Charity Home Checking - financials

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dorsetladette

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Following on from the 'can I afford a horse' thread it got me thinking. Do charities check the financial status of a person they are loaning/rehoming their horses too?

I checked the blue cross website and there is no mention of finance checking or anything like that. But something might be contained within the application form maybe?

I then checked WHW and the only financial thing mentioned that I could see was that the loaner was responsible for the insurance of the horse and part of that is being a member of the champion plus scheme.

So do rescues and rehoming centre's check the financial status of the homes they rehome too? Do you have to prove your income and available funds to be able to take on a horse from a charity?
 
The home check was more about how safe the premises were for the pony. And they looked at Everything! No questions about finances at all, but I do have to show them proof that I have 3rd party insurance when they come for the annual visit.
 
So you could show them a stable on a nice livery yard which you've scrapped together the money for for a deposit and a months rent and they will just take your word for it that you can afford to continue to pay for that stable and all the other bills that come with owning/loaning a pony?

Then again if your on a livery yard the YO would probably know you were rehoming from a charity if a home check was carried out, so if livery wasn't paid or care wasn't given they could inform the charity.

I suppose as private owners if we were to loan a pony out we would have to trust the loaner could financially afford the pony?
 
The RSPCA do on going checks for a period, 6 months IIRC, before fully signing the equine over. It’s not a case of abandoning the rehomed animal to a new fate without any checks.

ETA The only ‘fail’ on my home check was that my fields do not have mains supplied water troughs. A dim view would have been taken if I had to traipse carrying water buckets to the fields, but as I can and do easily run a hose pipe to them big black bins to either field was considered to be sufficient.
 
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We had a BC pony and no financial check, they have to be vaccinated and they have to see a qualified farrier. They did come to our home to do the check but that’s probably only because we keep them there.
 
My livery took on a blue cross pony. I don’t believe there was anything within her application regarding finances (don’t quote me though), but they did a home check prior and then a visit after approx. 3 months. She did need to provide proof of insurance for the pony, however they signed him over fully after a year so he is officially hers to do whatever with now.
 
No financial check from the blue cross when I adopted the shetland. Just the home check before hand, no vet reference either.
Although it wasn't 'cheap' to adopt anyway - he is only on loan, so still belongs to them, but I had to pay an adoption fee of £80, and then pay for his transport (about £200 - they wouldn't let me pick him up myself). That was about 10yrs ago so don't know what the fees are now.
They technically come and check on him every other year now, but the last one never showed up, so they've not seen him in person since before COVID, the previous check was virtual.
But if I was having money issues I could just return him, so I suppose that takes out some of the concern the charity may have.
 
No financial check from WHW when I rehomed but their application form did want to know what vets I was registered with and how long I'd been with them. They also did a fairly intensive phone call before they would make an appointment for me to visit their centre to meet the pony I wanted to rehome and to check on my horse-handling abilities with that particular pony.

They then did a 'home' visit to the small livery yard where I had reserved a space before I was allowed to have my pony who I keep on part-livery.

As above a WHW condition is that you are a member and have the pony insured - either thru their accident only policy or another policy.

They do a check every 6 months on the pony from their area inspector and pay particular attention to weight/body score and hoof condition, plus asking about annual jabs and dentist visits. In a way their regular checks are a form of 'financial' check as if you were having financial problems and could no longer really afford the pony it would be clear to them that the pony was not having regular farrier care and that feeding and bedding were being skimped on.

There is no real way to do 'last minute' corrections to horse care for the inspection. Typically I am txted around 4pm in the afternoon for a visit at 9am the following morning. I've had my WHW pony for 5 years at the same place and they know she is looked after really well by the YO and I but I still get checked every 6 months.

As for moving the pony so the charity doesn't know where it is, it is part of the WHW contract that you are expected to inform them if you move the pony to a new location so that it can be inspected before they approve the move.
 
