SAFE Horses
SAFE News and Updates
September Clinic Report: Bandit
Kirsten AL has been working with Bandit for some months, and worked alongside her in the September Joel Conner Clinic. Below, she reflects on the experience of the three days spent together and what she and Ms. Bandit learned: “Day 1 question – How to decrease cranky ears? My thought was to slowly and with small gentle steps reward the slightest improvement of cranky ears with a big release. I…
Run Free, Big Girl
Heaven welcomed a new angel yesterday morning. It is with a heavy heart we share the loss of SAFE alumni Camille. She was living happily with her adoptive family of humans and horses until the end. Her condition and comfort had declined to the point that it was time to let her go. Her old arthritic joints could not carry her big heart anymore. Her family and herd miss her, but the little gelding…
Moshi, Ready for Adoption!
Moshi is one of three Graham horses left at SAFE, and one of two currently available for adoption (Addie being the other, with Poppy still in her early days under saddle). While only started earlier this year, Moshi has made great progress as a riding horse, and is ready to start meeting adopters looking for a sweet little pony with a lot of spunk. Indeed, Moshi is still a green horse, and…
Mirana’s Scrape
When we play ‘musical horses’ at SAFE, shifting paddock assignments around for one reason or another, we make two variations on the traditional rules of the game. The first is that everyone ends up with a spot at the end, and the second is that we typically don’t play music while we shuffle around. So while the lack of a chair pulled out from under them, literally or figuratively, might lead you…
Alumni Update: Logan (Razin)
Razin, known now as Logan, is living a fine life with his horse buddy Liam, three mini donkeys, four dogs and of course his loving human family. Liam and Logan have their own stalls, but they sleep together in Liam’s if they choose to go in at night. Heather takes Logan on trail walks and does groundwork with him. He’s one lucky little dude!
Addie’s Perfect Feet
When the Graham horses arrived at SAFE last November, their feet were a stinky mess. Overgrown toes, cracks and chips, and thrush for days. They were all, lucky for us, willing participants for the farrier, who was able to see them quickly after their arrival. But one horse in particular stood out on that day, not because of how cute or pleasant she was (though she also happened to be both of…
Checking in with Edward
As summer begins its descent into fall, as the mornings grow a little hazier and the evenings come a little sooner, as the air takes on a crisper quality, some people begin to think about vampires. It’s not as outrageous a thought as it sounds! ‘Tis the season for pumpkin spice and draping yourself in a sheet to go ask for candy, and plus, the week of September 14th is the ‘Twilight Forever’…
Learning First Aid with Sunny & Shasta
A few weeks back, we hosted an Equine First Aid class here at SAFE, where individuals from both inside and outside our organization spent the day learning all about the basics of horse emergencies, and how to deal with them. The session was packed with loads of informational material, everything from how to spot signs that something is amiss with your horse to how to bandage wounds in…
Violet and Scotty See the Vet
Here is an example of the stars aligning at SAFE: The Friday after Scotty and Violet’s arrival, there was a vet appointment on the books. Two horses needed floats, along with several who were due for one vaccination or another. Two dentals and a few pokes is a light day, especially with cooperative patients, so there is often a little part of us that seeks something (non-emergency) to tack on.….
Nova’s Horror-mones
Nova has spent the entirety of her life here at SAFE. Her first breaths, steps, and moments were here on the farm, witnessed and overseen by the people who would go on to take care of her as she grew from a gangly filly into a long-legged mare. It is safe to say that we know Nova quite well. When she entered her fourth year, Nova underwent a change in demeanor that was uncharacteristic. We first…
Friends for Arrow
Arrow was a stallion when he arrived at SAFE, and while he was kind and gentle, we made plans to get him the snip as soon as possible. We are pro-gelding around here for a number of reasons, but for the sake of this article, I will specify one in particular: friends. Stallions do not make great company for other horses, generally speaking, and in order for Arrow to be integrated into a herd…
Flagging Poppy on the Rail
For Poppy these days, wearing a saddle is no big deal. Nor are many of the things that once bothered her — being touched with a flag, or a rope. She has made huge strides, but there is still prep work to do when it comes to readying Poppy for a rider. One thing we do to help horses adjust to having something, someone, above them is to.. well, get above them. We practice this by bumping them up…
Brandy’s Mouth
For some of us, getting older means our visits with doctors and specialists increase, our bodies requiring more maintenance to remain afloat. And while the same is often true for horses of a certain age, there are some cases when vet care is required less frequently. One such case is Brandy’s. Brandy, a Mare of a Certain Age, is no stranger to health issues. She gets a daily tab of prascend for…
Alumni Update: Miah
Miah was rehomed in early 2023. She is now living with Ashleigh who says Miah is happy and healthy and has two little girls who love her. Miah and Ashleigh’s daughter, Zoey, went to their first performance show together in April.
