Equine rehoming process

Owning a rescue horses on pony can be a wonderful experience and it's extremely rewarding knowing you've made a real difference to an animal's life. 

Finding the right horse for you 

 

Our rehoming process aims to make sure horses and owners are perfectly matched.

 

 

Some of the horses looking for homes are only suitable to be kept as companions, and some are suitable for riding.

Horses may have already been ridden while in our care, others may need experienced people to bring them on.

If you're looking for your first horse, read our horse ownership page for advice on how you can get experience.

If you believe that you have the necessary skills, time and money to meet the welfare needs of horses and ponies, here's how you can find horses for adoption.

• Use our Find a horse search above on the right.
  Simply enter your postcode or town.
   
• Download our application form for horses that may not yet be advertised: Horse and pony application form (PDF 35KB)

There is an adoption fee to adopt an RSPCA horse or pony which can be anything from £150 to £1,000, depending on the type of horse and the animal's rehabilitation.

It costs us at least £5,000 to care for, rehabilitate and rehome each horse so the adoption fee is really only a small contribution towards this cost.

All our horses are microchipped, vaccinated, have undergone a worming programme and have a passport.

Viewing an RSPCA rescue horse 

If your application is successful, you will be invited either to:

• meet your chosen horse
  or
• meet a horse that may be better suited to you.

Horses cannot easily be moved about among our animal centres.

RSPCA specialist equine centres are in County Durham, Shropshire and Surrey. Our centres in Wales also have a selection of horses and ponies for rehoming.

 

So you may have to travel if you want to adopt a horse because they are never rehomed unseen.

If you are looking for a riding horse, please be honest about your riding ability.

You may need to travel to an equine centre to try the horse more than once if this is felt to be necessary to ensure that you and the horse are right for each other.

 

Home visit

Before a horse or pony can be adopted from us we always carry out a home visit.

This gives us the opportunity to assess both your expertise and your facilities and also helps us to check that you have the commitment to provide a forever home.

 

The Probation

After a successful home visit, you will need to arrange to transport your new horse or pony home.

You and your horse will be 'on probation' for six months during which time the RSPCA will keep in touch and be on hand to help with any advice you may need.  We will also visit to make sure your horse is settled in and happy, and their welfare needs are being met.

 

The Adoption

After a successful probation, the adoption is completed and the horse will be transferred permanently into your ownership.

 

Happy endings

Our staff and volunteers work tirelessly to rehabilitate and rehome the animals that come into our care; to see a rescued horse happily settled into a family home is the most rewarding experience in the world.

Through horse adoption, you'll be ensuring that we continue to have plenty of heart-warming horse and pony success stories.