Jewel getting some body work
The cold weather has been hard on all of us. The horses and volunteers had to endure a few weeks of abnormally low temperatures for our area and we are all looking forward to warmer spring and summer months! One of the biggest problems is the very hard ground in our dry lot for turnout. Unfortunately, Jewel went out there and jumped around and came in sore. To help release some of the tight…
Health Update: Gracie
We are so happy to report that Miss Gracie is feeling happy and healthy! When the winter weather hit and turnout became limited, the amount of time outside or grazing for the horses was drastically shortened. While we work very hard to rotate all of the horses out into the arena or dry lot, there just is not enough space or time to equal what it was in the summer. Gracie unfortunately had two…
Training update and Video: Vida
Here is an update of Vida’s progress from her volunteer rider, Jolene: Vida got her first lesson in tying yesterday. She did really good. Only pulled once and though she meant it, she came off it and was really good. While she was tied I worked on taming that wild mane of hers. She will need to work on standing for some time since she starts to be come impatient and paws the ground. She was good…
Training Update: King
King is working through the groundwork phases to becoming a riding horse. Last week Jolene began having him come up to her along the fence, to get him used to her swinging her leg over him and weight of her on his back. As you can see from the video, he took all of this very well and was happy and content. Our goal with a sensitive horse like this is to allow him the time and patience to…
December Volunteer of the Month: Megan Wilson
December’s Volunteer of the Month, Megan Wilson,started volunteering at SAFE in 2013 and now leads the Saturday morning chores team. Megan was nominated for this recognition by her peers and is admired for her upbeat, positive attitude that embodies the spirit of volunteerism. Originally from Virginia, Megan and her husband Carlton (who also fills in at SAFE when needed) now call West Seattle…
Announcement: SAFE is Moving to a New Home in Redmond!
After nearly 5 years in our current Woodinville home, SAFE is going to be moving to a new location. On Feb 1, we will begin packing our belongings and moving our horses to a fabulous equestrian center located in Redmond WA. This facility has 30 stalls, an indoor arena, a covered arena, a covered round pen, and an outdoor arena, all on 11 usable acres with plenty of turnouts and grass pastures…
Sophie: Adoption Announcement!
We are beyond thrilled to announce the adoption of our young mare Sophie! This special mare has an even brighter future with her new family, Julie and Paul W. They have been volunteers and neighbors to SAFE for the past 5 years. Julie has the experience and capabilities to develop a wonderful partnership with Sophie and we are excited to see what adventures they have together. 2016 was a…
Training Update: King
Jolene has been working to prepare King for his first saddling. He is a very sensitive boy so she has been preparing him with a ton of groundwork and it shows. The experience was very successful and he was able to experience this important training step without too much stress or worry. Great job, Jolene! Here is a video of the event, which includes a lot of great information from Terry. (Note:…
Companion Status for Rico
Rico is one of five horses that came to SAFE after their owner passed away unexpectedly. From the beginning, we knew that Rico was unsound, but we were told that all he needed was “special shoes” and he’d be okay. At his first trim, our farrier told us that his hooves were actually fairly decent and that he could remain barefoot. But since we could clearly see that he was lame both in the front…
Health Update: Banjo
On December 21st, we took Banjo (aka Joey) up to Pilchuck Veterinary Hospital to perform a biopsy on his coronary bands. Joey, whose hooves were horribly neglected before coming to SAFE, has had swelling and extra hoof material built up on his coronary bands since his arrival at SAFE. We have done many different things to treat them topically but we’ve not seen significant improvement, leaving…
Training Update: Gracie
Here is what volunteer rider Erika has to report from working with Gracie: “Gracie: Gracie wore the Back On Track underneath her blanket for an hour. It seems to help her be not so stiff when we start working. Gracie was in a good mood and was nice and forward for warm up. I’d planned to use both the round pen and the arena, but we ended up staying in the round pen. Gracie did really well today!…
Training Update: Bridgit
Here is what volunteer rider Erika had to say about working with Bridgit this week: “Bridgit: She was in the top turnout area above the arena while I worked Cam. And was pretending to be a bucking bronco almost the whole time. I thought it would be a “fun” or “exciting” ride, and it was. But only because Bridgit was a ROCK STAR!! Seriously. We worked exclusively in the round pen today, with no…
Training Update: Cameo
Cameo was a doll at the last open house, making new friends with everyone who stopped in to see her. She loves her outside stall where she can see all that is going on at the farm and has her buddy Stella always within sight. The volunteer riders have been working steadily to get her strong and ready to ride. She has been working on trot poles and is up to 20 mins of trot work with saddling. She…
Training Update: Stella
Stella is now 9 months in recovery from her left hind peroneus tertius tendon rupture. She has, to say the least, been a ROCKSTAR for the entire rehab! She is now back up to full saddle work and Casey, Stella’s volunteer rider, has started to add the canter into their workouts. Once she is cantering regularly we can add turnout into her daily routine and we will be removing the medical hold and…
2016 Volunteer of the Year: Caren McMillen
Choosing just one SAFE volunteer to be named Volunteer of the Year is never an easy task, but when someone like Caren McMillen is part of your family, the choice becomes utterly obvious. Caren has been with SAFE as a volunteer for almost three years, but there are times when it feels like she has always been part of this organization. She brings so much heart to everything she does here at Safe…
2016 Q4 Impact Statement
New Horses Intake Date: October 7, 2016 Rico (owner surrender) Rosie (owner surrender) Ruckus (owner surrender) Vida (owner surrender) Prince (owner surrender) Intake Date: December 16, 2016 Sierra (SAFE Alumni/owner surrender) Placed Horses Oscar
Vida’s First Ride at SAFE
Stormy & King in Turnout
Stormy and King enjoy some indoor turnout on a snowy day.
