They Did It: Adopted Out More Horses During Adopt a Horse Month
Adopt a Horse Month (AHM) is a nationwide adoption campaign designed to help more equines find loving homes every May.
Wild at Heart Horse Rescue in Lancaster, CA, and the Equine Rescue and Adoption Foundation (ERAF) in Palm City, FL, joined the AHM campaign in 2022 and significantly increased visibility for their horses.
Leslie Stewart, founder of Wild at Heart Horse Rescue, and Melissa Muller, communications and development coordinator for ERAF, shared their most effective tips, tricks, and tools for finding more homes for horses. While they employed these techniques during the campaign, you can use their secret sauce year-round!
Benefits of Adopt a Horse Month
For Wild at Heart, 2022 was their second year participating in AHM. In May, the organization received over 60 adoption inquiries, completed 4 adoptions and had 5 horses in the process of adoption by the end of the month. The organization’s staff were especially excited about finding homes for Bindi and Honey, two horses who were harder to place and had been with the organization longer than usual.
ERAF noted the organization loves AHM because it’s a terrific way to showcase available horses and reach a wider audience of potential adopters through collaboration. As a result of this collaboration, a local university and their equine team adopted an off-the-track Thoroughbred, Tenacity Zip, into their program.
My Right Horse
Another benefit of joining AHM is access to MyRightHorse.org, an adoptable horse listing platform with hundreds of available horses. Typically, use of the platform is limited to ASPCA Right Horse Partners, but during AHM, all registered groups were invited to use it.
Posting horses on My Right Horse has made a huge impact on adoption prospects for Wild at Heart. Adoptions from the organization have nearly doubled since joining the Warm-Up Ring and becoming a Partner in 2021.
ERAF’s favorite connection made via the platform is a horse named Ty. His adopter was searching for a horse to add to an equine assisted services program serving veterans. After seeing Ty on My Right Horse, she described him as “speaking to her spirit.” The adopter and her mom traveled all the way from Arizona to Florida to meet Ty!
Adoption Resources
Participants in AHM also got access to the ASPCApro Adopt a Horse Month Resource Library, which provided them with social media how-tos and overlays, educational articles, and much more. Wild at Heart found the social media overlays the most helpful, while ERAF used the tips on placing their non-rideable/companion horses.
"In my opinion, every horse that is adopted is equal to 2 horses saved. The one we already have, and the new horse who gets to take their place."
Community Impact
ERAF notes how important visibility is. While they’ve been in their community for more than 20 years, people may not realize all the services they offer. They credit the social media support from the ASPCA, the ASPCA® Right Horse, and other partners for increasing traffic and engagements across all their platforms and website, resulting in more adoption inquiries.
So far, in 2022, Wild at Heart has found homes for 27 horses, making room for many more equines to join the program. The organization also offers a soft-landing place for horses in the community. Owners needing to rehome a horse have peace of mind knowing their horse will receive necessary care and training and will be placed in a loving home. After their sizzling month of May adoptions, they reached out to their list of individuals waiting to surrender an equine and provided them with a safe place to rehome their horse.
Social Media Tips
Wild at Heart and ERAF used the AHM social overlays for their posts. ERAF found the graphics helped build consistency across their social channels and were easily managed by their teams. Wild at Heart found the overlays to be particularly eye-catching and saw their click-through rate increase by 20-30% when they used the overlays.
ERAF regularly used hashtags for increased reach and shared Instagram Stories to promote the available horses. Both organizations dedicated significant time to social media, and it paid off in adoption inquiries and support for their work.
Final Tips
The number one thing Wild at Heart recommends is to get all available horses listed on My Right Horse. The staff put together the listing descriptions and tried to be as upfront as possible about each horse. Leslie also thinks it’s important to keep updating equine listings online and ensure descriptions are fun and engaging.
Descriptions are also important to Melissa’s team, who invites all staff and volunteers to help with photo sessions, writing bios to describe the horse’s quirks and share other special personality features.