**disclaimer, no I did not actually
get another horse at this time**
In my post on Thursday I mentioned that I have a thing about "rescue". There are some horses that are rescued where that term is, IMO, correct. But there are sooo many horses out there that are 'rescued!' where I would debate that term.
If you bought a horse from the kill pen, if you bought a horse that was being abused, if you took in a horse that had been abandoned... those are rescues.
This horse is sure as heck a rescue! (if you haven't read Argus's story before make sure you have tissue handy if you click that link)
A horse that needs some training, a horse that didn't have perfect hoof care or needs some weight (not drastic, just not A+), if you buy a horse from a sale/auction, those are not rescues. You bought a horse.
If you buy a horse that was living in a way you personally don't agree with, whether it was worked hard on the show/rodeo circuit or lived in pens 24/7 and your horses only live in pasture or are only ridden 30 minutes 3 times a week... if their basic needs are being well met, you didn't rescue, you bought a horse.
The horse that has no shelter from the blazing heat/frigid cold/wet/wind, little or no feed, unclean and/or limited water. You could consider him a rescue.
The horse that is being sold because the kids lost interest and have moved on to boys/girls/cars/college/etc... you bought that horse.
There's nothing wrong with rescue, either groups or the individuals that do it all on their own. Bless them! The horse industry does need them!
However there are bad rescues, the ones that are either taking advantage of people's hearts & money or that get in way over their head until they themselves need rescuing. And there are definitely enough horses out there that truly need to be rescued that theses groups don't need to go trolling for horses!
**happened to me in the feed store a few years ago when I was buying senior feed for Cessa and it p!$$es me off even now when I think of it**
There seems to be almost a social stigma against buying or breeding horses these days. Maybe that's why there's an overabundance of the "I rescued MY horse" being uttered.
I have to add, while trying to sell Quinn here, one lady told me she'd looked at LOTS of horses (I always ask, to get an idea of what's out there and what they've seen already) and she told me Quinn was the first horse they'd seen that wasn't skinny.
ReplyDeleteWhile that made me happy for me, that I feed my babies (perhaps too much) and sad for the other horses out there who obviously aren't being fed, my next thought was "How the heck am I going to sell this tank on four hooves?"
Another inquiry I didn't get back to quick enough said they had purchased a rescue horse and were quite happy. Great!
But if I was horse shopping, I KNOW I'd choose a skinny horse who needs to move up to a better home, over a well fed horse who obviously has a home where he is loved.
I'm just not sure if I'll ever be able to sell him, dang it all. Definitely a lot of pressure out there to rescue a horse rather than buy. Breeding too, is very looked down upon these days.
Good rant! Personally I think that if the governments of Canada and the USA would clean up the regulations concerning packing plants and transport of animals to slaughter there would be a lot less starving horses out there and people would have a viable and affordable end of life option for unwanted horses- because, let's face it, not everyone who owns a horse is capable of caring for them or understands all that is involved in properly caring for and maintaining a healthy happy horse.
ReplyDeleteI hear ya on those people who think that rescuing a horse makes them holier-than-thou and that you shouldn't buy or breed anything else. Of course it breaks my heart that there are so many horses out there abused, abandoned and neglected, but just because I don't have a "rescue" or a mustang doesn't make me a bad person.
I am totally in agreement, i actually was gonna buy a horse once (a belgian -supposed purebred but not even close) until the lady told me how she rescued her from a breeder who all he does is raise horses to sell. That turned me off right there and I told her that is not a rescue thats buying from a breeder and she had nothing to say about that. Makes me wonder if other people fell for it?
ReplyDeletewell put. I sold a colt for a friend of mine a few years ago, and one set of buyers arrived.Wanted to know if he had trouble with weaning , or this and that . I brought out a well mannered colt,in good flesh from his stall ,easy to catch, picked up his feet etc. Even took him away from his breakfast to do so(because they showed up at 6:45 in the morning!! In talking with them they admitted to only wanting to buy a horse with a "Cinderella story" I couldn't get them out of here fast enough . DO not need them out telling the world they had to "rescue" a horse from me!
ReplyDeleteAgreed. I see alot of that too.
ReplyDeleteIt's always driven me nuts when people call it a rescue when it is a purchase =) Giving a horse an upgrade doesn't make it a rescue.
ReplyDeleteTake my horse, Boyfriend. He was probably a 3.5 Henneke scale, due to his infected tooth. If I hadn't bought him, he probably would not have lived for an entire year, but I don't consider him a rescue.
Being saved is a slightly different matter ;-). I do know that I saved him from a less desirable fate. But to my mind, unless the horse is a)literally on the truck (or in a pen guaranteed to go on the truck) bound for slaughter, or b)is starving and/ or seized by animal control for other neglect issues, "rescue" is mostly in the minds of the beholders.
It bothers me to see it so easily bantered about, and it cheapens the term for those horses and dedicated people that serve to protect them from those fates.