Because a bad outfit has the horse, doesn't mean it's a bad horse. I've bought from some pretty bad places. Even if I knew the place was bad, I would still look at horses there. I would have a vet go over the horse, that's all.
I have no problem with a 'rescue' charging a reasonable price for the horses they get and rehome. A fee weeds out the less able owners, and makes the getting of the horse more seriously thought through.
I have no problem with anyone who gets horses off of slaughter auctions, feeds them, vets them, shoes them, puts some training into them, evaluates what kind of owner they should go to, and sells them for more than they bought them for. How else are they going to keep their barn in repair, buy bedding, buy hay, pay the farrier? You can't keep the lights on for long if you spend a lot of money and don't get anything back.
I have no problem with any group that gets slaughter horses, and then finds some of them are going to have to go back to the slaughter type auction anyway.
There's a lot of places calling themselves 'rescues', but I think it's pretty much impossible for any organization, to never charge more for a horse they place than they got it for, or to never send a horse back down the hill.
I don't know what all the details of the rules are for getting that special status from the government, but I'm going to bet that it doesn't involve never selling a horse for more than you got it for or never sending a horse back down the hill. I'll bet there's some restrictions, but no one would ever be able to keep doing something unless they made some money at it. One does have to keep the lights on and the truck with gas.
That said, I took a few more careful looks at the rescue in question in light of fugly's complaints. I STILL see horses that are in good flesh and appear to have decent descriptions. I don't think Joe or some of the other horses have had their feet trimmed in a while.
Some rescues are 'reprieve dealers'. What I mean is, they pick up cheap horses at kill auctions. They don't do much with the horses - no real indepth training, they keep them for a few months (hopefully less) and try to get them sold, hopefully for a little more than what they got them for (or again, can't pay the light bill). Some of the horses are going to turn out to be hopeless, and may have to go back to slaughter. There won't be any guarantees for what will happen. Some horses are going to be too crazy, or too nervous, or just too untrained. Others will have lameness that makes them unsellable. Some might get put down on the property.
I don't have a problem with a place calling themselves a 'rescue' when they're really a bottom-of-the-bucket dealer. Why? Because that's what just about everyone calls themselves these days, so I'd have to have a problem with everyone. Fact is, 'rescue' is in the eye of the beholder and it means whatever the speaker wants it to mean, from bought-a-horse-in-bad-shape-and-kept-it to bought-a-horse-in-bad-shape-and-sold-it. And yes, it used to be called, 'being a horse dealer'.
There are no 'nice' endings for a lot of lame, untrained or dangerous horses, never has been. The best thing anyone can ever do, is keep their fences fixed up, take good care of the horse, get regular vet care and shoeing, get educated, get riding lessons and/or training instead of just leaving the horse there doing nothing.
And if there's a problem instead of being greedy or a coward, put them down on their own property, instead of trying to get a few more dollars out of them.
