Ways of re-homing privately owned horses

guesstimation

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I’m bored at work and been looking through the web and there are so so many horses free to good homes at the moment, it scares me how many could end up in inexperienced homes or homes where people just want to sell them on which if done correctly is not the end of the world but there are too many dodgy dealers who could take advantage.

How do you ensure you aren’t being taken for a ride when re-homing a horse yourself rather than through a charity, are there guidelines available with how to proceed. Is there anything that could be set up that would help bring together people looking for animals and those trying to re-home without going directly through a charity but where certain procedures have to be complied with on both sides of the re-homing.

I know Vetran Horse Society has a section for people to put adverts of the horses they are looking for homes for, would a site doing this for all privately owned horses needing homes be useful or would it just breed more dishonesty from people wanting to take them and knowing where to look and work a system.

Do you think there is anything that could be done to help or is it all already out there for people to just get on and use common sense (which sadly some people do lack).

Not that I am in a position to do anything, just interested!
 

Kat

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Have you looked at the BHS assisted rehoming scheme? They try to put people in touch with each other rather than taking in horses that can no longer be cared for.
 

Ibblebibble

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love to know where you're finding all these free horses!! I'm looking for a cheap one or a loan horse and can't find anything!

As for safeguarding a horses future, in short you can't, even if you sell it for £10,000 there's no guarantee that it will be well looked after or sold on under false pretences!! i have been gifted 2 horses, one of them has a contract which states i can't sell him without offering him back to the original owner first, some have said this would stand up in court and others say it wouldn't, personally i have no interest in finding out as the ginger one will be with me till the end of his days.... or mine!
of course there is the other side of the coin where the person rehoming actually doesn't really care what happens to the horse, as long as it is no longer their responsibility they are happy:(
 

Wagtail

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I think there is room for a non profit making organisation/charity to do something, yes. The only way I could see it working is to make it a free service for those wanting to loan out of give away their equines (for riding or companions), but have a registration fee for those looking for a 'free' companion or veteran riding horse/retired eventer or whatever. Then if a suitable horse was found they would have to pay an additional amount to have their home vetted. I guess it COULD work, though there would still be those horses who are virtually unrehomable and the fairest thing would be to PTS to avoid the possibility of them falling into unscrupulous hands.
 

guesstimation

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love to know where you're finding all these free horses!! I'm looking for a cheap one or a loan horse and can't find anything!

As for safeguarding a horses future, in short you can't, even if you sell it for £10,000 there's no guarantee that it will be well looked after or sold on under false pretences!! i have been gifted 2 horses, one of them has a contract which states i can't sell him without offering him back to the original owner first, some have said this would stand up in court and others say it wouldn't, personally i have no interest in finding out as the ginger one will be with me till the end of his days.... or mine!
of course there is the other side of the coin where the person rehoming actually doesn't really care what happens to the horse, as long as it is no longer their responsibility they are happy:(

In 5 minutes I saw 2 colts, a 15.2 TB, a 1 yr skewbald, a 15 year old 13hh pony and there was another. Thing is most won't be your average good riding horse. Most have been on local Facebook pages or forums
 
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