Video: Emmy Trot Work
Adoption Announcement: Oscar!
It is with great happiness that we announce the adoption of SAFE horse Oscar! He has spent the last month getting used to his new life and proving to be the best boy ever! Oscar joins his new owner Vickie C and her family on their lovely farm in Redmond. He has fit in nicely as the big brother to Vickie’s younger horse named Hank. The two boys are doing well together and have figured out how to…
Training Update: Rosie
I have been working Rosie over the last week to prepare her for riding. It is my belief that Rosie must have been used in some sort of sport where she was asked to be very hot with not a lot of relaxation. This showed in a few ways beginning with her work the ground. She has a very difficult time relaxing at the walk along the unified circle. She was continually pacing into a jig or trot and not…
Training Update: Anderson
I don’t know if I will be able to put into words how pleased I am with the work Joel Conner did with Anderson. Anderson and I had hit a pretty hard spot in our training this last summer and while I loved working with him, I knew that he needed a better hand to get him through this rough patch. He was still very scared of saddling and had extreme reactions to leg aids and going forward. This…
Sierra History
Sierra (aka Baby or Wildfire) was rescued by SAFE in early 2006 as a 6 month old filly, along with her dam Brandy, a pony mare. Her sire was reportedly a mustang. As a filly, Sierra was black with a blaze and two blue eyes. At the time of her rescue, Sierra was slightly underweight, but she was still nursing, so overall her condition was not too bad. She spent her first several months as a SAFE…
Stormy Update
We had a bit of a setback in Stormy’s healing process post-surgery. After the bandage removal, we continued to clean the incision site daily and administer antibiotics as Dr. Fleck had prescribed. He said to continue to treat and monitor it, but there was potential that her body was rejecting the ocular implant that was placed during surgery. Implants are commonly placed during enucleation…
Training Update: Jessel and Lacey
Jessel and Lacey made their way over to Ellensburg to start working with Joel Conner. They are both doing well and I checked in with Joel this week to see how the girls are doing. The plan is to give Lacey 90 days of professional training and let Jessel winter over with Joel. He’s going to lightly start her under saddle and keep her exposed to professional, consistent handling to ensure she is…
Training Update: Sophie
Sophie is just reaching about 40 rides this week in her training with Joel Conner. We were all very excited when Joel surprised us and brought Sophie over to ride in the clinic here at Safe Harbor. She looked AMAZING and while he explained about her “baby stuff” that he was helping her work out, from a spectators point a view, he has this mare looking great! While Joel said we could most likely…
Funny Girl Gracie
Joel Conner Clinic Report: Stevie
We are so grateful for the help of our volunteer riders. Casey is one of a very special group of people who make SAFE a great community, working together to train and find adoptive homes for our horses. She has been studying and working up to five times a week out at the arenas with her string of SAFE horses. We love to see all the progress she is making with them and to hear of her successes…
Health & Training Update: Stella
Our wonderful volunteer rider Casey has been dedicated to Stella’s rehab work and a tremendous help to getting this mare onto the road to a full recovery! Here is what Casey has to say about the progress she is making with Stella: After four months of strict stall rest and three months of walk and trot in hand, Stella is officially back to work under saddle! I was a little concerned that there…
Joel Conner Clinic Update: Emmy
We have been working on strengthening Emmy’s stifles for the past few months. There have been a few small setbacks but we have been slowly working her up to weight of a rider. Her training currently is a combination of lots of walking both on the ground and with a rider and trot poles on the ground. We have also been seeing some results by keeping her on a small dose of…
