Paws Ranch Equine Rescue accepts into the Horse Rehabilitation Program from investigations of neglect and abuse. The horses are evaluated by our veterinarian and are quarantined, vaccinated, de-wormed, Coggins tested, placed on the appropriate nutritional program for weight gain, farrier care, and dental evaluation.

After quarantine horses are matched with our PRERI volunteers for continued rehabilitation services. Once evaluation, rehabilitation and training are complete our horses are matched to pre-screened homes and followed by PRERI to ensure the horses maintain the quality of care needed to maintain our adopted or re-homed equine.

The Horse Rehabilitation Program in the largest expense to PRERI and is where your donations are used to care for the horses. The average cost to rehabilitate one malnourished horse is between $1500 to $1800 which covers routine veterinary care, hay, feed, farrier, and dental care. This average cost does not include additional injury or illness for which many of the horses rescued have before entering the Horse Rehabilitation Program at PRERI.

The Horse Rehabilitation Program has successfully rescued and sheltered many horses in need of help. PRERI without compromising quality of care continues to aim to expand this program efficiently on an annual basis and to utilize donated funds wisely. By using our Farm Check Program we are able to monitor our adopted or re-homed equine to insure they have a continued good quality of life.

Feedback from veterinary, volunteer and committees insures the success of the Horse Rehabilitation Program. The program is monitored annually to evaluate the number of horses rescued and sheltered for continued quality of care at Paws Ranch Equine Rescue.

PRERI has successful outcomes with equine adoptions and rehabilitation of our animals. In the past few years we have been able to expand the Horse Rehabilitation Program to meet the higher demand by maintaining or cutting any excess and unnecessary costs of operation without jeopardizing benefits to the horses with the funds donated to our facility

Adoption Requirements

In order to qualify for adopting a horse, you should/and:

• Already own a horse or other equine, respectively, preferably at least five years or

• Maintain the Horse(s) on your own property where you reside, with at least five acres

• Be 18 years of age or over or have an adult to help can for the horse

• Live in the State of North Carolina or nearby States

• Boarders are considered on a case-by-case basis

• Have a barn, run in shed or lean-to, safe and proper fencing (board or horse wire mesh is appropriate--not barbed wire), and adequate water/feed supply (including a way to keep water from freezing in the winter) is required. An on-site visit will be made by a PRERI representative before an application is 

• approved.

• The adoptive owner(s) must provide the name, phone number and address of their veterinarian, farrier, and person who will care for the horse or equine, when the owner is away.

• Periodic checks may be made of adopted horse or equine(s) by a PRERI representative for the lifetime of the horse depending on the history of the horse.

• Any Horse adopted from PRERI should not be moved to a new location or leased or loaned to another person without prior approval from PRERI.

• PRERI cannot guarantee any horse(s) as to its disposition or training. Horses which come into our custody are usually neglected or abused or young and untrained. Due to their usually debilitated condition, temperament generally changes with proper care. PRERI will include with each adoption a complete file on the animal(s), which will explain how the animal came to our farm, what veterinary care the animal received while it was here and what the staff has personally noticed about the animal's disposition and training. 

• All horses adopted outside North Carolina must be within a 100 mile radius of Paws Ranch Equine Rescue’s Facility. All horses are also available for on-site Foster Care. Paws Ranch Equine Rescue will conduct farm inspections before adoption and follow up visits on all of our adopted horses for two years. Unfortunately, we do not have the funds or the manpower to do this properly in any other states at this time. After two years, the adopter may be granted legal title, at the discretion of the Board of Directors, based on the adopter's care of their adopted horse, however, breed registration papers are retained by Paws Ranch Equine Rescue to help enforce our "No Breeding" policy*.
  
  Note: Paws Ranch Equine Rescue does not sell horses. We do ask for an adoption donation to help defer the costs of rehabilitating future horses. Adoption donations range from $250 to $1200 and are accepted in cash, certified check, Visa, MasterCard or Discover and PayPal.
  
  All horses adopted from Paws Ranch Equine Rescue are current with their immunizations, coggins, trimming, worming and have been vetted prior to their adoption. When adopted, copies of all medical records or history that we have for each horse, will be given to the adopter. Any breed registration papers will be held by Paws Ranch Equine Rescue.
  
  *All stallions will be gelded.
  
  Although we evaluate each horse before they are made available for adoption, we recommend that before you adopt a horse, you need to ask a veterinarian for a pre-purchase exam to insure that the horse you are adopting is suitable for the work you plan to do with the horse.

We have a page of our recent adoptees and pending adoptees. We love our success stories! If you have a PRERI success story that you would like to share, please let us know! If you have additional questions after viewing our adoption contract and e-mail us at preri@pawsranch