Preparing our horses for their new homes
Our horses come to HNR with various levels of training and different histories. We always start by making sure our horses are healthy (this is the ‘rehab’ part of our mission), but once they are we start thinking more about their training. We work with our horses to ensure they are the best citizens possible, and to work through any past traumas they may have. We always begin working on basic groundwork and handling requirements for their health. When horses have all the skills to be trimmed, vetted and handled easily, they have achieved our courteous companion certificate, at which point they are listed for adoption. We then work with our horses to teach them as many skills as their health will allow to help them find the perfect forever home. See below for the required skills associated with each of our certificates. Our horses achieve each certification level when they have a basic mastery of each skill.
🏅 Courteous Companion
Easy to halter
Stands for farrier
Stands for vet
Takes dewormer
good for grooming
Leads well
🏅Barn Basics
Leading into and out of barn
cross tying and being groomed
Going into and out of stall
Tacking
🏅Groundwork Guru
yield to pressure
front end yield
back end yield
lunging (w/t/c)
Walking over poles
🏅Riding Readiness
Wearing tack (saddle, bridle, etc)
Standing at mounting block
Standing when mounting from ground
Understanding rein pressure with and w/o bit from ground
understanding rein and leg pressure from saddle
stop
walk/trot/canter
back
riding in pasture
riding in arena
trails with friends
trails without friends
Adoption ready horses
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Diva
🏅Courteous Companion | 🏅Barn Basics 🏅Groundwork Geru / Working on🏅 Riding Readiness
Price: $2,000
Breed: Quarter Horse
Age: 14 years
Height: 14.1 hhLikes:
People: She loves to follow people around in the paddock and makes friends easily with people and horses!
Learning and exploring: Diva has a solid head on her shoulders and loves learning news things. She is patient and tries hard. If she’s unsure about something she’d rather stop and evaluate which is a great trait to have!
What she can do:
Halters
Stands for farrier and vet
takes dewormer
happy to be cross tied, groomed, tacked
lines up at the mounting block
loads onto a trailer
Leads well and is confident on hand walks Walk trot under saddle with some assistance from the ground (won’t be needed much longer) Lunges beautifully and easilyWhat she is working on:
Continuing training under saddle: Diva has had a few rides under her belt, but as far as we know she hasn’t carried a rider previously so still has a lot to learn. She has done some walk trot work under saddle and while she is still learning her cues, she’s eager to please and a quick learner! We haven’t seen any big reactions under saddle. She’s remained cool calm and collected while learning new skills.
Her ideal home:
A home with experience training or willingness to continue her training. From what we’ve seen she’s quite a blank slate when it comes to riding, so could be trained up to be a part of whatever discipline her future adopter is interested in.
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Cayenne
🏅 Courteous Companion Certificate
Price: $1,000 (Price to increase with training)
Breed: Spanish Mustang
Age: 13
Height: 13 hhLikes:
Learning new things: this girl is smart and always keen to learn something new
What she can do:
Halters
Stands for farrier and vet
takes dewormer
happy to be cross tied, groomed, tacked
lines up at the mounting block
loads onto a trailer
Leads well and is confident on hand walksWhat she is working on:
Barn Basics: she is improving every day with cross-tying and tacking
Starting under saddle: as far as we know this girl has not had a rider, but has done incredibly well with the early skills and is very willing to learn!
Her ideal home:
A home with experience training or willingness to continue her training through other venues.
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Hunter
🏅Courteous Companion Certificate | 🏅Barn Basics
Hunter is available for adoption as a companion.
Price: $600 - Negotiable to the right home.
Breed: Quarter Horse
Age: 20
Height: 15.2 hh
Hunter is a gorgeous, healthy, 20 year old Quarter Horse gelding with a friendly, in your pocket personality. He is good for the vet and farrier, and loves attention. Overall he has an excellent head on his shoulders, is not spooky or nervous, and enjoys his time with people and learning new things.
