SAFE Horses
SAFE News and Updates
April Training Notes: Sapphire
We had a pretty big setback with Sapphire after Sasha’s passing. We’ve been doing ground work with her to gain her trust, and she regressed quite a bit and started showing some aggressive behavior again. But thankfully, by the end of the month, she was getting back to where she’d been before. Sadly she may always have aggressive tendencies, especially around food. It remains very important that…
April Training Notes: Atticus
Atticus has been very spunky and playful in turnout, now that he’s settled back in at Safe Harbor. He continues to have food aggression issues and does not want anyone near his food. Our volunteers are being trained to ask him to back him up before they enter his stall to deliver his mash. He did have a very sizable abscess that popped on his right hind heel bulb. He wouldn’t let me soak it…
April Training Notes: Finn
We’ve had some difficulties keeping Finn’s shoes on recently. His feet seem to be pretty soft and his shoes have just fallen off a few times. But they seem to be holding better now, and hopefully with better nutrition and hoof care, his feet will improve. We treated him for some deep splits in the frog and those are beginning to look better. He continues to do well with the ground work and…
April Training Notes: Oscar
Oscar has been doing much better under saddle, and we’ve seen good improvement in his willingness to move forward. Also the Dynamite Vit has helped his lethargic behavior and he is not drifting off while we are working with him anymore. He still has issue with dismounting so we are working on desensitizing this issue. It doesn’t seem to be pain related because I can get off without a reaction if…
April Training Update: Kai
I’ve had some wonderful rides on Kai this month where he was feeling stronger and showed some good self carriage. I started working on sitting trot and found he is not ready for this on his weak back muscles. I will continue to slowly introduce more of this over the month and work on balancing forward aids with transitions and getting him to rock back on his hind quarters more. He has a little…
April Training Notes: Lola
Lola has been making good progress this month, including some good independent trotting without the help of a ground person. I found that she loves to trot with Kat in the arena so I’ve been riding her during Kat’s rides so she gets some “help” when she starts getting stuck and not wanting to move forward. Lola started to look a little thin recently so we increased her hay just a little to see…
April Training Notes: Jewel
Jewel is doing well, learning to lunge and develop some ground manners. She still pulls on the halter when lunging and she overreacts when asked to go out on the circle. Treatment to the injury she sustained to her left hind foot was actually beneficial to desensitizing her to having her feet handled. I really concentrated on this every time a lot and last week, when Daphne trimmed her, she was…
April Training Notes: Phoenix
Phoenix’s rehab is going well. We’ve re-introduced walking under saddle. He is up to 20 mins of riding, continuing some hand walking up to 30 without rider. Increasing both by 5 mins gradually over each the week until we reach 45–60 mins then continue with that duration until June when we can trot and see if he is sound. He is generally well behaved but has moments of excitement some days when…
April Training Notes: Skittles
Skittles is doing very well and is now going walk trot and canter under saddle. She did seem to lose a little weight this month, possibly due to coming into season, so I increased her mash again just a bit. She is muscling up a bit along the top line mostly over her shoulders and neck but still thin over her back muscles. She also has a very crooked tail and is difficult to bend/move to the…
2014 Q1 Impact Statement
New Horses Intake Date: January 9, 2014 Skittles (Regional Animal Services of King County) Intake Date: January 28, 2014 Finn (surrendered to SAFE by owner) Intake Date: February 27, 2014 Owen (surrendered to SAFE by owner) Intake Date: March 27, 2014 Ruby (City of Lake Stevens Animal Control) Intake Date: March 30, 2014 Grace (born to SAFE Intake Ruby) Placed Horses Nora Euthanization Sasha…
Two New Arrivals…One Unexpected
We rely on our compassionate SAFE community members to help us provide for the horses in our program. Today, we need your help more than ever. On Thursday evening, working with local Law Enforcement, we took in a young mare in serious trouble. Her BCS was a frightening 1/9, she was suffering from parasite overload, and on top of all that…she was pregnant. We were heartbroken for this young…
Beautiful Cameo
thank you to Andrea for these lovely photos of Cameo!
Kat Photos by Lisa Carr Photography
Lola Photos by Lisa Carr Photography
Finn Photos, by Lisa Carr Photography
Skittles is stylish!
Check out Skittles’ cute hairdo…we’re calling it the flip flop! She is so amazingly sweet and LOVES getting hugs. Xoxo!
