SAFE Horses
SAFE News and Updates
A Big Year for Zoe!
What an amazing year Zoe is having. She had her first rides, 30 days of professional training with Nick Donohue, her first trail rides, and two amazing clinics with Buck Brannaman! She is gentle, endearing, and a solid citizen all around. The two areas we are still working on are tightness when being saddled after time off and acceptance of the snaffle bit in the lope/canter. Other than those…
Meet George!
Back in August, we were called upon to help find homes for a group of wild horses we dubbed the Fall City 40. In the two weeks that we had access to these horses, we placed 14 of them into new homes. We also ended up taking one of the horses into our rescue program. For our protection, we kept quiet about this horse but it’s now possible to share his existence with the world. George was a young…
And Just Like That, They’re Yearlings!
It’s hard to believe that our three resident bundles of joy were born over a year ago! Nova, Rae, and Pippi have blossomed into beautiful young ladies, full of life and personality. We have enjoyed watching them grow and are looking forward to seeing what their futures hold. They’re leading well and standing patiently (usually) for their vet and farrier visits. They still have some “baby antics”…
A Plot Twist for Lacey
At the most recent Joel Conner clinic, Lacey went into season and we saw some less than desirable behavior from her. She has a history of being sensitive around her flank region, especially when she goes into heat. She’ll squeal and make it known that she is not at all happy about being touched in that area. Lacey has come a long way since the beginning of her days under saddle, and she is no…
Roscoe 12/8/2019
Alder and Pearl Intake Photos
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Cassidy is a Riding Horse!
Little “Baby” has sure grown up! A lot has changed for her since her arrival at SAFE, but more recently she has become a riding horse! We put in a lot of preparation and patience to get her ready to start this next chapter. During the September Horsemanship clinic, our friend Joel Conner put on a few rides. Cassidy handled this well but there was still more groundwork to get her relaxed and…
A Beauty in the Making
We’ve now known Beauty for a little over a week. She’s still on our standard intake quarantine for another week so we haven’t been interacting with her too much, but she’s proving to be a sweet mare with a desire to connect with people and other horses. Beauty came to us a little underweight, and she has some dental issues. She had her teeth floated prior to arrival, and the veterinarian that…
Pyrrah 12/3/2019
SAFE Mailing Address Change
IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT: Someone broke into SAFE’s locked mailbox over Thanksgiving. We don’t think any mail was actually stolen, but we can’t be certain. IF YOU RECENTLY MAILED A CHECK TO SAFE, please contact Bonnie Hammond at 206–331-0006 or bonnie@safehorses.org to confirm that we received it. We now have a post office box which will be used as our mailing address from here out: SAFE PO Box…
December Volunteer of the Month: Wendy Kettering
Congratulations to SAFE’s Volunteer of the Month for December, Thursday AM Chores Team Player, Wendy Kettering! How and when did you first get involved with horses? Do you have one now you want to tell us about? I was the usual horse-crazy young girl. When I was in junior high I painted the entire exterior of our house as payment to purchase a horse that resided in the neighbors pasture next…
Millie makes progress!
Millie has been doing great! She was worked in the Horsemanship clinic at the beginning of November and was a star. Joel used her in a round pen “join up” demonstration and showed how to help her be more accepting of the rope. Very simply put, he would swing the rope then walk backwards to take off the pressure. When she looked at him, he would stop swinging and release. This way she learned…
Growing Pains
Piper is in a growth spurt right now. She looks a bit awkward with her long legs and high haunches but that is a phase that will be over soon. We have turned her out with several different buddies and she seems to get along nicely with a variety of personalities. This fall and winter, we are still working with her in preparation for riding. Not with rigorous work sessions: we throw the ropes on…
Cameo: Joel Conner Clinic Report
Cameo took part in the first day’s groundwork session of the November Joel Conner Clinic. Here’s what Scott had to say about the experience: I worked with Cameo for just one day of groundwork. She was the easiest horse I have worked with at SAFE. She took a couple of minutes to size me up and determine if she would respond. By offering her a good deal and gently firming up quickly, she responded…
Cyrus: Joel Conner Clinic Report
SAFE volunteer Phoebe T has been working with Cyrus on groundwork and saddling. Here’s her report about the November Joel Conner Clinic: First off it was a privilege to work with Cyrus for 3 days in a row. He went from being constantly distracted on day 1, to being able to stay with me for much longer periods of time. Being able to change up what we were doing by day 2 kept his attention, and on…
