Q13 Pet of the Week: Razin
Volunteer of the Month: Josie Weiss
How and when did you first get involved with horses? I owned my first horse when I was six years old — a Pony of America (POA) named Fiesta. That same year, my mom, sister and I moved into a house on a property whose owners boarded horses. I was responsible for helping to care for and exercise the horses. My favorite horse, Little Joe, was a Quarter Horse / Thoroughbred who was definitely not…
Fundraiser for Razin
Razin has been with SAFE for over a month and recently has been diagnosed as a cryptorchid, which means that he needs a more complicated procedure in order for him to be gelded. While a little more invasive than a typical gelding, this procedure will cost SAFE between $2,000-$2,500. Now that we are aware of Razin’s unique situation, we can act. His procedure is scheduled for March 4th and SAFE…
The Three Little Horses
Razin, Sundae, and Breve have been doing wonderfully at SAFE. All three have progressed greatly and are learning what it is like to be loved and to have human friends. Their haltering skills are continuously improving, and they even did well for their first farrier appointment! Breve only got two of the four feet done, but it is a great start. We were impressed with how well Sundae and Razin…
Cyrus Is On The Mend
Cyrus has come such a long way since he first arrived at SAFE, and soon he hopes to be making friends with a few other SAFE geldings. Before he gets the chance to spend the day with the other boys, he is working on recovering from a minor injury he received on January 14, 2021 in his paddock. As he returned to the barn from his day outside, we noticed he had an abrasion high up on his hind left…
Beauty in the Big Arena!
This is Beauty’s second time riding at SAFE outside of the round pen. She is coming down off a feel nicely, learning to soften through one rein stops and building trust with her rider. She can be fairly “gate sour” and she would prefer to be ridden alongside another horse, but she’s learning that emotional support can also come from humans. This older mare has come a long way since arriving at…
Meet Marianna Clair, SAFE’s new Development Director!
We have a brand new SAFE staff member to introduce to everyone: Marianna Clair, who joined SAFE last week as our Development Director. Marianna will be taking over responsibility for fundraising efforts at SAFE, as well as planning and executing events, and developing relationships with our donors. She’s an experienced development professional who has raised funds raised funds at a number of…
Flynn’s First Ride at SAFE!
This was the first time we saddled Flynn, bumped him up to the fence, and mounted him for a ride. He did extremely well and felt like a “been there done that” pony! We have only had him at SAFE for 2 months and most of the time has been spent recovering from his eye surgery, so there hasn’t been much time to introduce him to groundwork. But Flynn has clearly been ridden in the past. About six…
Hazel’s New Home
Terry recently dropped off Hazel at her new home. Here is what Terry had to say: “Jackie and I were so blessed to be there the day Hazel was picked up and today we got to help settle her in to her new home at Hooved Animal Rescue of Thurston County. She truly has come full circle from a scared trembling mare to a healthy, balanced, trusting friend. It was beautiful to watch her meet her new…
Piper is Adopted!
We are excited to tell you all that our baby Piper is returning to her wonderful foster mom, Talia, but this time it is for KEEPS! Yep, you heard it right, Piper is ADOPTED! Talia fell in love with Piper two years ago when she opened her herd and heart for Piper to foster and have space to “grow up” and be a kid. At the time adoption was not in the cards, but Talia always kept and eye on her…
Who’s your Valentine?
This week was the first time Terry worked with Valentine in the round pen. She doesn’t appear to have had much formal training and she is very sticky getting her to get on her hind and change directions off the halter lead. She is especially stuck in her right hind. It could possibly be an old injury or lameness. We will continue her rehabilitation and watch for soundness issues. Valentine was…
Quincy Gets His Hair Did
This was Terry’s third time working with Quincy. He is very reactive and afraid of human contact. At a few points during his groundwork session, he leaned into the touch and his eye become very soft. Hopefully with patience and time we will help him over his trouble and find a better relationship with people. We will continue to work on building trust. He’s worth all the effort! Look at…
Greetings from Gig Harbor!
Pepper and Tilt have been spending time in Gig Harbor with a wonderful foster family. Lisa Garr, one of our volunteer riders, lives in Gig Harbor and stops by the foster family’s home to work with the two mares. Here’s what she recently had to say about their progress: “While I have had very limited opportunities to get out to work with Pepper and Tilt since October, the time that their foster…
Alumni Update: Glory
Here are some photos that Glory’s adopter, Melissa, recently shared with us.
Alumni Update: Baxter
Baxter is living a well loved life on 5 acres with a 20 year old gelding as a best buddy. Here are some photo’s that Baxter’s adopter, Mandy, recently shared with us.
