Pippi is Growing Up
Pippi is growing up right before our eyes! In the last clinic, Pippi got her first real taste of groundwork. It’s clear that she is quite herd bound and since she’s been surrounded by people her whole life, has little respect for human personal space. During the clinic, Joel called this a “city horse” issue: growing up with so many people loving on her, she not afraid of anyone and thus had no…
Lacey Starts Fresh
Lacey Lacey Lacey…what a difficult pony you can be! Lacey participated in the recent Joel Conner clinic and gave the small, social-distanced audience quite a show, bucking and squealing away at the rope. It looks like it’s going to be a long journey for Lacey to overcome her ticklishness at the rope and things touching her hind area. While we’ve been riding Lacey for years, she always had this…
Merry is a Riding Horse!
After 30 days of professional training and working in SAFE’s horsemanship program, Merry is now a riding horse! She is still very green and can have a bit of an attitude at times, but she’s progressing quickly through training and is ready for an advanced rider who is experienced with green horses. We’ll be introducing Merry to some other horses in the coming weeks, so we’ll be able to see how…
Artie Shaw Crescendos to New Heights
Little mister Artie sure is becoming a gentle little gelding! While he still has quite a ways to go in his training, the amount of improvement that Artie has shown is incredible. It wasn’t that long ago that Artie was the wild stallion kept in the round pen because he couldn’t be led out. Now he comes into a stall for the night! The same horse that couldn’t handle a rope going over his ears is…
Introducing Errol Flynn
Errol Flynn is a POA pony in his mid-20s who was surrendered to Animal Control by his owner who could no longer care for him. Flynn’s right eye is badly infected, and vascular mass is growing over his cornea. Unfortunately, this has gone untreated for the past year. Dr. Renner from Rainland Farm Equine did an assessment of Flynn just after his arrival. He examined Flynn’s eye and assessed his…
Sienna’s Stone Bruise
Recently, Sienna showed up lame at the walk. Assuming she had an abscess, we soaked her foot and kept it wrapped in an Epsom salt poultice. When she seemed to stop favoring that foot at the walk, it appeared that she was still off on her front left at the trot. With advice from our farrier, we determined it was a stone bruise and continued wrapping in an Epsom salt poultice and duct tape boot…
Darling Teddi is Feeling Better
Sweet, smart Teddi seems to be doing well, despite some complications from her previous surgery. Over the summer, it seemed that her lameness was much worse and noticeable at the walk even. Since then, Teddi has been on “stall rest” in her small paddock and seems to be improving! She doesn’t appear to limping at the walk anymore and loves coming into her cozy stall for the night. We’re hopeful…
Billy Settles In
Billy seems to have settled into his new life at SAFE. He’s so quiet in his stall, you could walk right by him with noticing he’s there! He loves his salt block, his meals of timothy and doesn’t seem to mind that volunteers are always fawning over him through his stall window. Billy is still a little timid and he gets very uncomfortable about changing eyes on people and anyone going near his…
Joel Conner Clinic Report: Alder
from Kaya M. Alder continues to impress me with how accepting he is of new experiences and learning new things. I think I have been underestimating him! I was a little nervous about the clinic because we’ve never ridden with so many other horses or horses from outside SAFE, but he was a champ! Casey and Fancy helped us both get through a little of those nerves. Alder and I rode up to Fancy and…
Joel Conner Clinic Report: Barb
by Kaya M. Sweet Barb is coming along so well with her training! She started the last clinic weekend a little dull and Joel explained that she needed to get her feet a little freer so that she could voice her opinion. We worked a lot on freeing up her feet and changing eyes. We also did a lot of rope work, including roping all four feet and leading off of them. Towards the end of the clinic Barb…
Poor Rae Rae
Rae recently was seen limping on her front right leg. We had our vet out to look at her and she was diagnosed with white line separation. We treated Rae four times a week with Venice Turpentine, but when out farrier came out a week or so later, she noticed a large and sensitive stone bruise in Rae’s right front hoof. With this diagnosis, we began wrapping Rae’s foot in an Epsom salt poultice…
Hay Bank Update
by Debbie M, our hay bank admin The Year 2020 is going to go down in the record books for a number of reasons. One of those reasons, unfortunately, is the record number of job losses due to layoffs or shutdowns during the global pandemic. This has put countless well-meaning people in our communities in difficult financial positions. If these people are also horse owners, they have to struggle…
Welcome Hazel!
We were asked to help with Hazel just a day or so before we lost Callista, so she is part of the SAFE herd in Callista’s memory. Hazel’s 70 year old owner passed away, leaving his 90 year old mother responsible for his estate and his horse. She lived on 20 acres, and was nearly impossible to catch, so she didn’t receive any vet or farrier care for a long time. Hazel is a big-bodied black and…
Amelia is gone
We are literally heartbroken to tell you that early Saturday morning, we lost our dear Amelia. She had a bad bout of colic that started midday on Friday, and nothing that was done for her could relieve the discomfort and pain she was feeling. Every effort was made, but in the end, we had to make the difficult decision to do what was best for her and let her go. This has been deeply painful to…
Banner is Home
Banner made it safely to his new home where he met his new friend Rowdy! The two are getting along great and Banner has settled in nicely. Banner’s adopter Casey is a small animal vet and is very happy to have both horses living out their senior years together on her home property! Here’s an update from Casey: Banner has settled in well to the new routine. He’s such a cute, grumpy old man. He…
November Volunteer of the Month: Kristina Oden
Congratulations and huge thanks to our Volunteer of the Month for November: Kristina Oden!! Kristine came to SAFE as an adopter in 2017, and stayed on as a volunteer, using her photography skills to document the progress of our rescued horses! Let’s get to know her better: How and when did you first get involved with horses? I’ve grown up with horses my whole life. My mom loves horses so I…
Welcome to SAFE, Billy!
