We are extremely pleased to announce that SAFE has been awarded a $4,000 Training Grant from the ASPCA Equine Fund for the second year in a row. This grant was given in recognition of SAFE’s commitment to producing good equine citizens who are ready to succeed, through the use of professional training, both offsite and onsite.
The APSCA Equine Fund’s Training Grant was created to improve adoption rates through training for established equine rescues.
A well-trained and well-behaved horse stands a much better chance of finding and keeping a good home for life. Unfortunately, the majority of the unwanted horses that SAFE takes in lack training or even basic handling when they arrive. So it is up to us to give them the foundation that they need to be successful. We send our unstarted horses to professional trainer Andrea Lucianna for 60–90 days under saddle training. Upon graduation from training, these horses, along with the other rideable horses in our program, are worked several days a week by onsite trainer Terry Phelps. In addition, we bring our horses to compete at local schooling shows and we take them on trail rides to increase their exposure to new situations.
We evaluate the success of our training program in two ways: 1) the progress made by each individual horse; and 2) our ability to place each of our horses into an approved home. Our goal at the end of each horse’s full training session is a horse that is going well at all three gaits, and is safe enough to be considered at least “green broke” and suitable for an intermediate rider. Our goal with our onsite training program is to provide each of our horses with the exercise needed to keep them happy and healthy and to continue to reinforce the skills that were learned in full training.
Last year’s Equine Fund’s Training Grant made it possible for us to extend River’s time in training, which was instrumental in successfully completing his training as well as his adoption to dressage rider Jenny Lucianna. We are very excited for the opportunities that this year’s Training Grant presents to the horses in our training program. And we are extremely grateful to the ASPCA Equine Fund for its ongoing support of equine rescue organizations like SAFE.
