Horse rescue

I have 100% decided that when I get permission to get a second horse (hopefully in the next month or two) that I WILL be rescuing. There is a lady who lives about an hour and a half from me who goes to the feedlot every week, takes pictures of several horses, gets as much info as she can on them, has the kill buyer ride them and give an honest statement as to how they ride, and then posts them on her Facebook page stating their info, pictures, how much it costs to take them off the feedlot and the deadline you have to save them before they're sent Mexico. I've talked with her a couple times, and once I'm ready I'll be rescuing a horse through her. I'm making this thread becuase I want to hear some rescue stories (good and bad), see pictures of rescue horses, and maybe get some advice/info!

We bought a horse from auction many years ago (before we knew much of anything about horses). He was a good looking paint, rode quiet through the ring, and seemed quite docile. My dad bought him and brought him home. My brother and I were kids at the time and I was maybe about 13 or so. He was a dream under the saddle, but within a week he went from a well behaved horse with nice ground manners to the devil himself. He was sold as a gelding, looked like a gelding, but tried mounting my mare several times. Looking back now, I'm fairly positive he was a cryptorchid and I think he was drugged for the auction. The changes were just too much, too fast! However, he was still great under saddle, but was too dangerous to be around. My dad brought him back to the auction a few weeks later and lost almost half his money on him, but we just wanted him gone.

I will say that most of the "rescues" we've taken in have been green under saddle or lame. I think now I have more experience (especially after three years of vet school under my belt!) and I would be able to pick up even more subtle lameness than I could previously, but at my house we only keep horses we can ride (or that we've had for riding and have gotten too old to ride). My advice would still be to take someone knowledgable with you if you want a rideable horse. Even though these people are rescuing (and doing a great thing) they still want to find homes and I've found some can still pressure potential adopters one way or the other! If your goal is just to get any horse and give it a home (and you don't mind potentially shelling out some cash for vet bills and grocery rehabilitation) then your choices can be more varied.

Well the good thing about these ones is they've already been through the auction and are just sitting in the feedlot waiting to be shipped, so I know they won't be drugged. She has the kill buyer ride them and she will say up front if they have any lameness, what level rider they're suitable for, and any bad habits they noticed, etc. which is nice. And she's not buying them and rehoming them, she's just posting pictures/videos and info of them, you're actually buying the horse from the kill buyer, so there's no owners lying or pressuring you. Obviously you can't get much info on them but from what I've seen so far all the info you do get is honest. I've followed her page for a while and there's no telling how many she's helped save. I would prefer a broke horse, but it's not a must, most importantly I want a companion for the horse I already have.