If this sounds like a great idea, you’re right. And www.equine.com has developed a program, called ?A Home For Every Horse,? ?with the goal of finding homes for as many unwanted horses as possible.
THere’s a special tab on their website? that says ?Rescue Horses.?? Click it and?you can quickly search through the available horses. I dare you to look at those horses’?faces and not at least think about taking one?into your barn! ?You can also visit the program on Facebook.
Part of the AIM Equine Network ? the owners of Horse Journal, Equus, Dressage Today, Practical Horseman, Horse&Rider,?and much more (see full list), Equine.com is working with the Unwanted Horse Coalition to get the word out about these horses.??
There are an estimated 170,000 horses ?unwanted? in the United States.? What a sad word that is. Unwanted. I can’t imagine what it must feel like to be??unwanted.? ?
Equine.com is working with certified non-profit horse-rescue facilities across the country. You’ll find a photo and?description (including a rating of the horse’s temperament) of the horses?on the site.?Equine.com is?measuring their success ?one horse at a time,??so if you have room in your heart and room in your barn, take a peak. (Equine.com is also a good spot to go regular?horse shopping, too — or horse dreaming as the case may be — with a strong filter for type of horse, location, cost and more. And, yes, the rescue horses will show up in those searches.)
If you decide you can take another horse,?remember that rescue groups do usually track the horses they place in homes for at least a few years to ensure the horse is in a good home. Normally you’ll need to qualify in order to take the horse, meaning that you must have the experience, means and facility to properly care for the horse. And references, of course.
A note, though: you’ll find few ?free? horses under this rescue tab. that’s because experienced rescue groups know that many people (unfortunately, most people) value things based on dollars and cents. If someone has to actually hand out money for something, that item is immediately (at least subconsciously) more highly valued than something the person?got for free. So an adoption fee helps stop people from thinking of the horse as a ?giveaway? or ?throwaway? and helps feed more horses remaining at the facility.
I also want to remind you that our free Horse Journal promotion is in its last week. You can download our January 2012 issue for free here. If you like it, we’re offering a special limited time rate for subscribing. As a subscriber you get full access to all our back issues.
But, as much as I want you to download that issue, love it and subscribe, if I had to make a choice I’d prefer that you take the time to look at those unwanted equine faces at equine.com and help all of us at the AIM Equine Network achieve ?a home for every horse.?
