About SOS Equines

Step One

We highly recommend that you first answer the following questions to ensure that rescuing a feedlot horse is the right option for you and your family.

Are you financially capable to take care of a horse? Trust us when we say this, the adoption fee or purchase fee of a horse, is NOT the most expensive part of having a horse. Having a horse in your care requires constant care and constant expenses. Please take into consideration vet costs, feed costs, farrier costs, even tack items can and will all add up.
Are you physically capable to take care of a horse? Having a horse in your care can sometimes be hard physically, of course this does depend on whether or not you board your horse. If you plan on keeping your horse at your own facility, please remember that sometimes the labour and upkeep can be quite tiresome and ongoing. Your horse never takes it's own holidays, it needs constant care, daily. This also means if you want to take a holiday, please ensure you have someone who can continue your horse's daily care while you are away.
Are you willing to accept that a horse you want to adopt may have some undisclosed issues? Sometimes horses are sent to the feedlot and then sent to slaughter because of some issues that their previous owner may have felt made the horse unvaluable or unusable. Some issues could include lameness, lack of training, poor conformation, even bad habits, such as cribbing or seperation anxiety from other horses, also called herd-bound. It is amazing some excuses that is heard of why a horse was sent to the feedlot. And then there are the horses that are highly trained, gentle, good conformation, perfect for children, that were simply dealt the wrong card and for some wrong reason ended up at the feedlot. Please be aware that if you adopt a horse from the feedlot, the horse may require a lot of patience, loving, training and just the chance to learn that it can trust you.

Rescuing a horse from the feedlot can be and is very emotional and rewarding. These questions are not to deter you away from your consideration of rescuing a slaughter-bound horse, instead it is to ensure that this will be the best decision for you, your family and the horse you are considering adopting.

Step Two

Each horse listed has a designated Placement Specialist (PS), assigned to it. The PS is there to answer any questions you may have about the particular horse your interested in. Often, the PS will help you determine whether or not that horse will be suitable for what you may be looking for. Please contact the Placement Specialist at the email address provided on the horse's listing.

Step Three

Once you have discussed with the PS and have determined that you would like to continue on with the adoption procedure, the PS will send you an application for adoption. An application for adoption can be found at the bottom of this page. The application for adoption does require vet, farrier and personal references. If you are new to the "horse-world" or have been out of the horse-world for awhile and are just getting back into horses and you do not have a current farrier or vet, we can easily recommend some for you! We will then also ask that you provide a reference of someone in your life that does have some horse knowledge, as we want to make sure you get all the support you need.

Pictures are required of the facility of where your horse will be staying. If your horse will be boarded, we ask that you submit the barn manager's name and number, pictures of the facility, a website of the boarding facility would be ideal as well. All pictures are to include the type of shelter(s) provided and type of fencing. You can email the photos to sosequines@gmail.com.

Step Four

You will be notified as quickly as possible by a volunteer at SOS once your application has been approved. Once you receive approval and are still interested in proceeding, the next step is to pay the adoption and quarantine fees. The adoption fee is set by the Kill buyer who tells SOS Equines the price he wants for the horse. He will ask for somewhat of a higher price then what he will get at the slaughterhouse, if he didn't, there really would not be a need for him to allow SOS on his lot. The adoption fee varies due to the type of horse, weight of horse, size of horse. Horses sold to slaughter are sold by the pound, therefore, a heavier horse may have a higher adoption fee. Therefore, keep in mind, that depending on the demand, the market, the time of year, prices will vary.

Please also note that mares coming into the lot may be pregnant and/or may become pregnant while on the feedlot.

Quarantine:

After horses have been sold to kill buyers, the feedlots become the "waiting zones", where the horses await shipment days. Since these horses no longer matter and the next destination will be death, horses are crammed together into pens with other horses to await being shipped. There is no isolation, no concerns of keeping horses separate from other horses, mares sometimes mixed in with stallions, gentle older horses mixed in with aggressive and untamed horses and the list goes on. The feedlot is not a safe place for any horse. Injuries can occur from horses fighting for power and sometimes sick horses are mixed with healthy horses.

FOR ALL OUT OF STATE ADOPTIONS:
Quarantine is crucial and mandatory as horses going out of state are required to have Coggins and a Health Certificate. Horses going out of state are required by SOS to have been in quarantine for at least 21 days. SOS Equines quarantine facility is located at The Lazy Spur in Kennewick, WA. The quarantine fee is $10/day.
FOR ALL IN STATE ADOPTIONS:
Quarantine is at the discretion of the adopter and the PS. All horses adopted will be available for pick up at The Lazy Spur. For adopters opting out of the quarantine option, a waiver will be signed stating the adopter has opted out of the quarantine option. It is the adopter's responsibility to arrange for immediate pick up of the horse. A $10 a day boarding charge is in effect once the horse has arrived from the feedlot to the Lazy Spur until pick up from the new adopter.
Vaccinations, vet and farrier costs are paid for by you, the adopter. Payment can be made through paypal.com, our paypal address is sosequines@gmail.com

A note from the barn manager:
"My goal is for the horses that come off of the feedlots to begin there journey the adoptive home as healthy & safely as possible.

QT is $10 a day, I feed quality alfalfa, free choice grass pellets, clean the pens 3-4 times per week. My weakest area is spending time grooming the horses. I schedule all the vet, farrier & brand inspection appointments & assist them while they are here.

The vet, farrier & brand are paid for by the adopter, but my time is included in the QT fee. I also am here when transport arrives. I have large stalls with cameras in them if a horse needs to be monitored 24hrs per day.

Adopters are welcome to visit anytime and adopters can find updates about their horses on my website."

Step Five

Once the horse has been paid for and removed from the lot and in quarantine, it is the adopter's responsibility to arrange transportation of the horse to it's new home once it has completed the quarantine period. SOS Equines can recommend haulers if needed.