Willow

age: 5 years old
sex: mare
breed: Saddlebred
color: buckskin
height:

Seized by King County Animal Control on Feb 23, 2008, Awarded to SAFE on July 22, 2008

Status: Available for Adoption!

Located in Woodinville, WA
Adoption Fee: $500

Click here for a video of Willow!

Willow is one of 10 horses seized from a Carnation farm, and taken in by SAFE. This beautiful Saddlebred mare had a Body Condition Score of 2 on a scale of 1-9. She and her 4 month old filly, Lily, were living in a barren pasture where she had resorted to eating holly bushes for nutrition. In addition to being extremely emaciated from lack of food plus the added stress of nursing a growing filly, Willow suffered from a massive lice infestation, rainrot, internal parasites and hoof neglect.

Our main concern with Willow was making sure that she continued to get enough nutrition to support herself as well as any milk that she is still producing for Lily. Weaning Lily when she was this compromised would not be beneficial, so we needed to wait until she was stronger and the threat of refeeding syndrome had passed. Willow seemed to be recovering well however, had a good attitude and a healthy appetite, so we were quite hopeful that she would make a full recovery.

Update (3/3/08):
Willow is even lovelier in person that her pictures show. She is a dainty mare, with a beautiful face. She is friendly and kind, and will happily come over to the fence for a visit. She is a very calm mare, and of course she is an excellent mommy to Lily. Seeing the two of them together is wonderful, and I am so glad they both survived long enough to be rescued. I didn't get to see Willow's rain rot up close, but I saw Hope's...and Jaime tells me that Willow's is significantly worse. But she appears to be thriving, and so hopefully her horrid condition will soon be little more than a distant bad memory.

Update (3/4/08):
Willow is doing great - she seemed to handle the worming fine and is eating well.

Update (4/9/08):
Willow has been moved to a foster home in Woodinville, following the weaning of her filly, Lily. She continues to do well! She has a lovely grassy pasture and has even started to stretch her legs a bit.

Read about Willow in her new foster home on Horsebytes:
http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/horsebytes/day.asp?pubdate=4/5/2008

Willow's identity has been discovered!
139992 GYPSY SEASHELL -BUCKSKIN markings: STAR, CONNECTED STRIPE AND SNIP TOUCHING BOTH NOSTRILS TO UPPER LIP, PARTIAL LEFT HIND CORONET, WHITE. by Seas the Golden Day ex a Special Spirit mare, 2nd dam by Flashy Bourbon Peavine, 3rd dam by Wing Commander.

Volunteer Update (10/13/08):
I went out to see Willow today so I could hold her while Daphne worked some of her trimming magic. She is stunning! For any of you that have a thing for gorgeous wrapped up in buckskin with a peppering of sweet...This girl is for you.

She is svelte - no more baby belly - in fact - you would be hard pressed to see that she ever had a baby. Her face is so pretty and she is SO CURIOUS about you. This is not the Willow I remember. The last time I saw Willow - she really was more interested in eating and evading than anything else (and who could blame her) but not now - she is so engaged - licking my hands, snuffling my coat and my face, sniffing Daphne constantly....such a sweet sweet girl.

She is flashy and ready for someone to make her their own. She is craving attention - so - if you haven't seen Willow lately - then you haven't seen Willow!

Willow will be starting training with Julie Boulter of Eden Farms in mid October 2008.

Click here to follow Willow's progress on the SAFE Message Board.

If you are interested in sponsoring Willow, please click here to learn more about our sponsorship program.

Send email to adopt@safehorses.org if you are interested in adopting Willow.

Please read SAFE's adoption policies prior to submitting an adoption application for any SAFE horses listed on this site. SAFE Adoption Policies can be found HERE. SAFE has a strict no-breeding policy.