I’m excited to announce Linda Goldman as our last volunteer of the month for 2022! I feel very fortunate to work with this kind, funny, patient, hardworking, mellow, go with the flow, do whatever needs to be done lady! Linda started volunteering in May 2021 and immediately started filling in on shorthanded shifts and then after only a few months of volunteering, took on the Shift Lead role when her team was suddenly without a leader.
In December 2021 I was lucky enough to add Linda as my Barn Assist on my once a week Barn Staff day. Each Thursday morning when I see Linda headed down the barn aisle, my day gets a whole lot better. We are very lucky Linda found SAFE and that she spends two days a week helping us care for our horses and volunteers (and staff). Learn a little more about Linda below:
How and when did you first get involved with horses? Do you have one now you want to tell us about?
I first became interested in horses when I was 12 years old after going on a trail ride. My two friends and I were hooked immediately and started looking for ways we could help around the barn and with the horses. We were at the barn all day, as often as we could be. I first learned to ride hunter/jumpers. I worked off lessons by cleaning stalls and doing other barn chores. I saved my money and bought my first horse when I was 16, he was a black thoroughbred named Christopher Jollies. After high school, I worked as a groom and exerciser for a woman who traveled the hunter-jumper circuit in the mid west. My next horse adventure was when I came to Washington to work at an elite kids’ summer camp on Lopez Island running their horseback riding program.
Finally, I went back to finish college and horses were not part of my life until I had children.
Sometimes I wonder what I was thinking, but once they were old enough I got both my girls into horseback riding lessons. They both enjoyed it, but for one of them it really stuck, horses have been a part of her life for the last 15 years and horses were back in my life too! I became the horse mom at every lesson and horse show. I admit it was hard to sit back so she could learn how to care for horses, I really wanted to do it all! She currently has a registered Paint named Eugene.
What do you like most about volunteering with SAFE?
I came to SAFE after retiring from my career of 30 years, in the middle of a pandemic. My daughter had moved further away and had taken her horse with her 🙁 I needed to find another way to be with horses. To my surprise I found so much more than just horses at SAFE, I found the BEST group of people, who also love horses. I am so proud to be part of an organization with so much heart, so much expertise and a mission to provide horses their best life.
Do you have a favorite SAFE horse? If so, why?
I don’t have a favorite but I am drawn to the big ones, Nyx, Cramer, and Camille. Two exceptions to that are Montana and Sebastian, they are also favorites.
What do you do when you are not horsing around with us?
As a vocation, I am a Parent Coach. I also enjoy spending time in my garden, with my husband, our two dogs, two cats, and 5 chickens.
Do you have family or special people in your life who support your volunteer work that you would want us to mention in your write-up?
My husband Richard has always been very supportive of my desire to have horses in my life. While I think he may have thought I would be around more once I retired, he has never been anything but encouraging… until I talked about taking on a night check shift :).
