Surrendering a horse to Second Chance

Will Second Chance take my horse?

The circumstances that Second Chance will take on a horse are reasonably specific. We will take on any abused, neglected or abandoned horse directly from these circumstances. We DO NOT have any legal rights to remove horses from their homes unless their owners willingly surrender them to our care, and will willingly sign them over to our organisation. We will take any that you have yourself saved from this situation if there is still much rehabilitation to be done and you are unable to keep it for any reason. If the horse has been with you for a reasonable length of time and is fine to find a regular home, we cannot take it.

We will also take on horses found wandering and will attempt to find their owners. Horses that have been left at agistment with fees unpaid and owners not coming to see them are also able to be surrendered to us in the event the agistment owner is AUTHORISED to do so by their local Ranger or an RSPCA Inspector, or other authoritive body.

If you own a horse and you have hit a decline in health, financial, or family difficulty, and are unable to feed or support your horse for any reason, we will take it in if you wish to surrender it. If your horse is looking very poor and you are just unable to keep him looking healthy because you cannot afford to or do not know what to do, we can either offer you advice on the best way to bring it back to full health or we can take it on if that is your wish. In this instance, you will not be judged nor face prosecution if this is your circumstance. Please note however, if you surrender a horse to us in this sort of circumstance, as with all Second Chance horses, it belongs to the organisation for life - you cannot take it back in the future unless you would like to apply to adopt the animal through Second Chance in the future.

And a final circumstance we can take in a horse temporarily is if an abused woman and/or child wishes to leave the relationship with the person causing this domestic violence and is too frightened for the horse's safety if they leave we can and will take it in either permanently, or until such time as you have found your feet and are able to care for it again.

We CANNOT take on a horse in the following circumstances:

• If you are having trouble selling your horse
• If you can't face having a very old horse put to sleep
• If you can't face having a badly injured horse put to sleep
• If your horse has behavioural issues that are NOT caused through abuse or neglect and you cannot cope
• If you don't want to be bothered selling your healthy horse due to the time it would take
• If you just do not want your horse any more

Please understand we do wish to help the community at large in a variety of circumstances however we are a small organisation with limited funds. We need to reserve these funds and facilities for horses that truly need our help. As a horse owner, that horse's well being is your responsibility. Whether that means to live up to your responsibility you need to put an aged or badly injured friend to sleep, you need to sell your horse, you need to get a trainer or instructor to help you through issues or whether you simply need to find a new home for the pony the kids have lost interest in. It is YOUR RESPONSIBILITY. We need to reserve our resources for those horses that have been left to starve, have been mistreated and abused, have been simply dumped by their owners or people that can't be bothered getting a vet, dentist or farrier etc to see to their horse's basic needs.

If your own circumstance isn't outlined here, please contact us and we will review it on a case by case basis.

We will send out emails regarding horses needing homes, particularly if you have a time limit in which to move the animal on, if it has specific needs or is an older horse still fit for riding etc. We will pass on free horse information at no charge however if you are selling your horse, we ask for a token advertisement fee of 5% of the ADVERTISED sale price before we pass on the email. Again, this money goes directly toward helping those horses that really need us.

How do I surrender a horse?
If you feel your horse falls under the above circumstances and wish to surrender it to our care, please contact us either by phone or email and we will organise somebody to come and assess your situation and remove the animal from your property as soon as practical.