Canterbury Horse Rescue

HOW TO FOSTER A HORSE FOR LIFE?

What Is Fostering?

CHR rehome horses/ponies from our Sanctuary in Kent. We do so under a Fostering Agreement, this means that, although you will be completely responsible for the horses' everyday care and exercise, you will not be the legal owner of the horse.

Canterbury Horse Rescue retains ownership of all horses at all times. If you foster a horse from us, you will be asked to sign a Fostering Agreement, which means that you agree to all the terms of the Fostering Agreement.

How Do I Apply To Foster A Horse?

You can write to us requesting a form, enclosing a stamped addressed envelope to save on our precious postage. When you have completed the Fostering Application form send it back to the centre.

What Happens Next?

Your completed application is passed to our Fostering team, who will review the list of horses available for rehoming, and attempt to match you to a horse. Each horse has a written profile of the type of owner we think it will need, and this will be consulted as part of this process.

If our Fostering team has been able to match your application to one of our horses, you will be invited to come down to the Sanctuary at a mutually convenient time to meet the horse or pony in question.

Home Assessment

The next stage is the Home Assessment. One of our Fostering Officers will arrange to visit you to carry out an assessment on the place where you would like to keep a horse, and also to meet you in your own environment. Should there be a problem with the Home Assessment, and the Society feels that this is sufficient reason to refuse to consider your fostering application further, you will be informed in writing as soon as possible after the Home Assessment has taken place. We like to be as transparent about the reasons for our decisions as possible, and will therefore inform you in the letter of the reason for your rejection. If, at a later date, you feel you have addressed the issue, which prevented you from being considered as a fosterer previously, we would be only too happy to reconsider you.

Some of the reasons we might turn down a fostering application are:
- Lack of turnout
- Applicant has other horses which appear to be suffering neglect
- Applicant has insufficient knowledge/experience to look after the type of horse they have requested.
- We will not rehome a horse to a yard, which we know, is currently under investigation in an animal cruelty/neglect case. - Lack of company - we will not rehome a horse to a place where it will have no other equine company.

Setting Up A Fostering Agreement

If the Home Assessment is successful and you decide to go ahead, and want to arrange a foster agreement, then we will arrange an appointment with you in order that you can come in and sign the legal Fostering Agreement, which states that you agree to abide by the conditions set out therein.

When we rehome any of our horses or ponies, we ask for a fostering donation, which goes towards the costs incurred in keeping the horse or pony at the Sanctuary during their time there. The level of donation depends on the size of the horse and its abilities (i.e. whether or not it is rideable). All fostered horses and ponies must be fully insured by their fosterers, particularly for veterinary bills.

Fostering Polices

It is our policy not to rehome any horse or pony under the age of two years. In special circumstances, we allow two year olds to go on foster to very experienced homes where they can get used to being properly handled well before the backing process starts, which begins once the horse has turned three years old.
- We do not allow any of our fostered horses to be bred from
- We do not allow our horses/ponies to be used in a riding school for any monetary gain

What Happens Next?

It is your responsibility to arrange transport for your new horse or pony to the place where you would like to keep them. Once you have your new horse at home, you can start to enjoy yourselves together!

CHR will carry out Fostering Checks on the horse or pony at the following intervals in your first year as a fosterer:

- 1 month after horse's arrival
- 3 months after horse's arrival
- 6 months after horse's arrival

After the first year, fostering checks will be carried out twice yearly (March/April and September/October each year) for the rest of the horse or pony's life.