what constitutes a 'rescue case'

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Ibblebibble

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a comment on another thread quibbling over whether a horse was rescued or not got me wondering what constitutes a rescue in your mind, if an individual pays for a horse because they feel it is in a sorry state and needs help does that not count,:confused: can only registered charities 'rescue' by taking in seized or abandoned horses?:confused:
Just interested in peoples views not trying to bash certain people or rescue places!:)
 
It amuses me when certain owners of the more novicey and fluffy nature "rescue" skinny, abused horses and feed them up and NH around them, exposing their prior traumas (omg- he's terrified of the water, he MUST have been beaten up with a hose before I had him!) when they were actually ok beforehand and end up obese...

But if the horse is genuinely in need of rescue - whether from physical abuse (not firm handling), malnutrition (of either extreme) or any other abuse - it doesn't matter to me who does it or how, with monetary exchange or otherwise, and if they wish to term it "rescue" that's fine by me...
 
This may be a generalisation but any people I know who have specifically "rescued" a horse have been quite inexperienced people. The experienced people I know who have done the same as me (take a horse out of a very negative situation) use the words "helping a horse in need". I don't think it matters whether the horse was bought or not and I think the only difference for me is if people use the term "rescue" I tend to pigeon-hole them as novicey horse people.
 
I bought my big girl (in my sig) to prevent her from being taken to the market as her owners intended, or to leave her with her owners any longer.
She had a diet of mars bars, ham sandwiches, tinned peas/carrots/potatoes and anything else passers by and well meaning but clueless passers by wanted to give her. Her feet hadnt been done for approx 2 years - estimated by my farrier - her teeth were in a bit of a state and she was grossly obese, something which I still struggle with now.
I didnt 'rescue' her as there is a chance that she would have gone to the market and been bought by someone knowledgeable, but as her behaviour was (and sometimes still is) very very bolshy, she bolts and she reacts in an agressive manner if she isnt handled correctly, the risk of her going to someone who couldnt handle her, or someone who would try to 'knock it out of her'. Or the meat man.....
 
:mad::mad:what annoys me is people who "rescue" a horse or pony from the meat man and then sell it on at the very cheap end of the market.. it MAY get a good home but these can be sold on time and time again and can end up having a worse life because some well meaning person SAVED it from being pts(which may have been the best outcome for it for a variety of reasons) by all means rescue them but KEEP THEM!!!!!! or if you dont want them make the effort to find them a good home dont just advertise ...rant over....
 
jinglejoys said:
Seems to be any horse anyone buys ;)
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lol, and i thought i was cynical!!!

Spring Feather said:
This may be a generalisation but any people I know who have specifically "rescued" a horse have been quite inexperienced people. The experienced people I know who have done the same as me (take a horse out of a very negative situation) use the words "helping a horse in need". I don't think it matters whether the horse was bought or not and I think the only difference for me is if people use the term "rescue" I tend to pigeon-hole them as novicey horse people.
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seems to be the term that people don't like rather than the act of taking in a needy horse.
 
According to the oxford dictionary the meaning of rescue is

verb (rescues, rescuing, rescued)
[with object]
save from a dangerous or difficult situation:

I have two 'rescues' they were both severely under-weight, wormy and lice ridden, their feet were over-grown and one was completely unhandled. They would probably have ended up with the meatman and some probably think that was for the best, luckily I'm not one of them and I now have two gorgeous ponies that on the recommendation of a local breeder I will be showing inhand this year. I am not a 'novice' owner, nor am I a NH fanatic, I am however the proud owner of two ponies that I am not afraid to say I 'rescued'.
 
The term is far too over used and the amount of so called 'rescues' that people talk about on HHO shows this. Nearly everyone who has bought a cheap horse from a scruffy place which is slightly ribby with a bit of a lice infestation calls it a rescue.
 
I was driving down the road with my family and saw a pony running down the side of the road, we got out of the car and realised that he was caught in barbed wire that was wrapped around his legs.
We were frantically calling round to find a vet, and asking passers by whether they knew who the pony belonged to, we eventually found to owner and asked him if he really wanted the pony, in which he said "no."
We then gave him twenty euro's and asked him if he could keep him overnight until we could get the horse box up to his house. He proceeded to tie the pony to the back of his truck and drove off with the pony trotting after it to keep up.
We went to pick him up the next day to find that he had been tied to a tree for his whole life. He still has problems going anti-clockwise around the arena as he's so used to only being able to go one way.
I would, personally, call that a rescue ^_^
 
Maybe it's not the term 'rescue' that's used too much maybe there's just more horses that are left to get to the stage where they need 'saving'? I would rather see the a ribby, lice infested horse rehomed to somewhere where it will be fed and cared for than left till it can barely stand just so it can meet the 'experts' opinions of what a 'real' rescue should look like.
 
Spiritedly said:
According to the oxford dictionary the meaning of rescue is

verb (rescues, rescuing, rescued)
[with object]
save from a dangerous or difficult situation:

I have two 'rescues' they were both severely under-weight, wormy and lice ridden, their feet were over-grown and one was completely unhandled. They would probably have ended up with the meatman and some probably think that was for the best, luckily I'm not one of them and I now have two gorgeous ponies that on the recommendation of a local breeder I will be showing inhand this year. I am not a 'novice' owner, nor am I a NH fanatic, I am however the proud owner of two ponies that I am not afraid to say I 'rescued'.
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I like... :)

I call mine a 'rescue' too... Don't really care what bar of the horse owning public's opinion that meets or not or whether it stereotypes me...

He's put on close to 100kg, and no longer has lice, an exposed spine, bleeding heels, cheeks too ulcerated to eat properly, a rear end where nearly all the hair and skin was rain rotted off, or the clinical dehydration... Advertised as a mature hack (four years old) and fully tacked up for a test ride upon our arrival... *sigh*

Mr Dragon however would probably say "we bought the nag before it keeled over and snuffed it"... :)
 
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