Amelia: Joel Conner Clinic Report
SAFE volunteer Jennifer A got to work with Amelia on the ground at the most recent Joel Conner clinic. Here’s what she had to say about the experience: I was so excited for the opportunity to work with Amelia at the Joel Connor groundwork clinic. It was my first time as a participant. I knew Amelia had a tendency to crowd and push during turnout and was hoping to work on moving her out during…
Remy’s Return From Training
After months of chiropractic adjustments and careful rehabbing, Remy seemed as recovered as he could be from his back issues and went back to training with Nick Donohue. Nick brought him along slowly and mindfully, being sure to pay close attention to the situations that brought out the trouble in him in the past. We were hopeful that we had gotten to the source of his pain and fixed it. But it…
Adorable Miss Mara
Mara is arguably one of SAFE’s cutest current residents. Although she is still reserved, she has begun to come out of her shell and let us get to know her a little better. At first she didn’t want to admit it, but she eventually caved and allowed us to see how much she loves neck scratches from people. She’s itchy under that long Cushing’s hair coat so she gets regular currying, and she has an…
Getting to Know Farley
Farley has settled in well here at Safe Harbor Stables. We have gotten to know and love his gentle personality and sweet nickers. Although he is shy, he does seem to enjoy the company of people and will seek out attention from his caretakers. He and Butter are quite the pair and can be seen grooming each other in turnout much of the time. Farley’s biggest challenge since arrival has been getting…
Joel Conner Clinic Report: Fancy
Casey had this to say about Fancy’s performance in both the Buck Brannaman clinic in October and the November Joel Conner clinic: Fancy has had a busy and productive couple of months. In October, we rode with Buck Brannaman in Spanaway, which was a great experience. This was really the first time I had ridden Fancy off property. She did get troubled by the life of the other horses moving around…
Butterscotch: Joel Conner Clinic Update
Lori helped Butterscotch get introduced to horsemanship in our recent Horsemanship clinic. Here is what she had to say about working with this smart senior mare: Butter came to SAFE about a month ago. She’s a sweet girl but didn’t understand much about horsemanship. I took Butter into the Friday and Saturday classes of the Joel Conner clinic. In Friday’s class, we worked on the unified circle,…
Butter’s New Look
Bathing Butter has been something that we’ve wanted to tackle due to her perpetually grimy, shaggy haircoat. The hope was that a bath with a medicated shampoo would help her be less itchy. None of the oral supplements and antihistamines that she’s been on have seemed to help the matter, and our next option would be oral steroids. Due to her Cushing’s disease we want to reserve the steroids as a…
Amelia’s Trip to the Hospital
Sweet Amelia has battled GI issues since before she arrived at SAFE. But so far, we had only seen her have one colic episode, and it was a minor one. But just before Halloween we found her down in her turnout, not wanting to get up. She hadn’t finished her most recent meal, which is very unlike her. She was given a dose of oral banamine, which did nothing to make her feel better. When it was…
Understanding PPID (Equine Cushing’s Disease)
We’ve taken in several “shaggy” senior horses lately. Honeycutt, Butter, and Mara all came to us looking suspicious for pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction (PPID), and all of them tested positive. Last year, our cute pony, Sage, also got the diagnosis. PPID, also known as Equine Cushing’s disease, is a common disease among horses over the age of 15. Equine veterinarians have begun moving away…
Luna Finishing Training
Here are some highlights from Luna’s training with Donohue Horsemanship in Banks, Oregon at the end of 2019. SAFE is thankful for all their hard work in helping us offer such well trained horses to the public. What a great foundation this young mare has received! https://youtu.be/CmBymcZJBYg
Jewel 2019 Site Visit Photos
Sinatra at Home with Phoenix and Denton
Joel Conner Clinic Report: Anderson
Anderson lent his vast experience as a groundwork and riding horse to several clinic participants this weekend. First up was volunteer Sarah V, who did the groundwork sessions with him and had this to say about it: This was my second groundwork clinic with Joel and only my second time working with Anderson, but I learned a ton! It was a great chance for me to continue teasing out how much of my…
Joel Conner Clinic Report: Cassidy
Here’s an update on Cassidy from Casey: After Terry rode Cassidy in the morning, I did some additional groundwork that would support continued growth under saddle. The first thing I worked on was bridling. Cassidy would try to avoid the bit by wringing her neck and sending the bit in the air (yikes!), lifting her head, or lowering her head. This is something that we see at SAFE quite a bit when…
