SAFE Horses
SAFE News and Updates
Adoption Announcement: Karma!
We’ve had a whirlwind of adoption announcements to share with you this past month. They’re all special…but this one is especially special. Karma has been adopted. From the moment we laid eyes on Karma, we knew that this troubled mare truly needed our help. Her past had left her with many scars, both physical and emotional, and she would need a lot of time and patience to learn to trust humans…
A Gift of Bodywork: Oscar and Nala
The SAFE horses have made a wonderful new friend: Barbara Breckenfeld of Movement in Balance. Barbara specializes in equine bodywork, massage, and energy healing. For the past few weeks, she has been coming to Safe Harbor and donating her time and gifts to a few special horses. We are so grateful for her healing touch and understanding. Thank you Barbara! To read move about Barbara’s work, check…
Health Update: Bridgit
We are currently working to strengthen Bridgit’s hindquarters. We had Dr. McCracken come out and evaluate her and help us understand why she has such a sway in her trot from her hind legs. It is a little of “the needle in the haystack” for an answer so at the moment to help we are going to do a few things to make her stronger and rule out weakness as part of the problem. To start we are walking…
June Volunteers of the Month: Gerry and Robbie Meisner
There is nothing shy or retiring about active retirees Gerry and Robbie Meisner. This couple is a powerhouse of activity at the barn. After a full careers in academia, and raising a family, Gerry and Robbie embarked on a second career of fulfilling their lifelong dream to be horse-folk. Like most things we see them do, they took a systematic approach. From their then home base in Tennessee, they…
Open Positions on our Volunteer Team!
SAFE Horse Rescue is looking for new volunteers in a couple of specific areas! Read the following volunteer descriptions to find out if one position is right for you. If you are interested in lending some of your time to help our organization for any of the following volunteer positions, please email our Operations Director — Terry Phelps at terry@safehorses.org. Assistant Facilities Manager -…
Adoption Announcement: Tess!
When a new horse arrives at SAFE, we never know what we might have on our hands. So we take time to get to know them and we give them time to heal and recover from their past neglect. Watching these horses transform is one of the joys of working with a rescue! When three skinny Quarter Horse mares arrived at SAFE at the end of December, it hurt to see how thin they were. As they stepped out of…
Health & Riding Update: Scarlett
Scarlett is looking great! The combination of leather pads on her front hooves and weekly massages with Lori McMasters have brought her a tremendous amount of relief. With the pads and no pain in her front hooves she has been able to take some stress off her hind quarters and balance the distribution of weight more efficiently. The massages have helped her relax her back and deal with any…
New friends: Annabelle and her Goats!
Annabelle has been fostered out at Jackie’s for 9 months and recently the other horses Sophie and Emmy moved back to Safe Harbor for training leaving Annabelle without a horse mate. While the neighbor horses are always in sight we weren’t sure how happy Annabelle would be alone and if we would need to bring another horse on property to be her companion. Jackie has 3 goats: Yodel, Bridget and…
Training update: Anderson
Anderson is one BIG love bug! If he could, I believe he would come into the house and snuggle up on the couch with me. This big puppy has a giant heart. It’s been a joy to be around him during his journey to becoming a riding horse. He has a very smart and strong personality but he is also very young in both his actions and emotions. I don’t think he has a mean bone in his body. He is…
Adoption Announcement: Mesquite!
We are so pleased to announce that Mesquite has been adopted! This handsome and talented boy has truly made an amazing transformation. Less than eight months since arriving at SAFE as an unstarted stallion, Mesquite is now a well-adjusted good citizen with loads of potential, heading off to a new home and a new life. Adopting horses to great people who understand the “spirit” of SAFE’s program…
Foster Update: Rocky
Update from Rocky’s foster mom Kellie: Just wanted to let you know that Rocky is still doing very good. He is eating most of his meds (7/8th???) and I’m seeing only a few hay “balls” with the orchard grass hay. I think it is softer for him to chew. His weight is good. He is still shedding out, but I am helping with that. Jim (Bergevin) just did another set of front shoes with the wedge/lift pad…
Foster Update: Banjo and Finn
Here are some great photos of Finn and Banjo (aka “Joey”) and their foster parents Carrie and Derek. They are taking wonderful care of these two boys. We are so lucky to have wonderful fosters to care for and love our companion horses!
Sophie: Baby is growing up!
