FalconRidge Equine Rescue

You want to adopt a rescued horse? Fantastic!

FIRST - Please take a look at the horses for adoption on this blog. If you are interested in any of the horses and feel they are a good fit for your riding ability and experience (note, most of our horses are green unless stated in the description), then once you see THE horse you are interested in, do the following:

1. Please call David Lee Archer at 760-415-7396 if you are interested in seeing a rideable horse for adoption. Tell David about yourself and what you are looking for in a horse and how its life would be with you and your family. Tell him which horse you saw on the blog you are interested in. Do not say "what do you have?" as we have 50 rescued horses here. Tell him if you currently have horses, or horses you have owned in the past, how much you ride, how you ride, facility, etc. If David likes how you sound, then he will set up an appointment for you to come meet the horse here at FalconRidge.

2. Email nickbranch@aol.com and you will be sent an adoption application to read through and understand the requirements, or you can get one here at the ranch. Adoption means that if in the future for any reason the horse is no longer wanted, it is to come back to the rescue. Adoptable horses are usually shown with David by scheduled appointment.

No first time horse owners. If you wish to learn about horse care, volunteering at FalconRidge will help you gain the experience you need so that you can adopt a horse in the future. Horses must be placed where there is at least one other horse. Please do not contact us if you have a horse you have to sell first in order to adopt, want to trade, or if you cannot afford the adoption fee. Financial responsibility is required. Adoption fees are tax deductible and they are non-refundable. We have no totally "bombproof" child or bombproof trail horses! These are rescued horses, most of them not wanted for various reasons, such as they are not bombroof. Most of them are green or recently started under saddle and just need more time under saddle. Patience, care, and understanding is key and exactly what we are looking for in adoptive owners for our horses. We do have some amazingly good riding horses and not all horses here have issues.

We are looking for loving homes FOR LIFE and owners who wish to commit to the horse as a family member, take the time to bond with it, train it further, grow and learn with it. We are not adopting out horses to those people looking for horses for riding programs or lessons, no matter how slight the use. We would rather these horses be in homes as family members, not as worker bees who "have" to have a job. Many of these horses have already been through that or worse and deserve not to work.

After finding out what type of horse you are looking for and if there is a possible match between you and one of the adoptable horses, call or email to set up an appointment to see the horse. There is no deposit to "hold" a horse for adoption and it is first come first served on approved adopters interested in the same horse. Please be honest when describing your experience to us with horses as it assures the correct horse is matched to your horsemanship capabilities creating an appropriate and successful human/horse match.

Great horses are here for great people!

NOTE - There are some horses that you can see that have been rescued on the rescue news blog, http://falconridgerescuenews.blogspot.com/, who are currently under evaluation or retraining and therefore not "up" here for adoption yet. For example, Cloud the grey gelding. IF you are interested in one of those horses in the future, please contact me at nickbranch@aol.com by email and you will be placed on a list as interested in that specific horse when it becomes available for adoption.

These horses have no lameness issues.

Amber is a 15 yr old Tennessee Walking Horse mare who is looking for a loving home. She rides well and has been shown in the past. Her registered name is Delights Amber Affair. She does not have the normal smooth easy walking horse gait, but more of non gaited horse as she does trot a regular trot. She has been ridden out on trail and did fine, except was very fast and strong coming on the way home and had to be one-reined stopped several times. With more riding she should improve. Was hard to catch when she arrived but now with the correct handling is ok. Previously given hand fed treats so was nippy, but again now that is not a problem and shes a very nice mare. Big and stout, she is 16 hands and very healthy. Amber is the mother of rescued stallion Toby. Adoption fee $800

Montana is a 10 year old quarterhorse mare currently in training. She has been saddled and worked in hand. We are working on picking up her back feet easily. She appears to have been an ex broodmare. Very light in the halter and athletic mover, catty. Adoption fee, $200

Ryder is a 3 yr old dark bay thoroughbred gelding rescued from a foreclosed home. He stands 15 hands high and was recently halterbroke. Ryder is very willing to learn and was started under saddle without any problems. He is very bright and wants to please. Ryders sire is Nominator and his dam is Lady Luck. He has a long mane to die for and a kind eye. He will be very easy to train and is very calm. Super sweet personality. Ryder is curious and very bright. View more pics of Ryder at http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v28/nickbranch/Ryder/
Adoption fee $200

Jody is a 4 yr old bay thoroughbred mare from racing bloodlines but looks more quarterhorse and is calm. She stands 15.1 hands and is just halterbroke. Her sire is Nominator from Great Britain, and her damn is Lady Luck. She will be started under saddle soon and appears to be very easygoing, level headed and willing to learn. She is exceptionally bright and will be very easy to train. View more pictures of Jody at http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v28/nickbranch/Jody/ Adoption fee $200

Casper is a 27 year young arabian gelding. His registered name is Expertise and has Bask and Aramus on his papers. He was bred and raised in Alpine and shown. He knows how to ride well and dressage moves. He is a gentle horse to handle and very good mannered. Does everything asked of him. He is personable, does not act 27, and needs a loving home. $100 adoption donation.

