The Process

See a horse or other Equine you'd like to adopt?

First you will fill out an adoption application. We require references and we want to know about the place where you will be keeping your newest family member.

**Deposits are refundable if your application is denied. Your deposit amount will be applied to the adoption fee once you are approved.**

Your application will be processed, and your references checked. Your facilities will be inspected by our Site Inspectors to see that the standards sufficiently meet state law requirements.

We want to see good, solid fences that are not easily escapable, shelter (trees and/or loafing sheds are acceptable if the horse will be pastured), reasonably clean water troughs capable of holding enough water for at least two days, and a system in place that will guarantee that no horse/Equine ever has to fight for it's ration of feed. Two horses sharing the same feed bin is unacceptable.
Feed is to be stored away from the weather and safely secured from break in by the horse(s) / Equine. We want to see what kind of hay you feed.
We want to see all of your other animals, be they Equine or not. Safety is also a factor. If your facilities are not satisfactory, you will be told so at the time of the inspection and given sufficient time (usually one week) to fix or repair the problem(s).

Delivery:

A convenient delivery time and date will be arranged. A delivery fee will be charged, however the Equine may be picked up by the adopter from the foster facility at no charge.
The adoption fee must be paid in full prior to the adopter taking possession of the Equine. You will be mailed a copy of the contract unless you have a scanner/copier and can print yourself a copy on the spot. You will receive a copy of records pertinent to your new animal's medical history and behavioral history. Registration papers will be held by USESR until the adoption is final as breeding during the adoption period of two to three years is not allowed.

The Contract:

The contract states that the Equine may not be moved for any reason without written approval from USESR prior to it's being moved. If you move, we will want to see photographs of your new facility. We reserve the right to perform a site inspection on your new facility. We do not seek to remove the horse for any reason, we simply owe it to the horses to monitor them in a reasonable manner. We also acknowledge that we are only human and may, at some point in time, approve someone who never should have been approved. We know that there are a very few people out there who would adopt a horse and send it to slaughter. We do our best to see to it that this does not happen.

Breeding:

Breeding is strictly not allowed until the adoption is final. Once the adoption is final, breeding is acceptable, however any offspring automatically become part of the original adoption contract, subject to the same terms and conditions. Offspring may not be sold or given away except under the same conditions stated in the contract. We do not believe in breeding rescued horses under normal circumstances, however, we do understand that sometimes people just want to enjoy the thrill of a new foal and would be willing to keep that foal for life and that sometimes a horse comes along that is so special the owners sincerely want a "baby" to remember him or her by after he/she is gone. We believe everyone has the basic "right" to breed and we do try to respect everyone's rights and desires, up to a point.

Transfer of Ownership:

Adopted Equine are forever jointly owned by USESR and the adopter. Original copies of the registration papers will be kept on file by us and the adopter will be given a copy. In the event the originals are needed, they can be "borrowed" from us temporarily. The reason we do this is to ensure that our " No Sell " policy is enforced. Also, sometimes an owner passes away and his/her heirs are left with a horse that they are not prepared to care for and the animal subsequently is sent to auction. We do not want this to ever happen.
Our " No Sell " policy is just that - the Equine may never be sold. It may be given away, though, or exchanged for another rescued horse (circumstances will vary) for any reason. The stipulations for giving the Equine away are as follows:
The animal may be given away to a close friend or family member only. The person the animal is given to must fill out an adoption application with USESR, be subject to the same site inspection as the original adopter and sign an adoption contract. There will be no additional adoption fee required. If a mare or a stallion produces offspring while in the care of the original adopter, that mare or stallion must be given away with the offspring if the intention is to give the offspring away.
Breeding one of our adopted horses to another one of our adopted horses is strictly forbidden and will be cause for removal from the adoptive home.
We do this because if we didn't, we would have a difficult time enforcing the above policy. The Equine may be re-donated back to the rescue at any point in time for any reason except a positive coggins exam.
We have no facilities for EIA positive horses and we regret that we cannot accept them into our foster homes at this time.

Adoption Fees:

Adoption fees are based on a percentage of the animal's market value. They are not intended to be equal to or greater than fair market value. Adoption fees are not commiserate with costs associated with rehabilitation and care during their stay with USESR.
There is a Filing Fee of $25.00, which is waived for members in good standing of USESR(H.O.R.S.E.S. in Texas ). Filing fees are non-refundable and are due at the time the adoption fee is paid and should be paid in the same form of payment as the adoption fee itself.

