Hi,
I'm new here so I guess I'll make my first question count. (haha)
My family and I run a rescue facility in a small village in Texas called Wimberley. We have been getting a HUGE amount of incoming horses that are pretty well trained but they are rusty and some times a little green.
I could turn them over for really low adoption fees but I am having a dilemma. The longer we keep these horses, the more money and training we put into them.
For instance, down here it is roughly $350 a month for to board your horse MINIMUM anywhere you look. The cheapest (reputable) place I have found for board + training is $650 a month or MORE depending on what state of training the horse is in when it arrives.
My question is this, do you think it is poor ethics for me to offer the horses at one price and add the boarding/training fee if the horse has not been placed by the time training is complete?
My example is a Horse named Q that we got just the other night. He's SUPER green but has UNBELIEVABLE potential. We have started working with him every day and it looks like he will be an EXCELLENT barrel or poles horse.
I have his adoption fee set at 800 or 900 bucks right now on age, potential and breed alone. But after another month or so of training, the value of this horse is going to be two or three times that much!
We feed and care for the animals we get with the adoption fees we collect when we place a horse. I run the rest out of my pocket and from collection can donations etc. It doesn't seem fair to short change the amount of the horse. It takes food and care and transportation funds out of the mouths of the horses and our personal pocket. It makes it harder for us to afford going to pick up horses all over the state. Texas is HUGE and some times we travel 10 and 11 hours round trip... pulling horses that far is NOT cheap. A trip we made last month to Rockport for 3 horses cost us over $400 in gas ALONE!
We are new at this and I'm just not sure how to proceed in some of the situations. Is it wrong to ask what the horse is worth in an adoption situation? How do I calculate that?
I'm new here so I guess I'll make my first question count. (haha)
My family and I run a rescue facility in a small village in Texas called Wimberley. We have been getting a HUGE amount of incoming horses that are pretty well trained but they are rusty and some times a little green.
I could turn them over for really low adoption fees but I am having a dilemma. The longer we keep these horses, the more money and training we put into them.
For instance, down here it is roughly $350 a month for to board your horse MINIMUM anywhere you look. The cheapest (reputable) place I have found for board + training is $650 a month or MORE depending on what state of training the horse is in when it arrives.
My question is this, do you think it is poor ethics for me to offer the horses at one price and add the boarding/training fee if the horse has not been placed by the time training is complete?
My example is a Horse named Q that we got just the other night. He's SUPER green but has UNBELIEVABLE potential. We have started working with him every day and it looks like he will be an EXCELLENT barrel or poles horse.
I have his adoption fee set at 800 or 900 bucks right now on age, potential and breed alone. But after another month or so of training, the value of this horse is going to be two or three times that much!
We feed and care for the animals we get with the adoption fees we collect when we place a horse. I run the rest out of my pocket and from collection can donations etc. It doesn't seem fair to short change the amount of the horse. It takes food and care and transportation funds out of the mouths of the horses and our personal pocket. It makes it harder for us to afford going to pick up horses all over the state. Texas is HUGE and some times we travel 10 and 11 hours round trip... pulling horses that far is NOT cheap. A trip we made last month to Rockport for 3 horses cost us over $400 in gas ALONE!
We are new at this and I'm just not sure how to proceed in some of the situations. Is it wrong to ask what the horse is worth in an adoption situation? How do I calculate that?