Jasmine

age: 19 years old, born June 21, 1991
sex: mare
breed: Arab
color: bay with star
height: 15.2 hh

Seized by Snohomish County Animal Control on Feb 23, 2008, Adopted to SAFE on Nov 12, 2008

Status: AVAILABLE

Located in Federal Way, WA
Adoption Fee: $600 as a riding horse to an experienced rider ONLY or $1 as a companion horse

Jasmine (registered name "La Zhara") is one of several Snohomish County horses from the Jean Elledge case that SAFE has been caring for since March. Jasmine was seized by the county from Jean Elledge at the end of February and taken to the Enumclaw auction to be boarded, along with her young filly, Ella. They were there for two weeks before being seen by bystanders at the public auction, and by that time both Jasmine and her foal were in incredibly poor condition (Ella being near death). When the vet came out to check on them, she ended up taking Jasmine, Ella and Dory that night to her house to care for them. The auction owner informed her that Jasmine had also aborted a foal earlier that week and as it turned out, Jasmine had retained some of the placenta and had a uterine infection and was very, very ill in addition to being in horrendous condition. Ella was put in a sling and given plasma, and Jasmine had to have her uterus flushed and be put on antibiotics.

After a week and a half of recovery at the vet's, they were strong enough to come to SAFE. Ella was still very weak and had to be trailered separately from her dam in case she needed to lie down in the trailer, so she wouldn't get stepped on. Upon arrival, Jasmine was cooperative enough but completely shut down and really didn't "see" people. We've since learned that Jasmine ran wild at Jean's for years, that no one could catch her, and she just used her as a baby factory.

Ella did not survive her neglect and abuse (In Memory) but Jasmine recovered extremely well and by the summer was a fat, gleaming mare. She's a big girl, a good 15-15.2 hands but she's also wide as she is tall, she looks like to ride her bareback would be sitting on a sofa. She remains aloof at times but she is now generally easy to catch, and is starting to show more interest in people. She is a very energetic girl for her age, and she loved to fun full tilt as fast as she could - towards us for her food, away from us if she thought we were going to make her do something, and often just for the pure joy of it. She might not be slender, but she can run! She has one slightly enlarged knee, but it has never seemed to bother her and appears to be an old injury. She's getting better about her feet, but still a little difficult with her hind feet. Fortunately, she has great feet!

PEDIGREE:

---------------------------------------*IBN Moniet El Mefous
--------------------AN Monsanto
---------------------------------------Roufah
La Zhara
---------------------------------------Abenhetep
--------------------RA Bint Safira
---------------------------------------Shikos Sarifa

Update (2/1/09):
Jasmine, Amber and Hope are starting training this month with Andrea Lucianne at Black Raven Stables. We hope to get these ladies started on their way to becoming saddle horses!

Training Update (2/3/09):
Jasmine had her first training day which was just a little lunging (or teaching to lunge) in the arena. I had warned the trainer about her tendency to bolt if she didn't like something and she did try it a couple of times while on the lungeline, but the trainer just hung on to the lead and went with her and she did not get away. After she figured out her favorite trick wasn't working, she was a good girl. She didn't bathe her yet, and that's probably going to be another trigger point for Jasmine to say "I'm outta here" (based on our experience trying to bathe her last year), so we shall see how that goes.

Training Update (2/27/09):
Jasmine is coming along with her training but is a little behind the others. She is a funny mix of both nervous and a bit of a bully when she decides she doesn't like something. She's tried the bolting move a few times but has not been successful in getting away so she is doing it less and less (the last time she did it was when they introduced her to clippers, she bolted down the barn aisle but didn't get away. It took about an hour but eventually she calmed down and then went ahead and let them clip her chin, muzzle and even her bridle path). She is getting much better about bathing and is learning to cross-tie. She is genuinely nervous about the riding part so they are going very slow with her, just doing a lot of lunging with tack and slowly introducing her to the weight of a rider on her back.

Training Update (3/30/09):
Jasmine is finally progressing, although at a very slow rate. Jasmine has been very committed to her fears of having a rider on her back. She cross-ties now, is good for bathing, even tolerates clipping. She's fine to saddle and getting much better about bridling as well (sugar cubes help). She lunges well and wears side reins. But having a rider on her back has been an issue for her. The last few weeks it has been the same every day. Tack up, lunge, have a rider stand up in the stirrup and lean over her back, and she would buck them off. Day after day, but slowly, slowly getting a little bit slower about it, getting a little less nervous about it. She has finally progressed to the point that she is allowing a rider to sit on her all the way and is walking. It doesn't sound like much, but its very encouraging progress from where Jasmine began. This has been tough for her, being 18 and pretty sure that her life was all about having babies and that humans were nothing more than vehicles to bring food (or not). She's doing well, and she'll get there, its just going to take more time with her. Harder than getting her used to a rider has been getting through to her emotionally, as she is very tuned out to people. That is slowly starting to improve also, and just a bit of personality is coming through. I think she will get there.

Training Update (4/24/09):
Jasmine is beginning to progress very well now in her training. She's walk/trot/canter under saddle now, in the big arena, with no ground person or even another horse in the arena with her. She's VERY forward but very sensible and not spooky. She just likes to go! Her canter is going to need some work, she kind of tends to crow-hop with her hind feet and canter in front, but hopefully that will improve with fitness. Her trot is really nice.

Training Update (5/16/09):
Jasmine is coming home today along with Hope. Jasmine, for the most part, is broke and walk/trot/canters under saddle. She also cross-ties, is good with her feet, bathes, even clips (finally, that one took a while). However, she is unpredictable at times. She has on more than one occasion started bucking out of nowhere. She threw Andrea a couple of weeks ago pretty badly into a wall. So while she is good 90% of the time, Andrea feels that it would take probably another year of consistent work to completely get rid of that behavior, as it seems to come out of an evasion to work rather than being spooked or green horse antics. Therefore if someone wants to ride her, they need to be an experienced rider and be prepared to work her through her bucking issues (she is a very GOOD bucker too). She might do better if someone took her out on the trails and gave her something interesting to do. Otherwise, she will need to be a companion horse. On a positive note, she is an easy keeper, she is fine in a stall or living outside, she is neat and tidy in a stall, and she is not herdbound, she is good with her feet, ties, and trailers well. She is not always easy to catch if living in a herd situation (sometimes she is, sometimes she isn't), and while she has made a lot of progress in terms of being more friendly and social with people, she is still somewhat tuned out at times. She might do well being an only horse where she has to rely more on people for comfort and security.

We are setting Jasmine's adoption fee at $600 as a riding horse, or the adoption fee will be waived for someone who wants her only as a companion horse.

Send email to adopt@safehorses.org if you are interested in adopting Jasmine.

Click here to check on Jasmine's progress on the SAFE Message Board.

Please read SAFE's adoption policies prior to submitting an adoption application for any SAFE horses listed on this site. SAFE Adoption Policies can be found HERE. SAFE has a strict no-breeding policy.