SAFE Horses
SAFE News and Updates
Chip makes new friends
Here’s Chip, making some new friends and behaving like a perfect gentleman around the young 10yr old that was grooming him. He would make a great companion horse for another gelding. Low man in the order so he doesn’t try to dominate other horses. Since he was a stallion for so much of his life he would do best as a buddy to a gelding and not mares. He is a sound, healthy, easy keeper, who is…
Lola at the Show!
Terry and Lola, with vital assistance from Heather, went to the Hollywood Hills Schooling Show this past weekend. It was Lola’s first horse show outing since Terry has started working with her, and she was a great girl! The pair competed in Walk/Jog and Walk/Jog/Lope classes and placed 3rd in one of them. Terry reports, “She was very good and never try to break into the walk. She trotted…
Someone is feeling better…
Beautiful Ruby
Look who’s gorgeous!
The Further Adventures of Owen the Gelding
Owen joined the ranks of happy geldings everywhere this week, when he underwent a successful procedure to rid him of his family jewels. Getting there was a bit of an adventure, but now that he’s a gelding, Owen starts the next phase in what is sure to be a wonderful life. Owen’s initial gelding appointment was scheduled for last week, one month following the tetanus shot he got at his last vet…
Stella Intake Photos
Stella was signed over to SAFE today by Snohomish County Animal Control. She’s a tiny thing, still thin, but otherwise looking much improved from the photos taken of her a few weeks back by SCAC. Stella was one of two horses seized by SCAC in early May 2014 due to starvation and neglect. She was thin (BCS 1.5/9) with lice and a fungal skin infection. She spent six weeks in the care of SCAC…
June Training Notes
Perhaps this is obvious, but we are just so proud of our horses! Every single one of them faced tremendous challenges in their lives before being rescued, and the courage and bravery they show us during their rehabilitation and retraining is nothing short of astonishing. The horses of SAFE have an incredible team of humans helping them on this journey, led by our trainer Terry Phelps and the…
Happiness is for horses
Ruby was moved to her new foster home for the summer a few days ago. She and Jewel will be sharing Jackie’s lovely horse pasture for the next several months, soaking up the sun and enjoying life as only horses can. Here’s a video taken on the day of her arrival as she checks out her new surroundings: And take a look at what a difference two months of good care can do for a starving horse: Ruby…
Alumni News: Miah of the Mountain
Here’s a great update from Miah’s adopter, Heather! Hi everyone, happy spring, Finally! Miah has been with me now for about 6 months. We did little during the winter except survive, although that time was well spent, Miah is home and I think she knows that. I was able to take her out in April when we had a few good weather days that just happened to coincide with my days off and was quite…
Tarp training for Cameo
Cameo is pretty brave, but she’s not fond of loud or sudden noises. So Terry and Laura are working with desensitizing her. Here is Cameo’s first attempts at moving over a noisy tarp. Laura is very good at helping Cameo know she can take her time and think about it. Two days later, another attempt at tarp training. After slowly making the tarp larger and larger, you can see in this video the…
Lola videos and update
Here are three new videos showing Lola’s progress under saddle. We’re also super pleased to report that Terry has had a couple of her volunteer riders working with Lola, and she has been as good for them as she is for Terry! Clearly, Terry and her team have unlocked the secret to a happy and productive Lola…and as much as they are enjoying working with her, we’d still love to see her get…
Tarp training with Lola and Skye
Playing with desensitizing using the big blue tarp. Lola wanted to eat it! Skye had seen it before working with Dave but she pretended at first that it could eat her.
May Volunteer of the Month: Heather Andreini
Please join us in celebrating the selection of our May Volunteer of the Month…SAFE supporter Heather Andreini! Heather has contributed to our mission in a variety of ways.In addition to volunteering her time to do adoption and alumni site checks, she organized the 2nd Annual Highbrow Hack and did a smashing job! But the fact that she has opened her home to not one, but two SAFE foster horses…
Sometimes fairy tales do come true
We could not be happier to officially announce that Atticus has been adopted! Our sweet old man has found himself a wonderful new home where he will live out the rest of his life in comfort, and receive the kind of care that he has always deserved. We’d like to thank Bernice and Joe S for opening their home and hearts to Atticus. Bernice tells us it feels like Atticus has always been part of…
Ginger Makes Us Smile
We are overjoyed to update everyone on Ginger’s progress! This girl has made such a wonderful transformation under Kim Lacy’s training. When we contacted Kim about taking on a SAFE horse to foster she happily accepted and offered to donate her training services and start Ginger under saddle. I was able to go visit and ride Ginger earlier this week and believe me, I am ecstatic! Not only has…
Jewel — Liberty Work
Terry and Jewel working together at liberty
The girls are back!
