Horse Adoption Programs

Since this is a somewhat eclectic website I would like to take the opportunity to make one soap box announcement here.  Many of you who are NOT horse people, but who are very highly spiritually inclined and nature loving will find yourselves no doubt browsing this page. 

If adopting a wild mustang or other "rescue" type of horse seems very altruistic and appealing to you please ask yourself the following questions.

1.  Do you enjoy the idea of having your head kicked off by a blow of about 70 miles an hour?

2. Does the thought of having permanent teeth marks embedded in your jugular vein sound appealing?

3.  Do you have fencing strong enough to contain Godzilla? 

4. Do you enjoy skiing across your backyard at the end of a lead rope at about 40 miles an hour only to land on your head and be trampled by a thousand pound animal?

5. Do you have nothing but money to spend on fencing, vet bills, horse shoeing, vaccination and worming every couple of months? 

6. Do you understand that the most common horse and rider related injuries happen to be head concussions and broken collar bones?  And that's just to name a couple.  I haven't covered broken toes from being stepped on and blown out knees or broken ribs from being kicked.

If you answered yes to all of the above then by all means please feel free to adopt a wild mustang or any other almost unmanageable animal after you've set all of your affairs in a row and put your life insurance details in order. 

The adoption programs are wonderful programs but it should be noted that these horses are being rescued for a REASON.  One, they are wild and are being rounded up by the BLM and HAVE NEVER SEEN A HUMAN IN THEIR LIVES.  Two, they are very young and are not trained.  Three, domestic rescues, were not able to be managed by other more professional people and were considered dangerous to begin with, THAT'S WHY THEY ARE BEING GIVEN AWAY.  Four, some of them are crippled and require a lot of time and money in veterinary care and may not be useable for much of anything in the recreational department. Its not a cheap expenditure. 

 So bear in mind that the adoption of these horses should only be taken on by professional horseman if possible. Some of these horses are able to be rehabilitated to do other jobs if they have been injured.  Some will simply live in pasture for the rest of their lives period the end.  Mustang adoptions have strict rules as to the facilities they are kept in and for how long and these agencies will monitor you over a period of time to ensure your taking proper care of them.  At least that is their job.   

 If you are not a professional horse handler and you are still considering doing this, please find yourself a competent trainer who is willing to help you.  YOU WILL GET HURT IF YOU DON'T !!!!  This is not Disney Land, and this is not boy meets wild horse and lives happily ever after.  So use common sense and now that I've said my piece, please enjoy browsing the following links. 

There are some ranches (not in the United States) which specialize in the production of Premarin hormones from pregnant mare's urine.  This means that mares are constantly bred in order to be KEPT PREGNANT so they can produce the hormones.  These hormones are used in women's birth control medication. 

The mares are the only significant livestock which is productive to the monetary income of these businesses, and the majority of foals are often destined for slaughter.  The ranches make whatever amount of money per pound on them they can for killer prices. 

Now there are several organizations facilitating the adoption of expendable foals and some of the mares.  Some of the ranches are now cooperating with these organizations and making sure that the mares and foals are treated humanely while still maintaining their hormone production programs.  Some farms here in America have made arrangements for many of these babies to be imported and put up for adoption.  Many of the horses are very well bred and after being adopted go on to live very happy lives.  Some show promising talent for different competitive sports in the horse industry and become part of regular training barn programs with owners who love them. 

Many are warm blood, draft horse crosses, some thoroughbreds and some paint quarter horse types get put in the mix as well.  

Here are a couple of  links, but you can certainly surf the web for other organizations.  There are many. As soon as I can find some resources for the Northern California Bay Area I will post them. 

PMU Rescue Information.

www.wildhorserescue.org (Bakersfield, California)

PLEASE CHECK BACK, MORE INFORMATION COMING SOON.