This bonded pair of minis found an adopter during the pandemic shutdown after calling Last Chance Ranch, Quakertown, PA, home for nearly three years.
In calendar year 2019 Last Chance Ranch in Quakertown, PA placed a total of 37 horses. By mid-June 2020 they had placed 41 horses, half of them during the COVID lockdown.
Small pet shelters have experienced a surge of adoptions of “pandemic puppies” over the last three months as many working people, now sequestered at home, decided it was a good time to bring a cat or dog into their households.
But pandemic ponies?
Across the region, horse rescue groups are reporting higher than average adoption rates during the pandemic. Nobody really knows why.
In fact, shelter operators say, record unemployment levels meant they were bracing for more people to abandon horses.
“There has been pandemic demand,” said Jackie Burke, executive director of Last Chance Ranch. “We didn’t expect it. We expected a lot of horses to be dropped off.”
Burke said her rescue is on track to adopt out as many as 70 horses and ponies by year end, the highest number since 2012.
Christine Hajek, founder and president of Gentle Giants Draft Horse Rescue in Mt. Airy, Md., said she too is seeing a big uptick in adoption inquiries. Since Maryland began to open up in mid-June the rescue is hosting three to four appointments per day, compared with one or two a day prior the COVID.
“Inquiries skyrocketed, but for a time we couldn't have people come try horses. We are catching up now,” said Hajek.
She said she thinks the interest may stem from higher-than-normal Internet use.
“Maybe people had more time sitting around surfing the web and fantasizing about a horse or maybe riding was one of the few things they could do [in the lockdown],” Hajek said.
The Standardbred Retirement Foundation in New Jersey reported nearly double the number of adoptions and foster homes in the three-month period ending June 10.
Executive Director Judith Bokman said the combined adoptions and foster homes during the period was 60, compared with 33 in a 14-week period in the spring of last year.
“Adoptions were ALL sight unseen because the farm we used would not permit visitors,” said Bokman. “We have 11 appointments with potential adopters for next week.”
Tina Snyder, executive director of Safe Haven Equine Warriors, a small rescue in Sykesville, Md, also reported higher than usual interest in adoptions.
“I think with everyone’s vacations and summer plans canceled and more leisure time, people who have wanted to get a horse but didn’t have time or money are finally doing it, said Snyder, whose rescue adopts out six to seven horses a year.
“The end result was a couple really good adoptions shortly after we began appointments again!” she said.
The COVID shutdown has taken a toll on horse rescue fundraising efforts across the region.
While all in-person fundraisers were cancelled, some rescues reported they were able to turn to their supporters to help get them through the dry period.
Safe Haven, which buys horses from kill buyer auctions and takes some owner surrenders, was able to keep most of the proceeds from their annual “Hoedown for Horses,” even though the March fundraiser was never held.
“Our loyal followers have really stepped up to make sure we are ok,” said Snyder. Only two of the 300 people who bought tickets at $45 apiece, requested refunds and that was because COVID had financially affected them, she said.
“Everyone else simply donated the money.”
Able to Rescue More
The swifter movement of horses out the doors has meant some rescues could bring more horses in.
Hajek said her herd is down to 136 horses (they have had close to 200 at times) and that allowed her to go back to the New Holland auction in June to rescue seven more unwanted draft horses.
Rescue operators report that prices for riding horses have gone up at New Holland, suggesting an increased demand for horses by the general public. They are hopeful that means fewer horses ending up being sent to slaughter.
As of June 6, 16,710 horses, burros, mules and ponies were shipped to Mexico for slaughter, down from 26,919 in the same period in 2019, according to the USDA. (Figures for Canada were not available).
“Each year it's getting better. And so far this year we're below last year!” Tina Snyder said.
In Maryland a horse food bank helped keep horses from being surrendered, sent to auction or euthanized.
The Maryland Equine Transition Service, which helps owners who need to rehome horses, and the Maryland Fund for Horses, which provides services and funds for at-risk horses before they become victims of neglect, distributed seven tons of hay and 1,000 pounds of grain to horse owners in need in April and May.
“The idea is to keep horses fed and at home until the crisis passes and owners are able to take over themselves,” said Victoria Carlson, board president of the Maryland Fund for Horses.
Burke, whose rescue requires adopters to return horses to the rescue if they can no longer keep them, said no one has yet returned a horse because of a COVID-related job loss.
Hajek said she has seen a small uptick in people who want to surrender horses, but described those horse owners as struggling before the pandemic.
“It pushed them over the edge,” she said.
The lockdown brought good news for some long-term rescue residents. Two miniature horses at Last Chance Ranch had been in rescue care since 2017.
Phoebe, a special needs mini with sight and hearing issues and Dean, who was saved at an auction, had trouble being placed, likely because of trauma they had endured earlier in life, said Burke.
But they became the beneficiaries of pandemic equine shopping.
“They went to an awesome home with someone who understands them,” said Burke.
She said another seven horses purchased from New Holland auction in March before it closed for a month – five minis and two riding horses – were all adopted.
Pandemic “fever” even struck one rescue operator herself.
Christine Hajek said she added a Belgian and Clydesdale cross to her personal herd of three other pleasure horses during the COVID shut down.
“I’ve gotten a lot of riding done this spring,” she said.