Cameo and Skye graduated from training at the end of April and returned to Safe Harbor Stables to continue their education under Terry’s guidance. The two are settling in nicely, and are both healthy, happy, and feeling good. Terry’s been giving them both some refresher training in ground work to remind them about good manners…and they’re both doing really well. Skye, especially, seems to…
A home for Savannah
We are delighted to announce that our sweet Savanah has been adopted!!! Congratulations to SAFE volunteer Sandi N who met Savannah at SAFE and forged a strong connection with this lovely mare. Savannah is now living at her new home which she shares with a mare named Midnight, and the two girls are already fast friends. Sandi tells us that the two of them wandered off yesterday and lost sight of…
Saving Summer
We said goodbye to a dear old friend this week. Surrounded by adoring friends, at the farm she’s called home for the past few years, Summer was humanely euthanized. Summer’s health had been slowly failing over the past six months or so, and she was starting to have a great deal of difficulty getting to her feet and walking steadily. Our vet gave her a thorough examination and determined that the…
A Big Day for Owen
Today was full of new experiences for our man Owen. As you know, Owen is a stallion, and it has always been our intention to change him into a happy gelding, as we do with all intact male horses that end up in our rescue program. When we agreed to take Owen in, we were unaware that he was not only not halter broken, he was untouchable, and so gelding him immediately was not possible. Fortunately…
Fun with Oscar!
Photos by Deunan Berkeley
A visit with Strider and Chip!
I had the pleasure of visiting Strider and Chip at their foster home yesterday. Both boys are looking fabulous and enjoying the onset of sunny weather now that spring is here. Their foster mom, Heather, says that the two of them are best buds, and will stand as close to one another as they can, considering they’re in separate stalls. She can’t really turn them out together, because Strider, who…
April Volunteer of the Month: Jane Millar!
The SAFE Board of Directors is pleased to recognize SAFE Volunteer Jane Millar as our April Volunteer of the Month! Jane has been volunteering with SAFE for over a year and a half. She is a trusted PM Feeder on Tuesday nights. A few months ago, Jane took on the added responsibility of leading the orientations for new volunteers. She does a fabulous job, we hear nothing but positive feedback from…
Spray bottle? No problem, says Jewel!
Terry and her team spend time teaching the SAFE horses the small but important skills they’ll need once they’re adopted. Some of the horses still object to the spray bottle (I’m looking at you, Kai!) but Jewel is completely unfazed.
Her Name is Lola…
We’ve been a little quiet on the subject of Lola, but that doesn’t mean that everybody’s favorite Sassaloosa hasn’t been hard at work behind the scenes. Lola’s actually doing really terrific right now and we want to get everyone up to speed with what’s been going on for her. Lola’s training came to a bit of a halt at the beginning of the year when we realized that we didn’t have a saddle that…
From the Horse’s Mouth: There’s Something About Owen
If you follow Honeycutt’s blog, you know that he shares a lot of secrets about horses and their interactions. Today’s update on Owen comes straight from the horse’s mouth… Owen is a new SAFE horse who lives here with me for now. There’s something about Owen that is Different, and that thing is that Owen does not want any peoples to touch him. Maybe you are thinking that Owen is a baby horse…
Skittles is Ready!
We’ve had a lot of good things to say about Skittles since she arrived at SAFE after her rehabilitation at NWESC. Let’s recap: She’s beautiful. A bright chestnut Arab with a big wide blaze and three white socks, she’ll catch your eye for sure! She’s healthy. NWESC did a tremendous job of bringing this mare back from starvation. She glows with health. She’s sweet. Skittles greets everyone with a…
Dottie Belle
Here’s our Dottie, enjoying some bodywork from Pilchuck’s Dr Meyer: photo by Deunan Berkeley
Skittles Training Update
Skittles did very well on the trail ride Sunday. She is very brave, liked to lead, and had a go button. Overall she stayed calm and listened well. She would have loved to run up the hills but I was able to keep her at a walk. She was fine with the other horses too. I had Kirann come ride her yesterday to see how she was with a new rider and she did great. It was nice to see how cute she is now…
Ruby Red
Ruby is a lucky horse who has an entire community behind her, pulling for her recovery! She got a visit today from one of her major benefactors, SAFE supporter Bernice S, who spent some time with our girl in the company of SAFE president Debi Shatos. Debi reports that Ruby’s outlook on life has definitely improved, and she has a sparkle in her eye that was not there last week. Turns out Ruby is…