No Expectations
One thing I love about SAFE is that we have no expectations or deadlines that our horses have to fulfill for us. We accept them as individuals and recognize that one size doesn’t fit all. As we got to know the Fall City 40 horses better, we found there were many different personalities among them. But there were two mares in particular who seemed far more troubled than the rest of the group.…
Fancy Update
Fancy has been at SAFE for nearly three years. Through the great work by her horsemanship trainers, Fancy has become a trusting and athletic riding horse. As a veteran of both Joel Conner and Buck Brannaman clinics, Fancy has learned to relax around other riding horses. A little birdie said that Fancy has a potential adopter lined up. Stay tuned for further news at Fancy’s next update!
Four (more) new ponies at SAFE
A few days back, we introduced three ponies and a full sized horse who were seized by Animal Control due to neglect and signed over to SAFE. Animal Control found four more ponies hidden on the same property, and their owner surrendered them. One of SAFE’s top priorities is supporting Animal Control agencies so they can be most effective when dealing with animal cruelty. So when asked if we had…
February Volunteer of the Month: Sean Cramer
Congratulations and a huge thank you to our February Volunteer of the Month, Sean Cramer!! Sean is the Barn Assist on Thursdays, but also helps in so many other ways. Whether it’s unclogging drains, letting us borrow tractor parts, ripping up pastures or fixing hotwire in a torrential downpour. He is up for anything and always does it with a smile. You may have seen Sean a couple of weeks ago…
Beauty’s First Ride!
Jane and Kaya have been putting a lot of time into getting Beauty ready to be ridden. She’s accepted a saddle with ease, but she’s very reluctant to take a bit into her mouth. So today Kaya got on and rode her in a halter. As you can see, Beauty was just fine about being ridden, which opens up a lot of opportunity for this mare to find a home where she can be lightly ridden. Hopefully, before…
SAFE Alumni Update: Cameo and Mara
From Cameo and Mara’s adopter: I have been just terrible about updating on Cameo and Mara and I realized they’ve almost been here a whole year! Such a strange year and time no longer has any meaning but whatever! Anyway they’re doing great! Mara’s eye has been so good, she wears a UV blocking mask when it’s bright out and it hasn’t bothered her in months, except when she got her fall shots. The…
Meet Kayla!
Hooved Animal Rescue of Thurston County reached out to SAFE about a mare they had who needed our help. All of their horses live in foster homes and this particular mare, Kayla, was living and training with a foster who could work with her on ground manners and train her to become a riding horse. Unfortunately, this volunteer passed away, leaving Kayla without a trainer. She is an athletic mare…
Meet Mac!
Mac and another gelding were seized by Animal Control due to severe neglect. We are told that Mac was almost as thin as Anakin was when he was picked up. He spent several months in Animal Control custody before being signed over to SAFE. We’re told that Mac is an experienced trails horse, and if that is indeed true, we should have no trouble finding a good home for this sweet old fella. Mac…
Boone is Adopted!
Boone’s new family was looking to adopt a friend for their Yakima Reservation pony mare, Pyramid. Just before Thanksgiving, the family was able to bring him home. On his first day, the family said Pyramid kept looking at them as if to say “Do we get to keep him?! Is he staying?” The whole family was instantly in love. Boone, now named Mr. Fezziwig, gets walks up and down the road and takes…
Veronica’s Brighter Future
SAFE volunteer Candi K. has taken Veronica under her wing and has been consistently working with her for the past few months. Candi’s patient gentling work was exactly what Veronica needed. It’s moving to see Veronica opening up to human contact. Together they are creating a foundation that will be an enormous part of Veronica’s future success as a domesticated horse. Candi wrote this very…
Four new faces (or 16 new hooves) at SAFE
On January 5, 2021, we welcomed four new horses to SAFE. These three ponies and one full sized mare had been seized by Animal Control after a 5th horse on the property died due to neglect. The survivors all suffered from overgrown hooves, lice, malnutrition, and lack of dental care, causing painful ulcerations in their mouths. They also have enormous worm loads, which we are treating careful to…
Training Update: Billy
Foster “mom” Julie has been putting time in gentling Billy and her work and consistency is paying off! We’ve seen some significant changes in him. With patient groundwork, his fear is decreasing and he is learning to trust. While Billy’s education will likely be an ongoing project, the improvements we’re seen over the past few weeks are encouraging. That said, his ideal adopter would be able to…
Alumni Update: Willow
Here are some photos we received from Willow’s adopter. She is very loved by her family and has been with them since 2008! Willow also has a best horse buddy, Saren, who is boarded on the family’s property.
Alumni Update: Mesquite
Mesquite and his family love trail riding on their new 10 acre property and on the many nearby trails in their neighborhood, including a rarely used soft, groomed airstrip!
Limelight Pet Project: Anderson
SAFE is grateful for support of our friends at the Limelight Pet Project who work to help shine the light on harder to place pets. Anderson was recently featured on Q13’s weekend morning show as a result of their work. Here is the longer interview that covers everything you could possibly want to know about this special boy. We have had quite a few application come in after this spotlight and…
