Standing Ovation by Ovation Riding: The Right Horse Initiative

Every Friday, Horse Nation teams up with Ovation Riding to spotlight an individual or organization doing good work in the horse world. Today, we recognize The Right Horse Initiative.

Horse rescues and shelters are often overflowing with adoptable animals that simply can’t find a home — whether from a need for additional training, a lack of resources to devote to networking and marketing or a misconception about adopting a rescue horse, the fact remains that plenty of eligible horses can’t find loving homes.

The Right Horse Initiative wants to change that — through collaborations between the horse industry and horse rescues, pilot programs including training and one-day shelters and helping to facilitate innovative adoptions, Right Horse seeks to reshape the conversation about horse adoption and find more good people for good horses.

Via the organization’s website:

The Right Horse is an initiative funded by the WaterShed Animal Fund, a division of the Arnall Family Foundation dedicated to improving the lives of companion animals. Our goal is to massively increase the number of successful horse adoptions in the United States by working together to reframe the adoption conversation and shatter the stigma surrounding horses in transition.

The Right Horse Initiative is working with partner organizations to help facilitate adoption as well as test some pilot programs. Current pilot programs include:

• Regional training center in partnership with Dumb Friend’s League Harmony Equine Center, allowing local rescue groups to bring their horses to Dumb Friend’s League Harmony Equine Center for training to make the horse more adoptable
• One-day shelter with Horse Plus Humane Society, setting up open admission for horses for owners who may not be financially able to euthanize an animal; adoption candidates will be placed with rescues while horses at the end of their lives will be euthanized as a humane alternative to neglect or auction
• Supporting innovative adoption programs such as New Vocations in partnership with the Pony Club: OTTBs are placed with a stipend with Pony Club members to help start their off-track career

The Right Horse Initiative is also working to reshape the conversation between horse welfare advocates and the horse industry, working towards the common goal of placing more rescue horses while not allowing divisive issues to hinder progress. Collaboration and innovation is helping to bridge some of the gap.

Want to help? The Right Horse Initiative is collecting stories of successful adoptions to help open minds about horses in transition. You can submit your story by clicking here.

Learn more about the Right Horse Initiative by visiting the organization’s website and following on Facebook.

Many thanks thanks to Ovation Riding for their support of both Horse Nation and individuals and organizations that are doing good work in the horse world. If you know someone who deserves a Standing Ovation, we would love to recognize them in a future post. Email the name of the person or organization along with a message about the good work they do to [email protected]. Photos/videos are always welcome, and include a link to their website if applicable.