Why do people lie about having rescue horses ?

People lie about themselves all the time on social media and posts about horses are no different. It’s like those lifestyle influencers with the perfect houses with not a spoon out of place. You just know that, outside of the camera shot, they have rooms where they’ve stuffed all of their crap.
 
Yokosmom said:
People lie about themselves all the time on social media and posts about horses are no different. It’s like those lifestyle influencers with the perfect houses with not a spoon out of place. You just know that, outside of the camera shot, they have rooms where they’ve stuffed all of their crap.
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Or they're standing in a warehouse in front of a display kitchen/an image on their TV...
 
Probably because being seen to rescue an animal is virtuous and attracts admiration from those who see the thread. And implies a level of knowledge and credibility. Both these benefits then improves the poster’s social standing in their online community. It’s the same as people pretending to have medical knowledge or ‘healers / wellness gurus’ and, as you say, ‘lifestyle influencers’.

These days, you don’t need to have actually achieved or delivered anything, as long as you have a keyboard and a wifi connection.
 
Because getting likes/reacts/comments on the internet triggers the same dopamine response in the addiction centre of brain as cocaine, or other psychologically stimulating drug (or sugar for that matter).

therefore people (the general “people”), will post exaggerated stories in order to get the likes/reacts; the more ‘woe is me’ and ‘aren’t I an unsung hero’ it is the more likely they will get a react, triggering that warm and fuzzy feeling...
 
I always wonder what they 'rescue' horses from. In the UK, cases of cruelty and neglect are vanishingly rare. The British public really are animal lovers - and adopt abandoned/unwanted animals readily. I'm sure that our default setting to a horse not being fed/watered/looked after for whatever reason is just to step right in there.

So, to conclude my rant, anyone who says they have 'rescued' an animal needs doused in semolina. :D
 
rabatsa said:
Hmm. I purchased Donkey but looking at the pictures he was a rescue case. If he had remained with the dodgy dealer he would be dead now. My wallet is about £3,000 lighter and he still will need remedial farriery for several months yet.
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He may have been in a bad state but you still didn't rescue him, you purchased him. I understand how difficult it is when your heart strings are pulled, but the likelihood is that dealer will think "that works well, better starve x too so someone will buy him despite his dodgy feet".
 
Shilasdair said:
I always wonder what they 'rescue' horses from. In the UK, cases of cruelty and neglect are vanishingly rare. The British public really are animal lovers - and adopt abandoned/unwanted animals readily. I'm sure that our default setting to a horse not being fed/watered/looked after for whatever reason is just to step right in there.

So, to conclude my rant, anyone who says they have 'rescued' an animal needs doused in semolina. :D
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If you think incidences of cruelty in UK are rare you clearly havent been around the low class fairs and sales - or seen foals and yearlings being whipped into a flat out trot in a sulky with an overweight driver, or cobs and trotters tethered in the sun with no shade or water, and the coloured hairy cobs in fields in winter with no food and dead ones left for days ..... there are some desperate cruel people in UK.
 
rabatsa said:
Hmm. I purchased Donkey but looking at the pictures he was a rescue case. If he had remained with the dodgy dealer he would be dead now. My wallet is about £3,000 lighter and he still will need remedial farriery for several months yet.View attachment 69500
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The difference to me is that you say you bought him unseen, not rescued him, and then he arrived in rescue case condition.

Some could argue about that ideally you should have demanded money back, possibly sending him back, etc. But either way, you didn't say you rescued him in your reply.
 
rabatsa said:
Hmm. I purchased Donkey but looking at the pictures he was a rescue case. If he had remained with the dodgy dealer he would be dead now. My wallet is about £3,000 lighter and he still will need remedial farriery for several months yet.View attachment 69500
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Did you pay 3I for him or us that what you have spent on him.
He is a lucky chappie though. So well done on your purchase/rescue x
 
I think I saw this video/profile and wondered if it really was a 'rescue'. There were maybe more ribs visible/in poor condition but certainly not skin and bone. I guess the rescue thing gets kind of romanticised and you get extra likes or whatever on social media. Bit unnecessary as I'm sure it would be nice to see the horse's journey anyway without needing to add the dramatics!
 
Gingerwitch said:
Do people do this really ?
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One day I will find a picture of an obese cob and pretend to have rescued it I am sick of horses that are maybe a few kilos underweight being bought and classed as rescues they are not they are usually just healthy horses. The other is the BOGOF scenario where some one goes to buy a mare picks it out from a field full of mares, colts and stallions and is then surprised their new purchase is pregnant. Especially 2 and 3 year olds
 
Gingerwitch said:
Did you pay 3I for him or us that what you have spent on him.
He is a lucky chappie though. So well done on your purchase/rescue x
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Who would pay £3,000 for an unbroken three year old donkey? This is the amount I have spent on him. He had four vet callouts in the first four weeks after arriving, then went to horspital for gelding, a dental and foot x-rays and is wearing the best hand made wide web footware. He also has a shiny new passport that matches his microchip.
 
rabatsa said:
Who would pay £3,000 for an unbroken three year old donkey? This is the amount I have spent on him. He had four vet callouts in the first four weeks after arriving, then went to horspital for gelding, a dental and foot x-rays and is wearing the best hand made wide web footware. He also has a shiny new passport that matches his microchip.
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I dont know, but i know of someone who has just paid 6k for a puppy a bull terrier as he is blue with blue eyes ?
 
It’s even worse when the ’rescue’ needs rescuing from the ‘rescuer’. The number of totally unsuitable horses being ’rescued’ (ie bought from dodgy dealers or someone unscrupulous with a sob story) by well-meaning novice owners who turn out to have a multitude of physical and behavioural issues... We’ve had a few on our yard: lovely little cob that was terrified of her own shadow ’rescued’ by a family with two kids who just wanted to do pony club stuff, ex racer clearly lame in all four legs ‘rescued’ by someone far to heavy for him, another cob that became monstrously obese because the ‘rescuers’ felt sorry for him and because he was extremely badly broken so practically impossible to ride and who just ended up stuffing his face in his field and stable day in and day out and, finally, the ‘rescue’ from a home that ‘didn’t understand him’ who ended up hospitalising his ‘rescuer’ following an explosive bucking episode. Clearly the only thing neither his previous, nor ‘rescue’ home understood about the poor horse was his undiagnosed kissing spine...
 
This drives me nuts too. There is apparently a concept that you have some ridiculous social media bragging rights if you can add #rescue to your post. Or worse #adoptdontbuy.

As if adopting for a “rehoming fee”from some dodgy pseudo-rescue / borderline dealer makes you in any way more responsible than buying a well-priced, quality animal from a responsible breeder or owner.

And don’t even get me started on dogs. I am absolutely convinced that the “#rescue” ignorami are single-handedly responsible for the rise in dog thefts across the country. Suddenly, it seems to be totally socially acceptable to acquire an animal from a completely random source as long as that source happens to refer to themselves as a “rescue” and can sell you a sad story that can be posted on Facebook with lots of ??? emojis.
 
There was a lass at my last livery yard who turned up with a perfectly nice, if a little old and remedial, horse insisting she had rescued him. His previous owners just didn't give him any love or understand him apparently... she proceeded to turn the poor creature into an actual rescue case with persistent neglect. Eventually she agreed to transfer ownership to another livery and disappeared. She took a lot of pictures of the horse's pretty face while she wasn't feeding it, watering it or mucking it out though...
 
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