any of the school horses after their time at MHC was always something the staff was thinking about. I believe pretty much every donated horse was at least offered back to the person that donated them first and foremost, but if they passed, the horse may be sold, and although I know MHC would never send a horse directly to slaughter or anything, there were some things I found questionable at times (my favorite school horse was “retired to a pasture in Florida” and then my roommate found her on Dreamhorse a few weeks later; she had been sold to a local lesson barn, didn’t work out for them, and was sold on again).

I think you could reference the tried-and-true troupe that the only way to truly guarantee that the horse’s future is 100% certain is to retire him early (I don’t think the horse would mind ). But just based off of my own experience, I don’t think you would have any issues asking for the school to contact you to take him back once they are done with him.

[findeight]

Depends on the contract too. Many schools consider donations permanent changes of ownership and are not required tell the donor anything or ask them for permission to sell it or PTS. Some directors or trainers or teaching assistants might do that but it’s not required if it’s not in the contract and staffing changes mean replacements may not continue unwritten policies.

Know somebody who donated, took a tax deduction and found out via tax audit 2 years later the school sent it to auction well before the required span of time to qualify for the deduction. Staff changes meant school never notified them but even if they had, it would have just been hey, we sold your horse and you don’t qualify for the charitable deduction.

Know another who donated a senior to a Therapeutic center. Went out a month later to bring it carrots and got a blank stare when they asked where it was. Shipped to auction with a week to fund the program.

Be careful if you are thinking of donating, especially if there’s good reason you don’t want it and it won’t sell. They don’t want it and can’t use it but they’ll treat it as a donation to fund their operation, Its in their contract, they don’t foster, they assume control.

[gottagrey]

I don’t know that I’d donate to any riding school at this time - so many seem to be ending their programs you don’t know what’s going on. I also agree that once you donate, your rights as an owner no longer exist. I’d try to find a good situation for the horse whether that means selling, free lease or whatever. Would a change in job help… you say he’s difficult but in what way? I had a friend who leased a horse that you couldn’t school at home because he got so wound up jumping but was a great trail horse. At 17 maybe find a nice retirement situation for him?

[OverandOnward]

I’m sure there are schools that have policies against sending their horses to auction, but …

There are absolutely schools that send horses to auction, if the horse is aged out, becomes chronically lame or doesn’t work out for other reasons. In some parts of the country, at certain auctions, killbuyers are often the primary auction buyers. That may be a broader area of the country than some people would like to think, as there are states that are literally and figuratively part of the highway to slaughter. There are states that are nowhere near the Mexican or Canadian border that have active killbuyers who ship horses hundreds of miles to the border, it’s what they do for a living. (If the school claims they don’t know that there are killbuyers at the local auction, they should know, but choose not to.)

Take heed at the above posts from an insider that most schools do not retire horses, do not plan to keep them for life. If the school doesn’t have a nice field and barn with retirees, that’s a clue, because horses do age out of work.

Promises to contact a previous owner may or may not be kept. It may be true at the time the horse is donated, but as also said up-thread, things change. Personnel change; financials change; policies and direction change.

Last year, a university with a strong equestrian program was outed by a rescue for sending horses to an auction where killbuyers are active, at least once a year. The school had sent a horse to auction (along with others) that had been with their program for over a decade, had been iconic for their program, but had aged out. The school claimed they didn’t know. No one believes that. The school didn’t even look into surrending the horses to a rescue, just trailered them to the auction and left them.

The only way to be sure of a horse’s future is to keep the horse and provide it oneself.

[WildLittleWren]

@OverandOnward

I’m sure there are schools that have policies against sending their horses to auction, but …

There are absolutely schools that send horses to auction, if the horse is aged out, becomes chronically lame or doesn’t work out for other reasons. In some parts of the country, at certain auctions, killbuyers are often the primary auction buyers. That may be a broader area of the country than some people would like to think, as there are states that are literally and figuratively part of the highway to slaughter. There are states that are nowhere near the Mexican or Canadian border that have active killbuyers who ship horses hundreds of miles to the border, it’s what they do for a living. (If the school claims they don’t know that there are killbuyers at the local auction, they should know, but choose not to.)