Rainbow is a 20 yr old thoroughbred chestnut mare, registered Jockey Club name is Reinbow Lady Blue, who was bred in Colorado. She came to us from another rescue who needed to make room for impounded horses. She is broke to ride, has been on trails in Norco, and has the most beautiful head and excellent disposition. Adoption donation: $100

Cimmaron is a 6 yr old dun mustang mare who needs a loving home. She is only halter broke and currently in training. She was given up by her previous owners and came from another rescue. Nice sweet personality. Adoption donation: $100

These horses are lame or have conditions requiring them to be retired for the rest of their lives without any humans on their backs.

Toy is a 15 year old bay thoroughbred mare who was rescued from New York. Her registered name is Toyi Toyi. She was previously a broodmare, and then adopted out and trained to ride up to the level of fox hunting. She injured her pastern/heel with a wire cut and then returned to the rescue from her previous adopter. Her soundness cannot be guarenteed now due to her injury so she is being adopted out as a pasture puff. She is sound on the injured hoof most of the time while turned out in pasture. Adoption fee, free.

Chiron is a five year old thoroughbred gelding who was rescued from a home in Bonsall. He has wobblers syndrome, a pinched nerve in the neck area most likely and therefore is not 100% safe for riding as his hind end would be unstable with a lot of weight. Therefore Chiron would be a good candidate for someone who is looking for a pasture pet, or who just wants to do handwork or parelli type games with. Chiron's sire is Nominator from Great Britain and he has never raced. Adoption fee, free.

Pistolero is a purebred paso fino gelding who was rescued from a low-end auction in Kentucky. We found out he is a special boy in the paso fino world from his brand, and is most likely named Canario de Casta and is 18. After David evaluated him he could tell that Pistolero has been shown and is no longer wanting to be ridden. He throws his hips to buck of a rider...not violently, but you can tell he is what you call ring sour. He also cribbed when he arrived here. He in the past was shown alot and now no longer wants to collect up in the bridle or carry a rider. We believe he doesn't have too and has been out in pasture where he can relax and he no longer cribs and is enjoying just being a horse again. He is low on the totem pole with other horses but put him with a mare and he is happy and in love and confident again. He is sweet with humans and very endearing and needs his own family to give him love and attention as he so deserves. Adoption fee: Free

Beardancer is a 13 yr old mare from Arizona. We were told she is a gotland horse. She is branded with an N and assume she comes from somewhere on the Navajo reservation. She is a special girl who deserves a special owner. Beardancer has never ever been able to be ridden. Her previous owner spent 7 years with training on and off and her buck is so hard on that first ride that everyone has been thrown. She is extremely balky and a violent bucker. On the ground, shes very wary but will allow you to groom her, saddle her up and ground drive her. She just does not want to be ridden and we are granting her that right. She needs to go to a home where she will just be petted on and loved so she can gain the trust of humans and realize nobody is going to get on her back. Adoption fee: Free

Sky is a registered 12 year old quarterhorse gelding who is special. He was born with a condition called lordosis and he is a congenital swayback. When he was a youngster, his back slowly started to drop. Later, his family could not afford to keep boarding him so that is how he came to be at FalconRidge. He has been in a pasture with a harem of mares. He has never and should never be ridden. I have heard of a swaybacked horse, such as Sky, do performances at rodeos who is trick trained and even dances at the thrill of the audience. The horse is saddled during the performance and at the end the saddle is taken off to reveal his deformity and show the crowd how very special a horse he is. We believe Sky is not deformed, but is special, and also can do anything anyone wants to teach him. He does have charisma as all the mares want to be around him! Adoption fee: Free

One Sock is a 14 year old mustang gelding captured near Red Rocks, Nevada 8 years ago. He was the herd stallion. Bay with star and sock. He was lame when caught and xrays reveal he has buckshot in his hind leg from being shot out in the wild. Pasture puff only and just halter broke. This intelligent leader in the wild deserves a doting human family to pamper him for the rest of his life. Adoption fee: Free.