Billy came into SAFE last Tuesday thanks to the help of driver Jane Ostrom Millar and pony wrangler Ian LeFae. He is a 2002 model (18yrs old). Pony type, brown and white paint 10.2h gelding. His R right eye has a blind spot, not painful. He has vision and manages well. He has no medical history so he will get all his vaccinations and have them boosted a month afterwards. This week he had his 1st…
A Sad Goodbye to a Special Horse
There’s just no easy way to say this…we had to say goodbye to sweet Callista this evening. 💔 When we first met Callista, we were immediately concerned about the severe muscle atrophy in her right hip. An ultrasound didn’t reveal a fracture, but the amount of arthritis was an indication that some kind of trauma had taken place. We decided at intake to give her 30 days and monitor her…
The Limelight Pet Project Features Beauty
Thanks to The Limelight Pet Project for featuring Beauty! The Limelight Pet Project is a campaign local to Washington that shines a light on harder-to-adopt pets and the people who help them. We were excited to see Beauty this month on Q13 FOX. Here’s the article and segment on Q13 FOX: And a full version of Terry telling Beauty’s story: Limelight took some lovely photos of Beauty when they were…
October Volunteer of the Month: Michayla Conrad
How and when did you first get involved with horses? Do you have one now you want to tell us about? I grew up with horses and spent almost every day with them until I became allergic when I was around 11 years old. The reactions I would have were pretty severe, but they have since calmed down to the point where I can volunteer at SAFE without having any health concerns (yay!). I do not currently…
2020 Q3 Impact Statement
New Horses Intake Date: July 3, 2020 Finley (Owner Surrender) Intake Date: July 27, 2020 Jasper (Owner Surrender) Intake Date: August 20, 2020 Boone (Owner Surrender) Intake Date: August 25, 2020 Callista (Owner Surrender) Placed Horses Millie Stella Angel Renee Cassidy Remy Euthanized Horses Finley Buddy
Friendship Lights Our World!
Our barn bathroom was sad. It had a hole in the ceiling. It was unsightly and a bit drafty. Friends of SAFE to the rescue! SAFE Saturday Volunteer, Sarah McGarr, asked her talented friend, Andrew Perti to come and take a look. Andrew grabbed his tools and went right to work. With Jeanne’s help and a few trips to the hardware store- our barn bathroom is beautiful and whole! Not only did he…
A Virtual Visit with Bowie
In lieu of in-person site visits, we’ve been conducting virtual follow ups with adopted SAFE horses. A SAFE volunteer spoke by phone with Pat, who adopted Bowie. Pat had this to say about her handsome horse: “He is so very happy. If you remember, this is the horse that was lame when we took him home. I firmly said I was not bringing home a lame horse and then fell in love and brought him home…
Checking in with Gunnar
In lieu of in-person site visits, we’ve been conducting virtual follow ups with adopted SAFE horses. A SAFE volunteer spoke by phone with Carrie, who adopted Gunnar as a companion for her riding horse, Bryce. Gunnar can’t be ridden but he still gets to show off the groundwork skills he learned at SAFE with Carrie on a regular basis. His health is good, apart from an ongoing battle with scratches…
Adoption Announcement: Cassidy!
With happy tears, we watched Cassidy load up and head to her new home. Her adopter Bri is simply amazing. This is a true love story. Bri visited SAFE last fall and met Cassidy but recognized there was some important foundation work to be done before Cassidy would be ready as a riding partner. Bri came back this summer and proved open and willing to meet Cassidy where she was and support her…
Adoption Announcement: Remy
We are thrilled to report Remy is home and settling in well. Adopter and SAFE Wednesday AM volunteer, Jessica, has bonded with Remy over the last few weeks. They had a ton of great changes and the pair is ready for their next chapter to begin. Remy is going to be Jessica’s groundwork partner and companion to her riding horse Soldier. Jessica has set up a great support team for her and her equine…
Adoptions: Current Status and Quick Guide to Some Frequently Ask Questions
Here are a few answers to frequently asked questions we get at SAFE about adoptions: 9/18/2020: Due to the smoke inhalation from wildfires our horses have recently experienced in the Pacific Northwest, we have currently CLOSED all riding horse visits and adoptions. We hope all our horses have an easy recovery but need to give them the time required to heal before working them. Our vets recommend…
In Memory: Buddy
I’m sorry to have to tell everyone that we lost Buddy last week. He was discovered down at night check by our volunteer with his hind legs caught under the fence. He got himself up while she went to call for help, but he was in a lot of distress. He was covered in sweat, and very unsteady on his feet. When he threw himself back down and started rolling from side to side, it was clear that we…
Poor Air Quality: All Riding Horses Adoptions on Hold
Well, this was not the end of summer we were hoping for! Wildfires in Washington and Oregon have severely compromised the air quality in our area, so we’ve made the following decisions regarding our horses: All riding adoptions are on hold. No showing, no visits, and no riding horses are being worked now and for at least 2 weeks AFTER air quality is back to “good”. We can then resume showing…
A Visit with Atticus
We had a chance to catch up with our old pal Atticus recently! This 30 year old Arabian gelding is living the life of Riley, and is much loved by his adoptive family. He doesn’t have many teeth left, so he maintains his rugged figure by eating wet mashes twice a day. He’s still very active and enjoys a romp in the paddock from time to time. It’s great to see him looking so healthy and happy!!