As recommended by our vets, he is not suited to be ridden and is looking for a retirement home where he can live out his days with lots of cuddles and love to give his family. -
NIM
🏅Courteous Companion | 🏅Barn Basics 🏅Groundwork Geru / Working on🏅 Riding Readiness
Beautiful Nim (Nimbus) is now available for adoption for $1800
***Adoption fee to increase as training progresses
Please read carefully. Nim is a gorgeous girl with so much potential, but she is looking for a very specific home and person to help her thrive and be all she can be.
Nim is an 11 year old mare standing about around 14.2-15 hands. She has been lightly backed under a rider and will be continuing her riding training. Her breeding is not certain, best guess is possibly an Arabian/Saddlebred cross.
She is very friendly and willing, but she does have a lot of anxiety related to previous training that was inappropriate for her temperament. If her trainer is patient and careful, reads how she is feeling and responding, and can react to where she is in that moment, she tries her absolute best and can be amazingly calm and confident. However if rushed, her fears are ignored, or pushed too hard, she can get overwhelmed and go over threshold, in which case she is panicked and pushy. Under no circumstances can Nim be a stalled horse. She becomes incredibly distressed being locked inside. She needs the choice to be in or out and a good companion horse in with her.
Nim is looking for her perfect person, someone with training experience to continue her skills under saddle, but also someone who has the patience and understanding of equine psychology to bring out the amazing horse that she is and that she shows when she is heard and understood. Trust is very important to her, and any adopter will need to be prepared to take some steps back post-adoption and earn her trust before continuing her training forward.
Her current trainer will be happy to discuss further and in more detail with any prospective adopters.
Herd in rehab
not yet available for adoption
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Lilly
Lilly is a big, beautiful Quarter horse girl. She is 7 years old and needs care to rehabilitate her overgrown and neglected hooves and is also being treated for ulcers. Once she is physically back in shape and healthy again, she will start training under saddle and soon be ready for adoption.
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Gemma
Sweet Gemma arrived at HNR at a body score of about 1.5, very starved and in desperate need of food and hoof care. She is a beautiful, 12 year old Quarter Horse mare. She will be with us for a while regaining weight and rehabbing her hooves!
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Phoenix
This beautiful Arabian lady came to us through the efforts of a private intervention and rescue situation of a large herd of horses. Though she is a grade Arabian, she has very nice breeding and is built beautifully.
Phoenix was completely unhandled, however, prior to her arrival, and we are slowly gaining her trust. She has a healthy curiosity and once she is comfortable among humans, she will really excel in further training! Keep an eye on this gorgeous girl! -
Mojo
Mojo, a 22 year old Missouri Foxtrotter mare. We believe she is a comfortable trail rider, but her evaluation by our trainers will have to wait for a bit as she is currently in hoof rehab.
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GG
GG, a 24 year old double registered Rocky Mountain and Kentucky Mountain Horse, registered as Dusty's Goodtime Girl.
This pretty lady is just settling in and she will be under evaluation soon. From what we hear, she has been around the block and she knows her business.
Our adoption process
ONE
Download and fill out the application, and mail it, along with a $25 application fee, to Horse North Rescue, P. O. Box 7143, Traverse City, MI 49696. If you wish to email your application after filling it out, you may send the $25 application fee via PayPal. (If you use PayPal, please make a note that the donation is for an adoption application fee.)
FOUR
After your references have been approved, we will call or text you to schedule a Meet & Greet session with the horse in which you are interested. During the meet & greet session, our trainer will ask you to catch, halter, saddle, and ride the horse to see if you and the horse are compatible. In the case of a pasture pet, you will catch and handle the animal.
Two
Either before or after your Meet & Greet session, we will schedule a site visit at your barn, to make sure it is safe and comfortable for one of our horses.
FIVE
Once your adoption application is approved and your facility passes the site inspection, your application is good for two years, and it is not horse-specific.
THREE
Please be sure to notify all of your references that someone from Horse North Rescue will be calling, especially your veterinarian, since they cannot give out any of your information without your permission. If you don’t currently own equines, please give us the name and contact information for your small animal veterinarian. Please note that you may use only one relative as a reference.
NOTE
The HNR contract will transfer to the new owner as these horses are on a contract for life. All HNR horses are adopted out on a “right to first refusal contract,” meaning if you cannot or should no longer wish to own the horse, HNR must be contacted prior to the horse being advertised or transferred to another home.
