What do you class as a 'rescue' horse?

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Moomin1

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There are so many posts out there about people 'rescuing' horses that I wondered what everyone out there classes this as? Some people say that they have rescued horses because they were being advertised as free to good home, others that they were rescued from the sales, or because they simply came from a rescue centre and they took them on from there. Is this really classed as rescuing if the horse's weren't in a poor condition or suffering? I only ask this because I know someone who uses the term 'rescue' with regard to her two horses, one of which she bought from Ireland and the other from which she took from a Tb Rehab centre. The first, when questioned why she 'rescued' this horse, she gave the reason that it had been mistreated as 'it was from Ireland'. When asked further what she meant she said "Well all horses are mistreated in some way or another in Ireland". The other horse was an ex racehorse from the centre and she said that she had rescued it because she had taken it from the centre, who had originally got it with cracked hooves and underweight. They had got it right and then she took it from them. She maintains she rescued it.:confused:
 
I'd class rescuing as taking the horse on from the point where it was in a bad way and needed feeding up, care, handling etc over and above what would be normal. In the case of your friend I think I would just say she'd taken on rescued horses at most. Not all horses in Ireland are ill treated, and if the other one came from the TB rehab centre then surely the work was done for her?

I help out with rescues, and these are usually underfed, in a bit of a state and in desperate need of a lot of TLC. Generally none of them are riding horses right away.

Maybe she just likes to think she's done something good for her horses so overall I guess I'd say where's the harm? :)
 
We have several that I sort of consider we 'rescued' from the sale, all were emaciated when we bought them, all had problems, either physical or mental, and all were heading for the meat man, we bid against bin end dealers for them because they stood out as being worthy of a chance. We have bought others that I don't consider as rescued as they were in good condition, had good breeding and were put through sales by breeders as part of a stud reduction. I still don't really think of our poor ones as 'proper' rescues, I consider those to be horses that are literally taken (by whatever means, seized/bought etc) from the owner having been neglected/mistreated and with no chance of this stopping unless they were taken out of the situation and away from that owner.
 
I consider my rising 2 year old filly as rescued.
She was weaned at 2 months from her mum, born practically wild on Bodmin Moor in Cornwall. Was one of a number that was rounded up and sold. A small proportion of the group were bought by a dealer from up my way, the rest were sent to the sales where they were going for £5 a piece.. 95% went to the meatman.
As you can imagine - lice, underweight, just generally in poor condition. She was one of the lucky few that didn't end up going to the meatman. However I consider myself the lucky one, as I ended up with her and she's a beautiful 20 month old filly now.
 
Our amersham horse is our rescue horse. We all know what they went through but I think anything saved from a bad place or conditions is surely a rescue horse
 
I wouldn't really consider the 2 op has mentioned as rescued, but if it makes the girl feel good about herself to go along with that then what's the harm. My mare is an ex racehorse from Ireland who came with terrible issues, she had been mishandled and probably harshly treated, but i think most of her problems came from insecurity as she is sensitive sort and being through the sales, transported over here to a dealer and then sold to someone else before I got her, was just too much for her and blew her mind. I saw her in a field and felt quite sorry for her and just knew that she was going to be mine, so I bought her, i didn't rescue her. I know plenty Irish horses who have been treated well. I think the amersham horses and the likes of spud and carrot were rescued. I think a lot of people make out they rescued their horse but in reality just bought one which wasn't in the best condition, if it makes them feel like they have done something good then fair enough.
 
I would say a rescue horse is one that has been taken from a situation where it's life and/or health were severely comprised. One of mine was underweight, unhandled, lice ridden and heading for the meat man, I rescueded him.....the other came to me underweight with very little handling, however someone else saved him from the meat man and treated his lice etc, therefore I tell people he was a rescue but I wasn't the one who rescued him.
If you Rehome a horse from a rehabilitation centre then many of them will be rescues but some may be there simply because the owner couldn't cope and whichever the case that doesn't make the rehomer the rescuer only someone who has rehomed a rescue.
 
I consider Tont rescued by his previous owner.

For the first 5 years of his life, he was kept in a 3 acre field with 17 other horses. The only food was rotten, mouldy hay and there was very limited water. He was beaten and even gelded by them without anesthetic.

Because he was so terribly malnourished, he is smaller than what he should have been, and is very mistrusting of people.