Somebody to love…
Savannah is such a lovely mare. She’s probably never going to be comfortable enough to be someone’s riding horse — her fibrotic myopathy causes a lot of strain to her back and hips — but she’s got so much to offer someone as a companion and friend. Savannah is a horse who thrives on affection. In fact, we have to be sure that our volunteers give her plenty of attention, because she tends to get…
Silly goose!
Savannah didn’t enjoy yesterday’s hail storm, but rather than come inside to escape it, she chose to stand outside in her paddock and look miserable. Fortunately the hail didn’t last long, and within minutes all was well again, but we just had to laugh a little when we saw her standing outside looking dejected. Silly goose.
Horses do the darndest things…
So Atticus has returned to Safe Harbor — his wonderful foster home had to bid him Adieu when one of their horses came home from training. He’s looking like a million bucks, by the way, he had a great winter hanging out with SAFE alum Deeds. Terry turned him out in the arena the other day for some social time with our other handsome Arab gelding, Oscar, and the two of them had a great time…
New horizons for Misty
Misty has spent more than a year in foster care with Lisa T, a terrific rider and trainer who has donated countless hours working with this mare and continuing her training in a forward and positive direction. During their time together, Lisa and Misty did arena work, trail rides, and even competed at training level dressage at schooling shows. Misty has now moved on to the barn of dressage…
Woodinville Weekly: Student’s Book Helps SAFE Horses
Student’s Book Helps SAFE Horses by Shannon Michael published March 18, 2014 Alex Olson is not your ordinary second grade student. She took a book writing project and turned it into a charitable fundraising opportunity that benefits Save a Forgotten Equine (SAFE), a nonprofit based in Woodinville that rescues neglected and abandoned horses and rehabilitates them. Alex is a student in Ms. Jones’…
Owen Update
Owen continues to make steady progress adjusting to his new life as a SAFE horse. We’re taking things very slow with him to earn his trust. Fortunately Owen is a very good boy, gentle and willing and easy to deal with. It’s lucky for us that his behavior is so mild because until we’re able to get him halter-broken, it’s going to be tough to move forward with our plans to geld him. Thankfully…
Sasha, Rest in Peace
On Friday afternoon, surrounded by friends who were there to comfort and say goodbye, Sasha was humanely euthanized. It is never easy to make the decision to let a horse go, but it is especially difficult when that decision is being made because we fear for the safety of the horse and for the people around her. But having spent the past six months evaluating Sasha, consulting with trainers and…
Finn training update
Finn has been in ground work for the past several weeks, and he’s been very impressive! He’s made a big impression on Laura M who has been coming to Safe Harbor Stables a couple times a week to help Terry with ground work. Laura is very enthusiastic about Mr Finn…she wrote this update after the first time she worked with him: OMG I am COMPLETELY in love. Utterly, ridiculously besotted – the…
Foster/Training Update: Ginger
Ginger is coming along well. She now going fairly solid walk/trot and they are working on the canter. Her canter is still very unbalanced and quick due to lack of strength but it is coming along. She has an especially hard time cantering to the right but she does pick up both leads well. Sometimes steering is optional! Ginger is not spooky or hot but sometimes she can be a little unsure of…
Volunteer update: Moments with Savannah
Sandi N is a volunteer at SAFE Harbor who has been spending some quality time with Savannah, both as a friend and companion, but also helping her with her fibrotic myopathy. Terry asked Sandi to share her thoughts about her interactions with this lovely mare: Meeting Savannah for the first time I was initially struck by her beauty. Her Tobiano coloring and the lacing that edge her geometric…
A picture of Skittles…just because we love her!
Skye Training Update
Skye is currently living up at Half Trak Farm as she begins part 2 of her training journey with Andrea Lucianna. When Skye first arrived at Half Trak, she had a bit difficulty settling in. At first she would not tolerate being in a stall and would pace, refuse to eat, and make a mess of herself. Turning her out didn’t help much either, as she would spend most of her time running and very little…
New Tires for the SAFE Trailer!
We would like to express our appreciation to Les & Jeannette Parrett and their family for the donation they made to SAFE for the purpose of acquiring new tires for our horse trailer. When we purchased the trailer last year, the safety inspection indicated it was in excellent condition except for the tires. Since good tires are critical to the safety of the horses and the driver, we knew we…
Cameo Update from Training
Cameo is continuing to progress in her work with Andrea Lucianna at Half Trak Farm. It’s been a difficult journey for this mare, and she has her good days and not-as-good days, but she is moving forward all the time. It’s important to keep in mind just how far she’s come when looking at her progress. By those standards, she’s absolutely remarkable. She continues to go well under saddle and…