Jacob’s Return to Work
Jacob, we have learned, vacations well. I love this term, ‘vacations’, and the implications it has for horses (and humans) alike. While I don’t exactly imagine a horse on a beach, sipping piña coladas sprawled out on a lawn chair, the reality isn’t much different: a horse in a paddock, brought in to be brushed and farriered and occasionally doctored if need be, but otherwise spending his days…
Rest in Peace, Alumni ‘Mina’
Heartbreaking news to share by way of Elissa, Mina’s adopter “This is the message I had hoped to never have to write; I am so sorry and heartbroken to share this. We had to say goodbye to our beloved girl, Mina, earlier this week. She was a happy, robust, sweet, and thriving young mare, enjoying life here on our peaceful little ranch with our other horse, Watney, as well as our four little…
Alumni Update: Echo
Here’s some information to share after a recent visit with Echo and her adopter Brittany. Brittany’s daughter, Addison, is the main handler and rider of Echo. Echo has been on a few camping trips with her family this summer. Brittany and Addison both feel Echo is a safe trail horse and has handled the trails well. Echo can lead or follow but seems most confident when she is following. Echo is in…
Alumni Update: Bliss
Sweet Bliss is living the sweet life on a beautiful farm with accommodations made to meet her needs as a blind horse. She is getting top-notch care for her uveitis from Emily, who is a small animal vet, and she enjoys her grooming time with the little members of the family. Bliss was joined by a new pasture mate this April — Evie, another SAFE alumni adopted by Emily! They are getting along…
Welcoming Violet and Scotty
We have two new additions to our herd this week: Scotty, a 12-year-old registered Arabian gelding, and his half-sister Violet, an 11-year-old Arab cross mare. They came to us at the request of a daughter, whose elderly mother had been their caretaker after the death of her horseman husband, but who was no longer feeling equipped for the responsibility. The horses had both been out of work for a…
September Volunteer of the Month: Anne Chinn
Congratulations to our September Volunteer of the Month, Anne Chinn! We are so lucky to have Anne around the farm each week, sharing her positive can do attitude and her kind, gentle smile. Anne wears many hats here at SAFE, from helping out on a facilities shift, a morning chore shift (stepping in as co-lead as needed), night check, as well as grooming some of our horses. Anne is also always…
Pepper’s Return
At the beginning of last month, Pepper returned to SAFE for a refresh and restart at the request of her adopter, Sue, who had been unable to ride her for a period of time due to circumstances beyond her control. Taking a horse back into our training program who has been adopted out is not typically something we do, but in this situation, we felt that Pepper would have the best chance of future…
Henry is Adopted!
When Henry first stepped off the trailer last November, he was a nervous gelding with his head on a high swivel. While the majority of the Graham horses we took in that day allowed us to bustle around them quite casually, gathering measurements and even some basic vitals, Henry remained wary of his new surroundings, of us. He was a delicate and sensitive guy, and would require a little longer…
Roy and Mirana, Grazing by a Tree..
If I could add a song to this post, I would probably choose ‘Can You Feel The Love Tonight?’ from a certain loose Hamlet adaptation starring animated lions. It was the first song that sprung to mind when I thought about Roy and Mirana, two horses Of A Certain Age who both were overdue for companionship. While it’s true that no horse at SAFE is ever really alone (even with a double fence line…
Zelly is Adopted!
Zelly was #13 in the organizational system we used for the Graham 27 when they first arrived at SAFE, but now, less than a year later, she is #1 in her adopter’s hearts. That’s right, this sweet appaloosa girl has been adopted! Zelly’s people came to SAFE looking for a companion for their gelding, Mojo, who had recently lost his mare. It had been a few months since we’d retired Zelly from ridden…
Alumni Update: Echo and Nyx
Echo’s adopter, Brittany, shared some photos and a report on an adventure she had with Nyx and his adopter, Lindsay. Nyx and Echo had fun with summer shenanigans!! Echo survived going through two bee swarms and didn’t dump my daughter Addison despite them galloping off on Addison’s request, jumping a log while galloping followed by a buck because the bees were still following them. She safely…
Halter Starting Lancelot
Maybe it had been different at one point, but the Lancelot that arrived at SAFE was not able to be haltered. He was curious, but unwilling to be approached, and very reluctant to be touched. The first step for horses like Lance, those who need to be halter-started (or re-started), is to rope them. Lance had a severe misunderstanding of pressure, and so his initial reaction to it was not to give,…
Training Update: Frosting Moving the Hind
There are, according to Buck Brannaman whose style of horsemanship we follow most closely, multiple ways of moving the hind. 5, specifically. One of them, and in my opinion one of the most mystical, involves bending the horse using the rein only and simply… waiting for them to figure out that you’d like them to rock their hindquarters, please. Truly nothing speaks to a horse’s intuition and…
Introducing Ciara
Before she came to SAFE, Ciara was living alongside her filly, Inula, in a mud pit of a paddock. She was yet another of the Gig Harbor horses to arrive here back in May, and yet another who was afflicted by the same poor coat, long hooves, and lack of clean living conditions that also plagued her herd mates. But when she stepped off the trailer that Saturday in May, her luck began to change.…
Introducing Harissa
Some stories, by their very nature, take a bit longer to tell than others. Harissa’s story will be one of these, especially when framed alongside the others she came in with, who are steadily trucking along in their training, checking off boxes and working towards true domesticity. On the property from where she came, Harissa was living in the four mare herd alongside Mirana, Meadow, and Wren.…
Introducing Inula
Inula was the youngest of the Gig Harbor horses, and despite not being a literal baby, she still had a youthful element about her that we made note of from our first meeting. A subsequent dental put her in her 4th year this year, but when you compare her to a horse like Addie, who was newly 5 when she came under our care, Inula felt so much younger. I don’t mean to make this out to be a bad…