I'm making up for that now by spoiling him rotten for the rest of his life :D
 
I would consider my Kizzy my little rescue case.
She has been scored a 1 by the vet on condition, is skin and bone, riddled with lice and loaded with worms :(
She had also been roughly treated and had a headcollar stuck on her.
She is going to take time and money to get right and even then she may not be 100%
So to me she is my little rescue :)
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I say our old pony was a rescue case as she was going to the knackerman as she was unhandleable. Previous owner got her in a buy one, get one free (she was the free!) she would freak out & go ballistic if anyone went in her stable, so she was cooped up in there in the month that they owned her & tried to do stuff with her. My friend took her off their hands to save her from getting destroyed & did get her to start your trust people. Then I bought her for my 8yr old daughter who just spent time with her & created a fantastic bond.

After 3yrs she turned into a cracking pc pony! She was unbeatable at mounted games & even qualified for some bsja national classes.

She was still quirky, only my daughter could catch her & you couldn't touch her ears, she had chunks out of each one where tags had been ripped out.

She eventually went on to a smaller child & is still doing fantastic. That pony was the making of my daughter. xx
 
I went to a show last summer for rescue horses. To enter your horse you had to state which charity the horse had come from, so this show at least, considers a rescue horse to be one who has been taken in by a charity, and subsequently rehomed.

So I have a little pony who is on loan to me from a sanctuary. He was in great condition when I took him on but he is still classed as a rescue IMO as he belongs to the sanctuary, who did all the hard work.
 
This really annoys me, especially when people say their horse had been mistreated in a previous home... most of the time they mean the handler instilled manners in the horse in a different way to their methods. Some people use treats, some people use parelli (!) and some people use old fashioned methods which included biting back when being bitten, hitting a horse with a stick when it kicks out at other horses and hounds on the huntung field and chasing a nappy horse down the road with a lunge whip! This is not abuse! These are old fashioned values.

I have a pony with 'broken knees' and a dent in his forehead caused by a hammer blow! He was a travellers trotting pony before we got him. That was abuse!
 
I always say Izzy is on loan from a rescue centre but that he isn't really a 'rescue' as such. His dam was in foal with him when she was rescued in a bad way from Travellers. So Izzy was born at the rescue centre and has never been neglected or abused in any way. Although he was very overweight when I took him on.
 
I think there's a difference between getting a "rescue horse" and rescuing one yourself.

A girl on our yard has a beautiful young black 14.2. He has a health problem from having a heavy worm burden in his past. She told me yesterday he's a rescue horse. She added, "I didn't rescue him, I bought him from a rehab place. They rescued him."

I think that's the dstinction. He'll always be a rescue horse and he's left, sadly, with the scars. :( But his present owner doesn't try to take credit for the work the rehab place did. However, she will have to continue with the special care he will always need in his now safe and loving home.
 
Moomin1 said:
she gave the reason that it had been mistreated as 'it was from Ireland'. When asked further what she meant she said "Well all horses are mistreated in some way or another in Ireland".
Click to expand...

:eek::eek: That is a shockingly ignorant and prejudiced attitude.

Some of the finest horseman and women and the some of the best horses have come from Ireland.
 
I would consider my mare a rescue, I bought her as a bag of bones with a huge worm belly, no muscle and she generally had just given up on life and would just stand in the corner of her stable with a blank expression, same in the field she would just stand by the gate all day until she was brought in again. I did the work, not a rescue centre or someone before me.

This is what I would class as a rescue - someone who takes on a horse in a bad way and does the work them selves.

After 2 years of owning her, mine is now a over hyped TB who loves attention and is now my dream horse :D
 
We got our old TB Des the first time round on loan to rehab him from a previous loan home who hadn't looked after him - he was underweight with rainscald. His owner was put in touch with us through a mutual friend who knew we had lots of grass! We had him for 6 months before returning him to his owner, fat and sleek.

The year after (I think) his owner was days away from having him PTS as she couldn't find a home for him. We went to pick him up the next day. We got him as a companion for our elderly blue cross horse, who had that summer lost his old pony and donkey friend. A week after getting Des, our old blue cross horse was found dead in the field. Des was 19 when we got him, and we've had him 9 years now. He looks great atm, and if he continues that way he might be brought out of retirement this year :D

I don't know if that means we 'rescued' the same horse twice! :D
 
I would class my chap as a rescue case. I answered an ad for an 8 month old colt down in cornwall and decided to go and see it. He was unhandled, bony to the point of emanciation with a heavy worm burden. I couldn't walk away once i got there and paid there and then, with him coming home the following week. It took 18 months for him to finally weigh what he should do. The drugs and expensive food finally paid off and 16 years later he's the horse i always dreamed i would have. Don't know if i have the guts (or the money) to do it all over again though.
 
So, if you live in Ireland or Northern Ireland, and buy a horse there, are you rescuing it or does it still need rescuing?:confused:
 
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