Donating a Horse
Is my horse a candidate for adoption?
The answer to this question can sometimes be a tough call. It all depends on the horse. Some of the questions that each donor should ask themselves are:
1. Is my horse adoptable? (age, training and health)
2. Is taking my horse to an adoption program facility the smart, safe and/or right thing to do?
3. Is my horse going to be a major burden on an adoption program that already might have a lot of horses to care for and incur the costs of proper care for all the horses at their facility?
Stallions: Most horse adoption programs have to make special plans for stallions for obvious reasons. If you wish to donate a stallion, your options and places to take that horse go up tremendously if you have that horse gelded first.
Elderly horses: Programs like MHWF get constant requests to take in horses well into their 20's and older. While most adoption programs love older horses, the sad reality is that adoption programs can only take on so many of these aged horses and still give them the attention, feed and vet care they need. We find that many people think that adoption programs have huge lists of people who simply want an older horse to keep as a pet in their pasture. In reality, older horses are almost impossible to find good, healthy homes for and most elderly horses live out the remainder of their lives at the adoption facility, taking up a great deal of time and resources. Please keep in mind that when you are looking for a place to take your aged horse to, that good adoption programs want to help everyone, but in order to take proper care of the horses already at their facility and be able to pay for that care, most have to set a limit on how many they can handle and properly care for at any given time.
Blind horses: For the most part, once a horse goes blind, it should not be taken out of its familiar surroundings. Moving a blind horse to a new pasture, with new herd mates is terribly stressful on the horse and is often very dangerous since they will not know the pasture boundaries, herd mates or where shelters and water is at a new facility. Sadly, once a blind horse is moved, it has to be kept in a small paddock with post and rail fencing or a stall for the rest of its life. If you absolutely cannot keep your blind horse, in many cases, the most humane thing to do it to put it down, unless you can find the perfect situation in a new home, but that can be very hard to do.
Untrained horses: An untrained horse is a huge project for one person, not to mention an adoption program that is often dealing with many horses, appointments, chores, paperwork, fundraising, vet, farrier, etc. While most programs do not mind taking on an untrained horse now and then, the reality of it is that very few people are willing to adopt a horse that is not trained. When an adoption program takes in an untrained horse, it does so with the knowledge that they will have to put in the hours to train the horse or the money to have it trained. Programs that have been around a while know that an untrained horse is very difficult to find a home for and it takes a special kind of person to take on an untrained horse and have it end up successful.
Major health problems: Adoption programs do their best to help as many special needs horses as possible, but once again, these horses also take time, money and resources and reputable horse adoption programs know their limits and keep to those limits when considering horses with special needs. Do not be upset when an adoption program cannot take in your special needs horse. It is not that they simply do not want to help, it is that they are being responsible and know what they can and cannot handle without jeopardizing the health and well-being of the other horses at their facility. A program that takes on more than they can handle is not helping the people or the horses they are supposed to be helping.
What to do?
There is an easy safe way to make sure that your horse finds a good home and won't go to the auction sales floor, or worse. You can donate your horse to the Midwest Horse Welfare Foundation.
What does MHWF do?
We are dedicated to finding a life long home for your beloved friend. Each potential adopter is required to fill out our application, which we then process to make sure the adopter is qualified to care for the horse and that their facility is a safe environment. Once adopted, MHWF retains ownership of the horse for a period of no less than 5 years, making certain that your donated horse is well cared for.
We will ensure to the best of our ability that your horse will be loved and cared for, for the rest of it's natural life.
By keeping legal ownership of adopted horses for the first five years, MHWF has the ability to enforce polices on required care and has the ability to remove a horse if needed. This is something we take very seriously.
How is my donated horse going to be protected?
Each spring, every adopter is required to send in a spring Health Report form which is filled out and signed by the adopter's veterinarian. This form states which vaccinations the horse has been given, dates of trimming, worming and dental work and also states the overall health and condition of the animal. MHWF does not turn over ownership of any horse until that horse has been in an adopter's care for a period of at least five years. If at the end of that five year period, the adopter has sent in all the necessary paperwork and the horse is being well cared for, we will then turn over ownership of the horse.
Besides the adoption contract and the adoption day photos, once an adoption takes place, the donor is contacted to let them know who adopted the horse and is given the adopter's phone number. The adopter is also given the donor's name a number and both parties can stay in contact if they wish.
If we have already accepted your horse into our program please follow the link below:
How to donate?
MHWF gets a lot of phone calls from people hoping to donate their horses. To make the best use of time for both parties we have put together a list of questions about your horse to help us with the process of donating your horse.
If you are considering donating your horse to MHWF, please take a few minutes to give us some information on your horse by filling out and emailing the answers to the questions we have prepared for you.
The questions below should be copy/pasted into an email and sent to: scott@equineadoption.com
Midwest Horse Welfare Foundation
Intake information
Your name:
Address:
City:
State:
Home Phone:
Cell Phone:
Email:
Premise ID (If you have one):
Name of the horse you wish to donate:
Age of horse:
Sex:
Breed:
How long have you owned this horse:
Reason for wanting to donate your horse:
Is your horse broke to ride:
Is your horse broke to harness:
How long since it has been ridden or driven:
What kind of rider best fits your horse's training:
What have you used this horse for:
Does your horse have any health or soundness issues:
Current diet:
Supplements:
Special trimming or shoeing instructions:
Is this horse registered:
Vaccinations given this year (please list):
Do you have a current calendar year Coggins (required):
Date of last hoof trimming:
Date of last de-worming:
Weight (check one): Obese: Ideal weight: Under weight: Very Thin:Height of horse:
Thank you!
Our Mission
The Midwest Horse Welfare Foundation is dedicated to providing qualified homes for any horse in need. It is our goal to make certain that every horse placed in our care is provided with all the necessary ingredients for a safe and happy life, and that it is also protected from those who would do it harm.
Each
horse placed in our care will receive our full efforts to ensure that it never
ends up in the auction ring or on the slaughterhouse floor. We promise to do our
best to provide only the best homes with dedicated families for every animal we
place.