We always did site checks for suitability, and chatted in detail with potential borrowers. They would have visited Centre previously too. Very much matching individual equine to individual surroundings, no need for brand new stable on 5* yard iyswIm. I never asked directly about finances, it wasn't something that I'd been trained to do. However the system would more than likely already identified someone who couldn't afford to keep an equine.
Then spot checks every six months.
 
reynold said:
No financial check from WHW when I rehomed but their application form did want to know what vets I was registered with and how long I'd been with them. They also did a fairly intensive phone call before they would make an appointment for me to visit their centre to meet the pony I wanted to rehome and to check on my horse-handling abilities with that particular pony.

They then did a 'home' visit to the small livery yard where I had reserved a space before I was allowed to have my pony who I keep on part-livery.

As above a WHW condition is that you are a member and have the pony insured - either thru their accident only policy or another policy.

They do a check every 6 months on the pony from their area inspector and pay particular attention to weight/body score and hoof condition, plus asking about annual jabs and dentist visits. In a way their regular checks are a form of 'financial' check as if you were having financial problems and could no longer really afford the pony it would be clear to them that the pony was not having regular farrier care and that feeding and bedding were being skimped on.

There is no real way to do 'last minute' corrections to horse care for the inspection. Typically I am txted around 4pm in the afternoon for a visit at 9am the following morning. I've had my WHW pony for 5 years at the same place and they know she is looked after really well by the YO and I but I still get checked every 6 months.

As for moving the pony so the charity doesn't know where it is, it is part of the WHW contract that you are expected to inform them if you move the pony to a new location so that it can be inspected before they approve the move.
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Out of interest what happens if you can’t do that inspection? Like, there’s no way I could get time off work at that notice period and as the horses are at our field, there’s no-one available to give them access.
 
Sorry Snowfilly I don't know the answer but I suspect that they would arrange a time as quickly as possible. I'm retired and I go to my pony every morning for a couple of hours so it's no problem for me.

I've had my pony 5 years now but the inspections are still done every 6 months like clockwork - so you do sort of know when you are likely to get a txt - or at least in what month.

Even if you delayed a couple of days that might mean someone was able to have a quick farriers visit but it wouldn't be long enough to disguise poor body score or enable a dangerously overweight pony to lose the lbs.

The txt is always worded 'can I come to see xxx tomorrow' though.....
 
No, they don't check your finances IME. I think it would be irrelevant, given you could earn shedloads and spend it all on beer and ciggies, or earn a pittance and spend it all on pony care.
The first charity I fostered from didn't even home check, just a questionnaire and I sent a load of photos - that was a small operation rehoming welsh hill ponies though, run on a handful of volunteers. I now have a HorseWorld (Bristol) pony on a foster loan, they are very thorough with home checks (pre homing, shortly after rehoming, 3 months later, 6 months later...etc) and will only rehome within 1.5 hrs of the centre.
 
Snowfilly said:
Out of interest what happens if you can’t do that inspection? Like, there’s no way I could get time off work at that notice period and as the horses are at our field, there’s no-one available to give them access.
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I had a WHW pony quite a few years ago, she was kept at home. I never got a warning about inspections, would sometimes just come back to a card with a little note on the back saying they had visited. I had her for nearly 20 years until she was pts and they continued to check her throughout that time.
 
I get notice of a visit, just so they can make sure we are here to meet them. But I have said to them before now that they are welcome to drop in unannounced. They wouldn't find anything untoward if they did. There might not be any biscuits mind you!
I did hear of one case where they had suspicions that one of theirs wasn't being cared for, and they did drop in unannounced. They weren't happy with what they found and took the pony back straight away. When this rescue homes a pony they don't ever sign them over, it's always loan only.
 
dorsetladette said:
Then again if your on a livery yard the YO would probably know you were rehoming from a charity if a home check was carried out, so if livery wasn't paid or care wasn't given they could inform the charity.
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This was the case in my experience. My experience as in the "home check" for the livery yard was for the pony I was taking on.

The home checks I did for the charity were all to private homes already with a horse on site, and there was absolutely nothing in any documentation about income barring a very simple declaration that you are aware of the ongoing costs of ownership, along with (I think) the statement that if your circumstances change to let them know. It is actually rare for the charity I worked with to rehome to a livery yard rather than a private situation, they mostly rehome companions.
 
Thanks everyone - my curiosity has been satisfied. The robust and repeat home visits service as enough evidence to show the loan/adopter has adequate funds to keep the horses.
 
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