Arrow’s First Bath
The first glimpse we had of Arrow was of a slender buckskin horse curled up in the back of a paddock, sternal like a cat in the ‘loaf’ position, watching over his surroundings. He rose slowly, in no hurry to greet us, accepting our invitation to come over and say hello like a gentleman – wary but not unfriendly. When we were told we would be picking up a stallion who had not had regular handling…
Brave Roy
In my time at SAFE, I’ve learned a thing or two about horses. One of the things I learned is that the majority of them love power tools. If you have to fix a fence or drill in some hardware nearby, even the more timid horses will inquire as to what you are up to. But do you know what horses do not really tend to love? Tarps. Big billowy objects that float and flutter and crackle when stepped on.…
Thank you Blue Spruce!
We have several retaining walls around our property and it has come time to give them a little updating. This task was originally a little daunting both because of the price of railroad ties and the amount of labor necessary, but, thanks to the Nichols family at Blue Spruce, we were able to complete these projects at very little cost! The Nichols family donated all of the railroad ties we…
Alumni Update: Moon
Moon is very happy being a beautiful pasture ornament, hanging out with her animal friends and greeting visitors to the farm. Her best friend is a draft gelding named Goliath. She especially enjoys having a friend her own size for mutual grooming. In addition to Goliath there is another horse, as well as alpacas, sheep, goats, chickens, dogs, and cats at the farm. Beth was happy to report that…
Addie, Ready for Adoption!
Addie arrived at SAFE back in November of 2022, as part of the Graham 27 seizure. She was the youngest of the Graham group, with a dental putting her at around 5 years old. And while her exact breed makeup is unknown, Addie proves you can be every bit as cute even without a known pedigree. Before coming to SAFE, Addie had a somewhat tumultuous start: she was born at another rescue, where…
Alumni Update: George
We recently heard from George’s adopter who said: “George is doing phenomenally. We haven’t had time to hit any “real” trails yet but since the daylight has been sticking around longer in the evenings we have been working on our confidence moving off on solo rides “around the block”… which is a mile combination of gravel, trail and road. He is so proud of himself when he completes something and…
Edward, Back to Work
Since healing from his popped splint, Edward has been on the mend and back in work. Edward is a special guy. He is definitely the kind of horse who, if he knows you and trusts you, allows you to get a lot more done. Whatever happened in Edward’s past, a combination of being orphaned as a foal and poor handling in his time before arriving at SAFE, has not set him up for success. He has…
Going the Distance with Montana
From the moment he arrived at SAFE, Montana garnered a lot of attention. He is a flashy-looking horse, and with his medicine hat markings and pretty blue eyes, it’s no wonder he had people immediately smitten. But Montana was — is — troubled. He had a rough start in life that left him with some pretty significant baggage. When he arrived at SAFE, despite having ‘been started’ in his youth, he…
Figuring Out Henry
Figuring out horses is a thing we have to do a lot here at SAFE. Rarely do they come with instructions. Their histories often begin at the point where they’re rescued, and we can usually only guess at what their lives were like before. We watch for clues or hints. We reinforce the good behaviors, and discourage the bad. When past neglect has been a factor in shaping a horse’s personality, we may…
Bandit & Brandy on Grass
If you were to stay at the Brandy and Bandit Bed and Breakfast (only fun to say because of all the alliteration, and goodness me, try saying ‘Brandy and Bandit’ ten times fast), you would find that grass is newly on the menu. These two ladies have been spending a bit of time separate as of late, in paddocks that neighbor one another but are not connected. This slight separation has been good for…
Meet Arrow
A handsome stallion joined our herd last week — an 18 year old buckskin boy named Arrow. He was an owner surrender, and while he is overdue for some basic care and in need of groceries, he has clearly had some good experiences in his past given how gentle he has shown himself to be so far. He let us curry (and bathe!) away the caked on mud on his hocks and the rain rot on his back, and he…
Alumni Update: Rhythm
What a cute selfie of these two! Rhythm and her adopter competed in low-level eventing for 10 years, but nowadays Rhythm and her pasture mate, a 27-year-old retired roping horse, enjoy their time just being horses and going on a couple of rides a week.
Irene is Adopted!
This is a record breaking adoption!! Our Irene was at SAFE for a short 3.5 weeks and it only took 11 days for Irene’s new adopter, Stanalee, to meet her and fall in love. That’s incredible! Stanalee came to us looking for a pasture mate for her mare, Kihanna (a SAFE alumni) after recently losing their herd mate, Haley. In fact, it’s the same reason Stanalee first came to us 7 years ago and…
Domino’s Days
What has our rodeo king been up to in his spare time? Well, mostly Domino is still just patiently waiting for his person to show up. This sweet old gent is ready for a nice and easy retirement, ideally alongside a pushover gelding or a nice mare he can romance. Domino continues to enjoy his human interactions, loving the time he spends with his groomers. He remains very attached to his fence…
Terrific Tanis
Volunteer Meghan N has been spending most of her weekday afternoons with Tanis for almost a year now, and took the time to write a bit about their partnership over the last months: “Yet again, Tanis impresses us with the huge amount of try she has! This mare has really come so far since her intake in spring of 2022. Over the winter, we worked hard on everything from hindquarters/front…
Alumni update: Bowie
Bowie is doing entirely well in his loving adoptive home with his friend Raven. Although would like to be, he is not on pasture right now because he is on a diet. He needs to lose some weight so he is currently in a gravel paddock and will be back on the trails once he has lost a few pounds.
