Things to Consider Before Rehoming Your Horse

Things to Consider Before Rehoming Your Horse

05 December 2015

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Life is good and then one day, it’s not. If you suddenly experience a financial hardship or devastating life threatening medical event, caring for your horse can be a struggle. It may even be impossible. 

If this happens to you and you can no longer provide the love and home your horse needs, you could be faced with one of the hardest decisions of your life, finding a new home, aka rehoming. 

Make sure you do your due diligence to help protect your horse and not fall victim to one of the many scams in the horse industry, the promise of the forever home. Just because it sounds good doesn’t make it true.

LIFE CAN CHANGE QUICKLY

We never know when disaster will strike so make sure you plan ahead. Life may be good now, but it can change quickly. The following are some examples of how the worst can happen to you.

  • Natural disaster strikes
  • Loss of everything in a fire
  • Divorce
  • Death in your family
  • Loss of work
  • A drastic change in health—heart attack, cancer, or other disease
  • Injury
  • Moving
  • Rezoning
  • Loss of pasture

FREE HORSE—DO YOUR RESEARCH

Many people put information on the internet, in social media, classifieds and Craigslist when they are searching for that loving home. The predators are watching and will come out of the woodwork often driving many states away to pick up your horse. They have a convincing story that just touches your heart and you know this is the best place for them. Keep in mind that it is harder to prosecute someone who has left your county or state. It is best to keep your horse within a quick driving distance if possible.

Before giving your horse to anyone check them out! Do a background check on them online or with a PI. It cost very little and helps to ensure that you and your horse are not victimized by a scam.  If you need help with finding a good PI, contact Stolen Horse International, Inc. on our website or on Facebook. We can put you in contact with a private investigator we trust.

Make sure you obtain the name and physical address, mailing address, address where the horse will be rehomed, references from a local veterinarian or farrier, and how the horse will be used. Make sure that you do not let the horse leave until you have finished your background check. If they do not check out and your gut is screaming, “Beware”, don’t let your horse leave.

There are many rescues that may be able to take your horse but often they are full and have no room. There are also people who pretend to have a rescue who do not. Make sure you check them out and learn the history of the organization. This is often part of a scam to get your horse.  These scammers doing this under the guise of being a rescuer make it hard on the rescues who really are doing the right thing for horses.

You can also use people and organizations to help you do your research. If there is a problem with someone in a community the local animal control officers would likely know about them. Legitimate horse rescue organizations will know who they’ve had problems with and a vet or farrier know many in the community.

Stolen Horse International, Inc., has had reports involving scams that involve veterinarians, farriers, animal control, and more. It makes your job harder but make sure you check them out as well.

Don’t forget to use GOOGLE. Put in the person’s name, address, phone number, etc. You will be shocked at what you find sometimes with a simple search. If you find out the person is selling horses often, don’t go there. Many of the people pulling the scams uses a many different names so check out the alias.

Ask for a copy of their driver’s license. If they will not produce it for you guess what, you may have a problem. Keep your horse.

Make notes on what you are told by this person. Save text messages. Save emails. If you decide this is the person or place for your horse, shoot a video of the pick up or exchange. Include all parties involved, the transport vehicles and the tags on the vehicles. Make sure you get their faces and even ask them on camera what they are going to do with your horse.

If all of this goes wrong in the future, you will have documented the exchange and hopefully the terms of use for your horse on tape. If they do not want to be on camera or stop you from filming, DO NOT let your horse leave.

FREE LEASE—HAVE A WRITTEN CONTRACT!

One of our favorite options is a free lease especially if you want to retain ownership and control over the horse. This works great when you are looking for a temporary home or just want to make sure the horse stays safe throughout their life.

There is no guarantee that a contract will keep your horse where it is supposed to be under the conditions of the contract. They still disappear often when contracts are involved. However, if you have a well written contract with very specific language, then you do have a much better chance taking someone to court and holding them responsible for their actions. After all, they have breached a written contract.

We recommend that you have an attorney help you with your contract but if that is not possible, you can find many examples on the internet

What do you include in your contract? For example, where is jurisdiction in case something goes wrong? Do you have that written in your contract? 

We encourage to you to read this article FREE LEASE OR FREE HORSE, on our website for some out of the box suggestions. This article is based on successful free lease situations that worked.

EUTHANASIA

This may be one of your most difficult options to consider when you can no longer take care of your horse. An older, sick, injured horse is much harder to rehome and one the scammers target.

If you cannot find a real home for your horse and you are faced with a disastrous option for them and for you, maybe this method would be more humane for the horse in the long run. It is one only you can make.

And last but not least, if you think this could never happen to you then think again. It is often our friends and family that end up hurting us the most. The predators who do this as a living are skilled and cunning and can convince a priest they are telling the truth.

Don't be a victim. Plan ahead.  

Download a PDF copy of this article in our RESOURCE CENTER under the Services tab. 

Update 3/28/18: We recommend this helpful resource just found written by friend and supporter Laurie Bayer, Rehoming Your Horse

Stolen Horse International provides news and other resources for free on this website. As a charitable organization we survive on the kindness of people like you. Please consider donating to help fund the organization or purchasing a NetPosse ID for your horse, dog or cat to help protect your beloved animals!
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Debi Metcalfe

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