Introducing our newest mare, Tiva! She was picked up from a boarding barn in Olympia and arrived at SAFE in the late afternoon. After living in a stall for nearly a year, she was reluctant to leave it and or to get out of the trailer. Freedom was not something she had seen in a long time. Once off the trailer she stood in the far corner of her quarantine paddock taking in her surroundings with wide eyes and occasional snorting. The staff tries their best to always have another horse living close by to provide a little company and comfort to new horses whose lives have just been uprooted and are nervous about their new living situation. Cramer, calmly stood in the next-door paddock staring at in his cute new neighbor, occasionally pawing the ground and yawning.
SAFE was contacted by a good Samaritan who wanted advice finding a trainer to help her with a “wild mustang”. This horse came into her life when a very skinny mare and her filly were dropped off at the boarding barn she kept her own horse. This kind person was concerned about Tiva and her filly who was nursing, and wanted to help the mare. It appeared that the owner at the time was unable to keep them and so the good Samaritan had them turn over ownership. Tiva remained in the stall at the boarding facility and the filly was placed in a rescue. For a few months the good Samaritan worked on gentling the mare. She worked with a vet to refeed her and get her wormed. After realizing the mare was extremely sensitive and over her skill level, she tried to find a local trainer. No one would help with a “wild mustang”. Seeking advice, she contacted SAFE’s Outreach Team. This mare had already bounced around home to home, since being rounded up from the Yakima Reservation and her future didn’t look to have many options, so SAFE agreed to bring her into our program.
After working with Tiva in her first groundwork session, she appears to be sound and has a floaty gait. For now, we are being mindful of her sensitivity and only staff is cleaning her paddock while we get to know her. Tiva is a long project, but we give our horses all the time they need to find changes and lay a foundation that will keep them safe for the rest of their life. We look forward to helping this sweet mare, so she can live a happy life outside of small stall walls with horse friends and people who care about her future.