Cramer is Adopted!
Once upon a time, there was a big bay horse. Before he came to SAFE, he had cut his teeth at the rodeo, used for years as a bucking horse. When his quarter ran out, he was relegated to a practice horse for people to hone their skills, and when his time there was done, he found himself bound for a feedlot. The antagonist of this horse’s story does not have a name we know, but there are…
Meet Roy!
Our newest addition has a very sad story and once again we are so thankful for the animal control officers in Pierce County for their gallant efforts to help horses in our community. Roy was part of a herd of 7 horses, sadly two were euthanized on the property, one at the hospital and two others while trying to save them while in holding with Animal Control. Roy is a true survivor and has…
Moshi’s First Rides
Moshi, one of the Graham 27, had her first rides here at SAFE recently. From the first few times working with her, we had a feeling this little mare was going to make it easier on us than some. And this isn’t to say that there are not always challenges (both standard and unique) that accompany each horse we start here, but it seemed that with Moshi, said challenges would be rather manageable.…
Paw-ppy
Horses have a remarkable field of vision, able to see about 350 degrees around them. Each eye can work independently of the other, which makes sense – horses, prey animals by nature, have the best chance of survival if they can scope out almost the entirety of their surroundings at any given time. In our horsemanship, we talk a lot about ‘turning loose’ to an eye, which essentially means helping…
Betty and Eleven Are Adopted!
Eleven and Betty arrived as a pair, nearly indistinguishable from one another, and left just the same: together. We’d gotten to know them a lot better by then — the way Eleven would maneuver her lips into a quasi-vacuum to suck up her prascend-stuffed carrot each morning, or the way Betty’s coat would shine nearly blue-black in the sunshine — but the one thing we knew for sure was that we wanted…
Back to (halter starting) Basics with Esme
Even though Esme has been going well under saddle for a bit now, there are still some basics that she is in need of revisiting. Because Esme was improperly halter started once upon a time, she still has a difficult time coming off of pressure. In the below video, Joel helps Esme learn how to follow a float and a feel by dallying her from his saddle horse. This is also important work to help Esme…
May Volunteer of the Month
We are oh so lucky Lara found SAFE! She has been a rockstar on the Sunday PM shift, stepping up as Shift Lead and then Barn Assist coming early to help with hay drop and turn in. Not only does she work a full time job and commit one of her weekend evenings to SAFE, she also shows up each Thursday night for Night Check to make sure all the horses are healthy and tucked in for their last meal.…
Lacey, Back in the Saddle
Our longest resident at SAFE is a little chestnut mare named Lacey. 7 years Lacey has been here, so you would think that by this point we know her very well. And while this isn’t wrong, there are many ways in which Lacey remains an enigma to us. For a while she was going well under saddle – she had gone off to training, and had been put through the paces by multiple different riders. But there…
Introducing the Gig Harbor 7
The majority of the horses who come to SAFE come as singles or in pairs. One here, one there, typically with some space in between arrivals. But on occasion, we are called to assist with a larger seizure. It hasn’t been all that long since the Fall City 40, and an even shorter period since we took in the Graham 27. Now, we were once again called to help with a multi-horse intake. Seven horses in…
Addie, at Training
Our little Addison has been away at off-site training for the past 30 days, and has been doing quite well with the new experiences she has been exposed to. Dylan has been putting her through the paces, riding her outside, flagging off of her, and practicing building a loop and throwing a rope from her back, amongst other things. And with the farmland of Ellensburg as her backdrop, Addie could…
Jax’s Back
As is the case with any new horse, it takes some time before we get to know them. That period of unknowing that comes before knowing is always so strange to reflect on – the hidden personalities that lurk beneath the surfaces, waiting to be teased out by proper care and caring. When 15 horses arrived on our doorstep all at once last November, we knew it would take a bit before we knew each of…
Nova at Training
What is that saying, girls go to college to get more knowledge? (I think there’s a part about boys in there too, but it’s a little less kind). The girl in question here is Nova, and the college is a place in Ellensburg with teacher, Dylan Palm. With a great start already under her belt, Nova has just been in need of a bit of dedicated time spent to really polish her to a shine, and we couldn’t…
GiveBIG May 2–3rd
Each first Tuesday in May, Washington Gives promotes participating nonprofits through their online giving platform to help individuals and businesses discover and donate to nonprofits in Washington State. You can support SAFE during GiveBIG by clicking here.
Veronica’s Tarp Journey
Where do ‘grandma’s horses’ come from, what are their origins? Just as all grandmas were once young women, some surely more wild than others, such must be the same for the horses who earn this moniker. Continuing the metaphor, on the ground, Veronica is closer to middle-age. Not quite ready for grandma, but with that in sight. She is, these days, quite easy to catch and lead. She stands well for…
