Imagine finding the horse of your dreams online, only to discover that he was thousands of miles away. While that may not be an unusual traditional horse shopping experience, for a potential adoptive family, it can seem like an insurmountable obstacle. The good news is that doesn’t need to be the case.

Geographic Barrier

No story about long-distance horse adoption would be complete without at least mentioning sisters Ava and Ilana of West Virginia. Ilana, 12, had already adopted a local horse, but Ava, 11, while reading an article titled “Reimagining Racers” in the March 2023 issue of Horse Illustrated, wanted to adopt a second one.

The story led her to the myrighthorse.org website, the ASPCA’s online adoption platform for equines, where she discovered Little Man, the horse she wanted to call her own.

The catch? He was located more than 1,000 miles away at the ASPCA Equine Transition and Adoption Center (ETAC) near Oklahoma City, Okla. Undeterred, Ava worked together with her family to facilitate the long-distance adoption and bring her new horse home.

Little Man was located at the ASPCA’s ETAC in Oklahoma, but needed to get to West Virginia. Photo courtesy ASPCA

Raising Awareness

While the tenacity of youth can almost always be counted on to overcome obstacles, long-distance horse adoption can also be easy for the rest of us.

Libby Hanon, equine adoption and marketing specialist with the ASPCA, has some great advice to anyone in this situation. One of the first barriers she faces in placing horses in long-distance adoptable homes is awareness.

“We strive to make people aware that there are adoptable horses nationwide,” she says. “The ASPCA has tried to eliminate that barrier via myrighthorse.org. It’s a powerful tool that brings awareness to adoptable horses. It showcases adoptable horses from 40-plus ASPCA Right Horse Partners.”

She says that these partners are the best of the best, putting horses through a comprehensive intake process, including veterinary and training evaluations, so that they can provide the information that potential adopters seek when searching the website.

Not Sight Unseen

Another potential long-distance barrier for horse adoption is that, for a variety of reasons, the prospective adopter may not be able to physically see the horse before they decide to adopt him. Here again, the ASPCA and Right Horse Adoption Partners work to reduce or eliminate the barrier.

“We pride ourselves on transparency,” says Hanon. “We do everything possible to make the adopter feel as if they are having that in-person experience.”

She says that her organization works with potential adopters through Zoom, FaceTime, or videos to facilitate a similar experience. Using technology, adopters can see the horse being caught in the pasture, groomed, ridden, loaded onto a trailer, and more.

Through Zoom or FaceTime, interested adopters can see horses being caught, groomed, ridden, loaded onto a trailer, and more. Photo courtesy ASPCA

Horse Adoption Express

Getting the horse to his adoptive home thousands of miles away may, at first, seem like a major complication. This is where the ASPCA’s Horse Adoption Express (HAE) program comes in.

“The HAE was instituted because we saw a need on different levels,” says Hanon. “One of those needs was to transport horses between Adoption Partners. Different breeds can have their popularity regionally.”

The ASPCA’s Horse Adoption Express now makes it easier to get adoptable horses to new homes. Photo courtesy ASPCA

She describes HAE as a network of followers and transporters that can get horses to other Partners, where they can be adopted more easily.

Another aspect of HAE is to get horses to adopters more simply and economically.

“Getting a horse to an adopter is another way we are lowering those barriers to long-distance adoptions with the HAE program,” says Hanon.

The HAE transport-to-adopter stipend program is offered at any distance to companion or non-riding horses, and if ridable horses are located 250 miles or more away from their adopter, then they are also eligible for a stipend equal to half the cost of transport up to $500. Hanon says that on myrighthorse.org, around 70 percent of the inquiries and adoptions are happening long-distance.

That figure is echoed at the ASPCA, where 75 percent of the adoptions from ETAC in 2023 were long-distance.

Safety Net

Whether you buy or adopt a horse, sometimes things just don’t work out. One of the many positive aspects of horse adoption through an ASPCA Right Horse Partner is that no matter the distance, there are Partners nationwide that provide a safety net and will take these horses back.

Hanon says that successfully placing horses into adoptable homes is her passion.

“My mindset is that every inquiry I get, whether it be local or long-distance, is an opportunity to bring that person into our adoption family,” she says. “We make this doable. We make it fun.”

She explains that she wants adopters and potential adopters alike to feel like a community. The ASPCA encourages potential adopters to visit myrighthorse.org and inquire about their Right Horse with confidence, no matter the distance.

This article about ASPCA Right Horse’s solution to long-distance horse adoption appeared in the August 2024 issue of Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!

The post Solutions for Long-Distance Horse Adoption appeared first on Horse Illustrated Magazine.

Photo courtesy ASPCA

Matching the right horse with the right person is the ongoing task of equine rehoming groups across the country, and many are discovering that location is a factor. The good news is that adoptable horses can now find a ride to their new homes with the Horse Adoption Express, an innovative new transport program from the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA).

