More Than 170 Equine Organizations Compete In ASPCA “Help A Horse Home” Challenge To Increase Equine Adoptions Nationwide

The ASPCA® (The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals)  yesterday announced the participants in its annual Help a Horse Home: ASPCA Equine Adoption Challenge. More than 170 equine organizations from 41 states and Puerto Rico are participating in the nationwide competition for equine rescues, shelters and sanctuaries, which is designed to increase adoptions of equines around the country. This year’s challenge has been expanded to include one grand prize, eight divisional prizes, and three social media prizes totaling $150,000. Contestants will be placed into one of four divisions based on the number of adoptions they completed during the challenge period last year and for all of 2018.

“The Help a Horse Home Challenge^SM provides an effective way to reach the untapped equine adopters that our research suggests are out there,” said Dr. Emily Weiss, Vice President of Equine Welfare for the ASPCA in a statement. “The ASPCA is dedicated to supporting the many groups around the country working to help more horses find loving homes, and we are excited to see what innovative and thoughtful ideas equine organizations come up with to help save more horses’ lives.”

The ASPCA recently announced an exciting partnership with Zoetis US LLC to reduce the medical costs for the groups participating in the 2019 Help a Horse Home^SM Challenge. Zoetis will donate their new vaccine CORE EQ Innovator for every equine adopted during the two-month challenge period, up to 1,500 vaccines. Participants are also invited to promote their equines on My Right Horse, a new listing site created by The Right Horse Initiative for equines in transition.

In 2018, equine organizations adopted out more than 1,000 horses during the two-month Help a Horse contest period, proving that there are more homes out there for horses. To build on the success of the 2018 contest, the 2019 challenge has been reimagined and renamed— Help a Horse Home: The ASPCA Equine Adoption Challenge with $150,000 in grant funding available to equine rescues, shelters and sanctuaries who secure the biggest increase in adoptions compared to the previous year. Any U.S.-based 501(c)(3) organization or governmental agency capable of receiving grant funds and fulfilling an animal welfare or protection mission that adopts out horses or other equines is eligible to participate.

The Help a Horse Home Challenge^SM kicks off Today, on April 26th – a date chosen for its significance to the ASPCA’s long history of horse protection. In 1866, ASPCA founder Henry Bergh stopped a cart driver from beating his horse, resulting in the first successful arrest for horse mistreatment on April 26th of that year. Each year, the ASPCA hosts a national grant competition to elevate the work of equine rescues that help at-risk horses who’ve been abused, neglected, or find themselves homeless.