Market Your Horse Privately
Be creative when advertising your horse. Consider various marketing approaches.
-
- Web sites
- Riding Stable and Barns
- Feed and tack Stores
- Local and regional horse magazines and publications
- Local newspaper
- Veterinarians and farriers
- 4-H, Pony Club, and other breed organizations
- Local Horse Shows and Events
- Equine therapy programs
- Horse rescues
- Local horse trainers
Actually selling or giving away your horse may take time, so be prepared to re-evaluate the price you are asking and remain vigilant. Selling your horse privately also gives you some short-term control over who purchases your horse, where it will reside and what activities it will be participating in.
Horse Rescues
If you are unable to sell or care for your horse, a horse rescue is an option. There is a real cost associated with the rescue caring for your horse, and the rescue may not be able to accommodate your request based on physical room, the ability to feed the horse or finances.
A list of horse facilities accepting horses go to: Facilities accepting horses listed by state
Sale Barns
Although sale barns provide an outlet for horse sales, owners have little control over the buyers, where the horse will go or the price. If a quick sale is necessary, a sale barn is a legitimate option. Sale barns usually charge a fee for selling and advertising a horse, can have deadlines for consignments and may require a negative Coggins and/or a health certificate. Before consigning a horse to a sale barn, the owner should make sure he or she meets and understand the barn’s requirements for consignment and understands that control over the sale of the horse is, for the main part, in the hands of the sale barn.
Euthanasia
This is probably the hardest decision a horse owner will need to make, but it is a better alternative than neglect or prolonged suffering. When euthanasia is administered by a veterinarian, it can be humane. According to the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), there are three approved methods for the euthanasia of horses: chemical euthanasia, with pentobarbital or a pentobarbital combination; gunshot and penetrating captive bolt.
- Chemical euthanasia is the most humane choice for horses and is preferred by most veterinarians and horse owners. However, it is the most expensive form of euthanasia. This procedure requires injection of euthanasia solution into the horse’s vein. Euthanasia solution is a controlled drug and must be administered by a veterinarian. Carcasses of horses euthanatized chemically can potentially contaminate the environment and pose a significant risk of poisoning for prey species, especially birds, unless they are disposed of, or protected from, predation in a proper and immediate manner (see Burial below).
- Gunshot and the penetrating captive bolt are other approved physical methods of euthanasia. When used in the correct manner, they induce death more rapidly than chemical euthanasia. They produce death in the same way, by disrupting the brain and causing loss of consciousness and subsequent death. Euthanasia by gunshot may pose an inherent risk for other animals and humans and should only be performed by someone skilled in the method and in a safe environment.
The penetrating captive bolt method of euthanasia is safer than gunshot euthanasia because it does not release a projectile. There are two types of captive bolt: penetrating and nonpenetrating. The penetrating captive bolt induces death by firing a rod into the brain. The nonpenetrating captive bolt causes a severe concussion that stuns the animal but does not kill it. The nonpenetrating captive bolt is not considered a humane method of euthanasia.
Gunshot and penetrating captive bolt euthanasia are less expensive than chemical euthanasia and do not present the risks of environmental contamination or animal poisoning. These techniques are considered aesthetically displeasing to many horse owners but they are effective.