Guarantee/Exchange/Return:

USESR tries to ensure the best match for equine and adopter, but sometimes things just do not work out. Life situations change, family situations change, interests change.... everything is subject to change. Our guarantee to you is that the equine you adopt from USESR will be in the physical condition which USESR informed you of at the time of the adoption, for at least one month. A horse adopted out as "kid gentle/broke to ride" will be just that. We won't mislead you one iota.
Should an adopter find him/herself unable to care for an adopted equine, he/she may exercise several options according to the terms of the adoption contract.

Adopter may...
Give the equine away.
Recipients of the 'gift' must pass a Site Inspection performed by a qualified USESR volunteer showing no conflict of interest, and submit an Adoption Application and Adoption Contract. A $30.00 processing fee must be paid by either the original adopter or the new adopter before the new adopter accepts physical custody of the equine. If both adopters are current members of USESR, the processing fee is discounted by 50%. No new adoption fee is due by either adopter, at any time, nor is there an additional $25.00 processing fee, as there is in an original adoption.

There are no credits, refunds, or exchanges! We do not receive government grants, nor do we operate on grant money. Our volunteers work to raise every dime that comes into the rescue, by doing fundraising or by rehabilitating horses so that they can be adopted out. Adoption fees bring in income to the organization which helps to feed, vet, and care for horses still under our direct care. Any refund would come out of that money. That is why we have the Foster-To-Adopt program. A good and permanent match prior to any contracts being signed is the most efficient way to run the organization, so that all the horses and all of the adopters are treated fairly and given the same opportunity for a happy ending.
As is the case with all rescue organizations everywhere, we only have room for just so many. We strive to stay as close to that number at all times, because a lot of extra space in a rescue means that the rescue isn’t helping as many horses as it can. As is the case with all other rescues, sometimes we are just a bit over our comfortable capacity. Either way, when a horse is adopted out and then returned, it places an increased burden on the rescue. It is a burden because those whose responsibility is was to ensure a good match, have not held up to that responsibility. Those persons are us and the adopter.
We don’t want ‘us’ to be responsible for not making a good match. And, although we can’t guarantee that every adoptive home we place horses in is going to be as good as it first appears, we go as far as we possibly can to ensure that an inadequate match never takes place. But, we are only one half of the equation.
We know we are doing all we can to ensure a proper match, and that the problem we run into the most is that a few adopters overestimate their ability to handle a horse or to provide a permanent home for the horse, etc. Here are a few true examples of people who had to return horses they adopted from USESR:

** 1 horse adopted, returned 3 years later because duties of caring for two small children, caring for 4 breeding mares, attending to the needs of a husband, and being a good housewife. Adopter cited the need to downsize the herd due to needing more time for other things. No harm done. These things happen. But, nothing changed for the adopter between the time she adopted the horse and the time she turned it back. She had the same husband, same children, same original horses. What this adopter failed to consider was that she did not have the support of her family.

**3 horses adopted, 1 horse returned after 4 years. Adopter used adopted horses in a fledgling family horse business. After a few months, the couple divorced. The adopter could not afford to run the business alone. A downsize was needed, so the horse that had the psychological issue was returned to the rescue.

**2 horses adopted, 1 horse returned (this happened twice). Adopters thought they could care for a horse that required a special diet. Adopter was either unable to be around to feed twice a day (often enough for the horse to maintain good body weight), or the adopter did not research how to care for senior horses and thus could not understand why the horse did not gain weight. In frustration (because these adopters really do all care about the horses), the horses were returned to the rescue.

**1 horse adopted out, 1 horse returned. Adopter was aware he was adopting a horse with special dietary needs. Rescue continued to advise regarding diet. Adopter chose to take advice of someone who thought they knew more than they knew. Horse’s health began having more bouts of illness connected with diet. Adopter continued to ignore rescue until frustration level overwhelmed him and he returned the horse. The horse was given the proper diet and bouts of illness ceased immediately. Weight was always good.

**3 horses adopted out, 3 horses returned. In this case, 2 different adopters, 3 total horses, 4 years apart. Adopters thought they had the time and patience to work with un-handled horses. They were wrong. Frustration caused them to return the horses.

Don’t be one of these people! All of them were like you at one time, they wanted to adopt a horse and complete the cycle of rescue, keeping it safe from harm, danger, and abuse forever. Don’t be one of these people because We charge a $150.00 return fee per horse, no matter how many are returned, and no matter what the original adoption fee was.

If we have to come and pick the horse up, additional charges will include:
Transport Fee: This is a minimum $50.00 charge and will increase as our volunteer’s costs increase and as the organization’s costs increase. Because we are an all-volunteer organization, a volunteer/person will be coming to pick up the horse. The $150.00 return fee is to cover the cost of an additional horse that is not in danger, being suddenly added into the program. Transport fees cover the cost of fuel and additional expenses a volunteer would not have if he or she weren’t transporting a horse for the rescue. These costs include meals and motels.

