Horses are chattel. They are bought, sold, and leased. Calling it “adoption” is pulling on emotional heartstrings, and making the transaction into something it isn’t. If you want a horse, go and buy or lease one that is suitable for your intended use. Know where you stand, as that horse’s owner or lease holder.
It is possible to find a horse at a “rescue” that may suit what you are looking for, and in that case, you may decide to play their game, and abide by their rules, if you wish. But a similar horse may well be available to purchase or lease, which is usually a better “deal” for you, if not for the horse as well.
Understand that there is no “rescue” for low value horses, there is only a “market”. The “market” is that of people looking to acquire a low value horse for whatever purpose they have for that horse. That purpose may be for a companion horse, a pet, a beginner or young child’s older horse of questionable soundness but kind and forgiving nature with lots of training installed, or an untrained horse with no major issues and with potential, or for meat.
Being sold for meat CAN be a better end for a horse than ending up with someone who loses interest in them, doesn’t know how to look after them adequately, or is crazy. The meat industry is driven by the desire of some people to eat horse meat, and operates on a “quota” system. Meat buyers contract to collect and deliver a certain number of horses or tonnage to the slaughter plant. They buy cheap horses to fill this quota, but they look for healthy horses in good flesh, who are able to be shipped successfully. If someone else wants a horse that they were going to buy, that’s fine, the other person can buy that horse, the meat buyers will often sell a horse they have just purchased to someone else for $50 more than they paid if someone else wants it. The meat buyer simply goes and buys another horse instead, to make up the amount of horse meat that he must supply to fulfill his contract. So, the actual “rescue” of a horse from the meat man results in no actual change in the number of horses that go for meat. Every time YOU buy a cheap horse, YOU send another horse to the meat market due to your purchase. Choose wisely. There is no “rescue”, there is only a different horse going for meat instead of the one you bought for your own uses. Therefore, buy the horse who fills the need you have for a horse, whatever that may be. Every cheap purchase of a horse had better be a horse who IS what you are looking for, because if you “rescue” horse out of emotion only, to “save” it, you may well be stuck feeding and caring for a horse who does not meet your needs as a horseman… an expensive proposition, and one that most horsemen try hard to avoid (vet checks, trial periods before purchase).
Horses are bought and sold by dealers. They may be high end dealers, or low end dealers. Although “horse dealers” have a historically “bad” reputation, this is not always the case. Low end dealers often buy horses out of fields, in a bunch. They take them home, and try them out, see who is broke, who is not broke, who is apparently sound, and who isn’t, who is kind and friendly, and who has issues that make them “difficult”. They may have the ability to put a bit of basic training on some of the horses. If they are honest dealers, they represent their horses honestly to potential buyers, and often offer a buy back option if you end up not liking the horse for ANY reason after you get it home. They sort through the horses, and sell the “bad” ones (the ones they don’t think are going to be successful as a riding horse, or be able to be sold successfully as such) on to the meat market, without emotion or regret. In this way, they run an economic and self sustaining business, and serve the equine industry faithfully. I’ve bought horses from such people, very successfully. Bonus for everyone. If you are looking for a cheap horse, these are excellent sources for this commodity. You will pay a bit more than from an auction, but often worth the extra $.
Folks who run “equine rescues” may well be soft hearted, kind people who genuinely like horses (or they may well be crazy). But they are delusional, and are acting solely on emotion without considering reality, and are often soliciting funds by pulling on heartstrings since they are not conducting an economic business. They are satisfying their own “rescue complex”, where they can congratulate themselves on the “work” they do… which may or may not actually benefit the horses they collect. If you can benefit your own situation by using their services, and are OK with abiding by their “adoption terms”, then go ahead and play their game. Or not.
