Buying horses from kill pens: a story

Adopting a horse didn’t go very well for Bethany the first time around, but she didn’t give up. It all started when she and her family bought a farm, and she began looking for horses to bring home.

“I was looking at kill pen rescues, and my daughter Cassidy came across a black horse,” Bethany says. “I really didn’t know a lot at the time, so I ended up getting her and another horse.” They eagerly brought their two new horses home, and that’s when the trouble started.

The horses were described on the “rescue pen” website in a way that Bethany hoped the black mare could be her daughter’s riding horse, and a pretty quarter horse mare could be hers. Both ended up having physical problems beyond what Bethany was prepared for.

“The black mare had a blown-out knee” Bethany says. She couldn’t be ridden. The other mare had a locking stifle, but more importantly, “She and I just didn’t really connect.” The mare might have seemed like the right horse for her in theory, but something didn’t click between Bethany and her mare once she was home.

Bethany certainly wasn’t going to send the mares back through the auction where they’d come from, but she still didn’t have what she’d hoped for: a heart horse for her, and one for her daughter.

Heart horses

She heard about GRG Ranch Horse Rescue and looked at every available horse on the website and stopped when she came across a mare named Whiskey.

Bethany’s first reaction? “I absolutely love her.” Whiskey looked a lot like the horse Bethany had when she was young. But was it another situation where she’d get her hopes up and then be disappointed? Or end up with yet another horse who wasn’t quite right for her?

Whiskey

She shut down the computer. But a couple days later she found herself navigating to the GRG website again to look at Whiskey’s bio.

“I couldn’t get her out of my head, so a week later I was like, all right, I’ll ask about her,” Bethany says. “I emailed Renne a bunch of questions, and we talked a few times, and then went to go meet Whiskey.”

Adopting the right horse

Bethany and Cassidy drove down together to see the potential new horse in person. “She was so calm and loving,” Bethany says. They spent time with her and even got to saddle up and ride. Renne encouraged Bethany to take her time in deciding if Whiskey really might be the heart horse she wanted. 

“We went down to the rescue pretty much every weekend last spring,” Bethany says. She spent most of her time with Whiskey, and while the two of them were getting to know each other, Cassidy had other ideas.

“One day when we were just leaving my daughter said ‘Mom, I really like the paint horse.’” Bethany says. “I said okay, well, we’re only planning on getting one.” But the next time they were there, they asked if they could spend some time with the paint horse. The answer was yes. “I knew Whiskey was going to me mine, so I stood back and watched my daughter with the other horse.”

You might see where this is going.

Cassidy and the paint mare named Reba hit it off right from the start. Bringing home two more horses wasn’t what they’d planned, but it turned out to be just right for all of them.

Whiskey and Reba went home from GRG Ranch Horse Rescue in May of 2024. “It’s been amazing ever since,” Bethany says. “Whiskey was so calm and loving at the rescue, and now that she’s home she’s the same, but she’s also really sassy. She’s everything I ever wanted. I absolutely love her.” And Reba has “the best personality. She’s great to be around.”

Together, they’ll poke around the farm, ride down the gravel roads in the area, explore the wooded trails and ride in the arena. “We just enjoy them,” Bethany says.

What happens to kill pen horses?

And Bethany never gave up on the first two horses she brought home from the kill pen. The black mare, named Monyie, is happily living on the farm as a pasture pet. Aspen, the other mare, developed an infection in her uterus. Bethany rushed her to the emergency clinic, but nothing could be done. “I had to put her down. That destroyed me.”

She may not regret getting Monyie and Aspen out of the “kill pen” because she wanted to help the horses. But now she’s an advocate of adopting from nonprofit organizations whose mission is to truly help horses and match them with the right homes, rather than sell them to anyone willing to buy them and preying on people’s sympathies.

Luckily, Bethany had the means to keep both horses she got from the kill pen even though they weren’t the right fit. But that wasn’t the end. “My heart wasn’t full yet,” she says.

Now, after being matched with Whiskey, and watching Cassidy and Reba together, her heart most certainly is full.

Whiskey and Bethany