Containment Fee: Any time we have to chase a horse around to get it caught because we are picking it up from you and you have let this hard-to-catch horse run lose on a huge pasture rather than penning it up for us, you will be charged $75.00 for the first 10 minutes our volunteers spend chasing the horse. After that, you will be billed ten additional dollars ($10.00) for every 5 additional minutes our volunteers spend chasing the horse. You may write a check, payable to USESR, for the full Containment Fee due at the time the horse is picked up, or you may contact Headquarters to make payment arrangements. If you do not pay, we will take you to small claims court and seek a judgment against your name, which will show up on your credit report forever. It may sound like this is a bit harsh, but we are so serious about this because you can avoid it by exercising the common courtesy of penning the horse. In these situations, we always show up at a date and time that you designate, so you always know we are coming. In these situations, the adopter is always present, but chooses not to help us catch the horse. That is just rude, and volunteers who work so hard just to help horses deserve better treatment.

Important notice: Fees and charges are not tax deductible. If you wind up paying us $300.00 during the process of returning a horse, none of that is tax deductible, as none of it is a voluntary donation.

Avoid these unnecessary hassles by adequately assessing your own skills, ability, and dedication, and by taking advantage of our Foster to Adopt program if you have any doubts.

It is the great desire of USESR to have a 100% permanent placement rate. To avoid any mistakes in judgement, we strongly suggest fostering the equine you are interested in adopting prior to making this lifelong commitment. Once you begin fostering the equine, you have two weeks to decide whether or not to adopt the equine you are fostering. During that time, no deposits or adoption applications will be processed on the equine.

Finalization of Adoption:

Adoptions are final in no less than two years and no more than three years. Two years is the standard time frame. During that time the adopter is subject to inspection of the Equine and it's habitat without notice.

Reasons for Removal:

Breach of contract in any way. Adopters will be given written notice of the intention to remove said Equine and revoke the adoption privileges. The reason(s) for termination of the contract will be outlined in the written notice. If court action is necessary, USESR will seek to have the adopter pay for all costs associated with legal action including attorney's fees for USESR.
We will not remove the horse because it had no water during one follow up site inspection. We would call the situation to the attention of the adopter and perform extra inspections to ensure that the problem was corrected. We will not remove a horse because it's ribs are showing one time during an inspection, however, we will remove it if ribs are showing on two inspections, consecutive or non-consecutive. We will council the adopter on proper nutrition and work with them to bring the horse back up to weight. If a tornado knocks your Equine shelter down, we will not remove your Equine. We may, at your request, come out and help you erect a new shelter.
We do not want these horses back. We are in the business of finding horses good homes for life. These precautionary measures are in place for people who would seek to take advantage of an inexpensive horse and give little or no thought to the responsibility of owning a rescued horse.

While your Adoption Application is being processed, USESR reserves the right to deny adoption to anyone, for any reason, at any stage of the application process.

Reasons for Denial of Adoption (DNA)

Reasons for denial of an adoption application include, but are not limited to:

• Hostile, threatening or uncooperative attitude toward USESR, its members, volunteers, Site Inspectors, officers, representatives or agents. We are an all-volunteer organization and we value our volunteers and do not choose to subject them to unnecessary stress during the course of their volunteer activities.
• Failure to pay the balance of the adoption fee within one week of the Pre-Adoption Site Inspection.
• Dishonesty or telling lies to USESR, its members, volunteers, Site Inspectors, officers, representatives or agents.
• Failure to submit required/requested information on an Adoption Application. This includes contact information for family members and references.
• Inability for USESR to contact all references and family members listed on the Adoption Application.
• Listing family members as friends or listing friends as family members on an Adoption Application.
• Difficulty or inability by USESR to contact Applicant while the Application is being processed. Our volunteers are busy people with jobs, families, and other commitments of their own. They do not have time to play phone tag or leave multiple messages that go unreturned by Applicant.
• Too many animals already in the care of Applicant. We try to avoid "collectors", as this is a precursor to animal abuse.
• If Applicant is listed as a DNA with any other animal rescue, the application will be denied.
• If USESR has reason to believe or has any level of suspicion that Applicant has caused, attempted to cause harm to, or intends to cause harm to USESR, its members, volunteers, Site Inspectors, officers, equine, representatives or agents, the application will be denied.

Please read the Instructions for submitting your adoption application before sending in the application.