What's a Horse Rescue?

"So what do you do?"

"I run a horse rescue," I reply.

This response is almost always answered with a blank look.

"What's that?" almost inevitably follows.

The first time this happened I was flabbergasted. I floundered for a bit wondering how you could not possibly know what a horse rescue is. Granted many people never have anything to do with horses and know nothing about them. But dog and cat rescues exist so logic would dictate that horse rescues exist too, right? Apparently not.

I'm still searching for the perfect answer to that question that hits the light bulb going off but stops short of the eyes glazing over in information overload. But I'm starting to get closer. At least I've surpassed my original response of "Um."

The basic answer. A horse rescue is a place for horses that are sick, neglected, elderly, or abandoned. It is also a place for people to give their horses to when they can no longer take care of the horse due to finances, health, family, or moving. Of course there are many other reasons a horse might end up at a rescue, but those cover many of the situations.

A more in depth answer. Once a horse is at a rescue it is rehabilitated if necessary due to health problems. If the health problems are severe enough the horse may be retired at the rescue or in extreme cases humanely euthanized. The horse may require retraining sometimes due to abuse, neglect, or just plain human ignorance. Once the horse is rehabilitated and/or retrained the horse can be put up for adoption.