Take heed at the above posts from an insider that most schools do not retire horses, do not plan to keep them for life. If the school doesn’t have a nice field and barn with retirees, that’s a clue, because horses do age out of work.

Promises to contact a previous owner may or may not be kept. It may be true at the time the horse is donated, but as also said up-thread, things change. Personnel change; financials change; policies and direction change.

Last year, a university with a strong equestrian program was outed by a rescue for sending horses to an auction where killbuyers are active, at least once a year. The school had sent a horse to auction (along with others) that had been with their program for over a decade, had been iconic for their program, but had aged out. The school claimed they didn’t know. No one believes that. The school didn’t even look into surrending the horses to a rescue, just trailered them to the auction and left them.

The only way to be sure of a horse’s future is to keep the horse and provide it oneself.

This last sentence. The only sure future is if you retire him, keep him, and take care of him yourself. I have heard way too many horror stories. I am to the point that my two horses will stay with me forever. Until the good Lord takes them, or I have to make the decision to kindly euthanize. Good luck OP, whatever you decide to do!

[Middleburg_Misfit]

I graduated from Virginia Tech a few years ago and almost all of our horses were donated, rather than searched out and purchased. We did have a number of more difficult horses, but our advanced riders were given those horses as “projects” for one or two semesters until the horse could be integrated into the regular lesson/IHSA program.

As far as what would happen after they couldn’t be used, we always offered the horse back to the original owner and if they passed, then we would start looking. A lot of times, a student ended up adopting or purchasing the horse if it was still sound enough to have a career after our program. If the horse couldn’t be ridden, we would either send them over to our breeding program to be babysitters for the youngsters, retire them on property, or adopt them out to a local friend who wanted another companion horse. Regardless of where they ended up, we would always keep our eye on them and would help them find a new home if circumstances changed for the adopters. I could never imagine sending any of our beloved school horses off to slaughter!

[ladyj79]

@OverandOnward

A cautionary tale, this happened about a year and a half ago …

This stallion, Tricky Prospect, had been at this university breeding program for years. He wasn’t getting mares in foal, so onto the trailer he went to auction. Along with apprx. 15 other horses from the university.

Former University Stallion Rescued From Texas Auction, Potential Slaughter
(link at the bottom of this post)

Highlights mine - these quotes are not unique policies. Many programs do not see their horses as pets to be maintained, whatever. The horses have to be useful to the program to stay.

How does anyone feel confident of what kind of owner will end up with an auction horse? Especially an 18 yo stallion?

Kim Underwood quoted above is the lady who spotted who the stallion was, and made sure he ended up purchased by the rescue and not a possible killbuyer.

Link to Tricky’s page at Remember Me rescue http://www.teamkeen.com/horsesavaila…yprospect.html
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Gotta love it, late teens sterile? Breeding stallion and they never considered gelding him and teaching him a trade. Sounds like a top super educational program :sigh::mad:

[atilthia]

Surprised at all the negativity on this post! The school program I went to took extremely good care of the horses and would keep them until the day they die 90% of the time. There were maybe a few that were just so dangerous to ride that we tried to find owners, but most of the ones that had been in the program forever either got turned out with the retire crowd or found local homes to retire in. It was rare for one to just be ‘sold’ let alone sold to slaughter. We also took in a lot of problem horses (stoppers, rearing, bucking, etc) and either tried to fix them or give them a job that didn’t require much that prompted the naughtyness (stoppers just did the flat, and were happy to do so!). We even had horses that were known to bite/kick. If anyone would like to message me I’d love to share school, it might be too far away but it’s a great place imo. Impeccable vet care and people that love horses of all shapes and sizes. Partially due to being funded quite a bit by donations and the school — so it isn’t closing down any time soon!