Sophie had her first dental float this week! We were able to confirm that she is coming four years old this year. One baby cap came off during the float and one wolf tooth was extracted with no trouble. She needs a little work with needles for sedation but wasn’t too difficult. Her teeth looked good with no major issues. Dr. McCracken remarked how big she has gotten since she came in last…
Heath Update: Anakin
After six months in our care, we’re reaching the final stages of Anakin’s rehabilitation. Dr. McCracken came out Monday to do a dental float and give him his vaccines. Unsurprisingly, Anakin does not have the world’s greatest teeth…there was bad ulceration but he does have some significant tooth loss in the very first lower teeth on both sides. Subsequently, the corresponding top teeth had…
May Volunteer of the Month: Sara Sluszka
When horses come to SAFE, they are often suspicious and fearful. In many cases, their hard lives have left them mistrustful of humans. It takes patience, sensitivity, timing, and powerful observation skills to bring them out of their hurtful pasts and into a healthy, useful future with humans. SAFE has worked hard over the past few years to develop a group of talented volunteer riders who help…
Health Update: Emmy
This week we brought Emmy home from winter turnout at foster. We had a lameness evaluation done on Tuesday (video posted below) and sadly, she is still slightly off on the right hind. The time off has helped her some, but there is clearly something still bothering her. The two issues we’ve been struggling with have been the sizeable bone chip that was surgically removed from her right stifle…
Check in with Cameo!
Cameo is getting back to work and doing very well. We are keeping things easy to start with, working on groundwork, saddling, and hooking up with her handlers. Already we are seeing good changes! Here is an update from her volunteer rider Claire: “Cameo has come a long way in just a few sessions I’ve been able to work with her. Since she was stuck in a stall for so long recovering from her…
Thank you from ALL the horses at SAFE!!!
A heartfelt THANK YOU to everyone who donated during the Seattle Foundation’s GiveBIG event May 3rd and 4th! Generous donors like you raised over $16 MILLION dollars for non-profits in the Greater Seattle area. SAFE is so very thankful to all of you who donated over $12,000 to support injured and neglected horses in Western Washington. The final total will go up with employer matching funds from…
Training Update: Jewel
Claire has done an absolute AMAZING job training Jewel for SAFE. Our little palomino paint has transformed into a beautiful young riding mare with a TON of potential. Claire had a few things to tell us about the progress Jewel has made and riding her in last month’s Joel Conner clinic: “Jewel was a rock star in the clinic. She once again handled a very crowded and energetic situation with ease.…
April Volunteer of the Month: Jayne Tracy
Our April Volunteer of the Month has been a steadfast friend of SAFE for more than three years. She has a quiet way with people and horses. She doesn’t need the spotlight and goes about her work with a cheerful willingness that makes the Saturday morning shift run smoothly. Jayne Tracy is always happy to meet new volunteers and new horses. She greets both with a smile. Jayne is a favorite with…
Ben at the Joel Conner Clinic, April 16–17, 2016
(as reported by Ben’s regular rider, Lisa Garr) In December of 2015, Ben and I participated in a clinic at SAFE with trainer Joel Conner and I was just hoping he would stay calm enough to participate safely. Well, he blew me away then with his focus, willingness, and trust, and in April we once again joined Joel for a clinic… and Ben was a STAR! Since December we had been focusing on moving up…
Eye Surgery is a Success
We have good news to share: Anakin had his eye surgery done last Thursday and it was a complete success. He spent the night after the surgery at Rainland Farm Equine Clinic so Dr McCracken could watch over him following the procedure, and he was released into our care the next day. When we came to pick him up, he was waiting in his stall with his head neatly bandaged, and he seemed so relieved…
Jessel Medical Update
On February 5th, Jessel sustained a skull fracture while she and Tess were playing in turnout. Radiographs were taken and determined that the fracture was about 2 1/2” long and had slightly dislodged the bone in her face. She was prescribed antibiotics, pain medication and stall rest, and given a good prognosis for full recovery–albeit with a bit of an odd looking face. Healing went well until…
2016 Q1 Impact Statement
New Horses Intake Date: Feb 4, 2016 Aubrey (owner surrender) Placed Horses none Euthanized Horses Shay (medical reasons)
An Amazing Transformation
Anakin, March 30, 2016 (Photos by Jessica Farren)
Stella Medical Update
On March 24th, Stella came up completely lame on the left hind leg. Dr. McCracken came out and diagnosed her with a peroneus tertius tendon rupture. This tendon is part of the apparatus in the hind limb that coordinates flexion and extension of the stifle and hock. Rupture of this tendon is usually secondary to hyperextension of the hock joint, so we suspect she slipped and injured it while in…
First meeting of new friends
With Shay’s recent passing, Marta was in need of a new friend to join her at her lovely foster home in Fall City. Since we’ve determined that Aubrey is not sound enough to be ridden, she seemed a good choice. Here are photos of the two mares meeting for the first time (thank you Jessica Farren!)
Jessel Liberty Work
Nadia Update!
Hi Bonnie, We wanted to write and give you an update on Nadia! We adopted her from SAFE almost 5 years ago. She was my daughter Zoë’s very first horse and she is now riding her for WAHSET for Yelm High School. I thought I’d send you some pictures of our first couple meets. They ride in both performance and gaming, plus the drill team. They have grown up together and we couldn’t love Nadia more!…
Run free, Shay
Strength and beauty. Two words that perfectly describe Shay. In the four years that we have known her, we’ve seen her battle back from neglect to become a vibrantly, beautiful mare. She’s lived a happy life in the company of her best friend Marta under the wonderful care of her foster family, Eileen and Andy Carrol. We could see that Shay had foundered at some point in her past because of the…