The program works with its Right Horse adoption partners to move horses between facilities so that they have a better chance to connect with the right person as soon as possible. It grew out of collaborative efforts with Right Horse adoption partners across the country, launching in March 2021.

“One of the things we found is that there are people [interested in providing a home] for these horses, but they aren’t always necessarily where the horses are,” says Emily Weiss, Ph.D., vice president of ASPCA Equine Welfare. “If we can just get that horse to the right location, we can get him home.”

Supply & Demand

Transport has become an established practice for dog and cat shelters, helping to save more pets by moving them to locations with fewer animals and more available homes. For horses, Weiss explains that it’s less about numbers and more about supply and demand for a particular type of horse.

Stories from the ASPCA Horse Adoption Express are proving the case already. One successful relocation effort involved a group of Thoroughbreds in Florida suffering from anhidrosis, a decreased ability to sweat and cool off properly. Safely managing this condition in Florida’s hot, humid climate was a challenge.

Fortunately, there were Right Horse adoption partners in the cooler climate of Michigan with wait lists for Thoroughbreds. The ASPCA Horse Adoption Express took a load of these horses up there, where they were quickly snapped up by adopters.

“Stories like that help us solidify that there are homes for these horses, and when we’re seeing them sit for longer periods of time, [it’s] simply because their particular adopter isn’t right there in that area,” says Weiss.

So far, 180 horses have been transported between Right Horse adoption partners or trainers in the program’s first year. A total of 95 were adopted by the end of 2021. Weiss reports that they now have a constant flow of horses moving through the program, with Right Horse partners collaborating to figure out which horses might be a fit for their organization or someone else’s.

An Existing Network

While shipping horses all over the country sounds more complicated than transporting small animals, getting the equine program established had a built-in advantage because there are already horses moving all over the country via professional haulers. By tapping into this existing equine transportation industry, the ASPCA was able to get the Horse Adoption Express on the road relatively quickly.

“We were able to engage transport of the big companies that are moving horses, such as Brook Ledge and Equine Express, as well as some of the very reputable and responsible smaller haulers to help us to be pretty nimble, and we’re still working on becoming even more so,” says Weiss.

Transport for Training

The ASPCA Horse Adoption Express also helps transfer horses to trainers and programs where they can receive any training or physical rehabilitation needed to make them more adoptable.

“Sometimes [a horse’s] right trainer or right opportunity for a smooth transition isn’t in his backyard, so getting him to the right place and finding that match can make a big difference,” says Weiss. “Engaging those trainers has been really powerful.”

Putting professional training on adoptable horses or pairing them with locations that want a certain type of horse, like off-track Thoroughbreds, has been the goal of the Adoption Express. Photo courtesy ASPCA

Daisy Petrey of Petrey Horsemanship in Texas is one trainer who has been a frequent stop for the Horse Adoption Express. Trainers like Petrey are often able to network with their contacts to facilitate a successful adoption.

“With just a little bit of training and a sensitive eye to the needs of that particular horse, the horses found their homes much more quickly than they would have otherwise,” shares Weiss.

Such was the case with Miakoda, a horse that had been at Kentucky Equine Adoption Center (KyEAC), a Right Horse adoption partner, for some time but had yet to find his perfect match. The team at KyEAC reached out to the community of Right Horse partners, and he was transported through the ASPCA Horse Adoption Express to Petrey Horsemanship, where he quickly advanced as a riding horse.

Petrey worked with him and matched him with a teenage girl, who has also stayed on with her as a working student. After adopting Miakoda, the teen now has an ambition to open her own non-profit organization to rehome and adopt out non-riding horses!

“Sometimes location is everything, and it makes perfect sense if a rescue does not have the resources to train and adopt one, or simply has too many, to help get these horses to places where they can get what they need quicker,” says Petrey.

Transportation benefits adoption programs on both sides of the process. “Because of the Horse Adoption Express, we were able to find the perfect situation for Miakoda,” says Kelli Sorg, KyEAC development director,. “It would have been beyond our reach to know about Daisy and the perfect home for Miakoda without it!”

Miakoda traveled from Kentucky to find the right home in Texas with Kristina (center) thanks to training and support from Petrey Horsemanship. Photo by Lindsey Arnold/Cricket Photography

Safe Landings

In addition to supporting the ASPCA’s mission to massively increase horse adoption, Weiss sees the ASPCA Horse Adoption Express also becoming a vehicle to help ensure safe transitions for all equines in need.

For owners who can no longer care for their horse, the Horse Adoption Express could help provide transport to a Right Horse adoption partner so he can be transitioned into a new home.

“We are actively supporting our partners in moving toward open admission and making sure we’re supporting the horses before they get at further risk,” says Weiss.

This article about the ASPCA Horse Adoption Express appeared in the April 2022 issue of Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!

The post The ASPCA Horse Adoption Express appeared first on Horse Illustrated Magazine.