Redmond Reporter: More than 100 horses are being hoarded by a nonprofit in Puget Sound
Under guise of nonprofit caring for rescued horses, allegations of animal cruelty arose. By Aaron Kunkler and Ashley HirukoFriday, September 6, 2019 8:30am No one really knows how many horses Sharon Hunter has. Hunter, who owns and operates the Hunters Wind Wild Horse…
Marta Gets a Forever Home!!
We are excited to announce that Marta is ADOPTED!! She is now living in a lovely home in Issaquah with a younger Arabian mare named April. Her adopter, Ginger, loves her sassy side and visited Safe Harbor a number of times to get to know her before finalizing the…
Lacey’s New Riding Partner
I’ve been Lacey’s riding partner for the past couple of months and can tell you that this mare is a ton of fun! She has loads of personality in a little package. When I first started riding her, I worried that I might be a bit on the large side for her 13.3 hands. But…
Mina’s Next Step
Mina has now fully recovered from her umbilical hernia surgery. She has graduated to regular turnout, and we’re working on building her strength back up so that she can get started under saddle. She’ll be going to training in September. Mina’s a smart mare so we don’t…
Getting To Know Cassidy
Cassidy is opening up more each day and her personality is coming through now that her herd bound issues have been addressed. In the beginning, she was so worried about being away from Moon and Slim, we were concerned she might even colic if separated too quickly.…
Honeycutt and Sinatra Update
Honeycutt and Sinatra have settled in to life at Safe Harbor Stables. They reside in the paddock closest to the gate where they can watch people come and go. From the far side of the paddock they can see lots of other horses, and watch our volunteers at…
Valor’s Lameness Puzzle
This sweet guy can’t seem to catch a break. A recent lameness has Valor sidelined once again, and we are waiting on more diagnostics to tell us what’s wrong this time. He became very sore in his back during ridden work at the end of June. Dr. Meyer of Pilchuck Vet…
Teddi Makes Progress
Teddi recently had a recheck exam with Dr. Fleck and it looks as though everything is healing the way it should. Her bones are still healing so she still has a limp if she trots, but that’s to be expected at this point. She has graduated to a slightly larger turnout…
Fall City Forty: the Full Story
We’ve had to stay pretty quiet about the situation with the Fall City Forty for two reasons. One, because we were being threatened with legal action for our involvement in this rescue mission; and two, because we were holding out hope that we would be allowed to…
The Babies are Growing Up!
It’s hard to believe how fast our little foals are growing up. It seems like just yesterday that they were trying to figure out how their legs work. Today they are three confident, adventurous, happy-go-lucky fillies who are ready to take on the world. And they’ve…
Returning Friends
When SAFE adopts out a horse, we make it very clear to the new adopter that their relationship with SAFE is just getting started. Most of the people who’ve adopted from us over the last 14 years remain in regular contact with us, whether…
Meet Cyrus
As part of our work to support Animal Control agencies in Washington state, SAFE is often asked to take in horses that are part of active cruelty investigations. Sometimes we can make this information public right away, but in other cases, we are asked to keep these…
Stevie 2019 Site Visit Photo
Shasta and Sunny at the 2019 SAFE Show
Sunnny and Shasta were out once again to meet & greet their fans the 2019 SAFE Benefit Horse Show at Donida Farm in Auburn. They were also celebrating their Syndicate Sponsorship win for the second year in a row — raising $975 and winning the coveted title of…
Big Horse, Big Hoof: Slim’s Foot Problems
A 17.2 hh draft horse puts a lot of weight on his front feet. So it’s important that those feet stay healthy to help support the horse’s sheer mass. Unfortunately for our sweet Slim, hoof care has been a struggle. It’s unclear whether Slim’s hoof problems arise from a…
Quality Time with Angel
Angel is living the good life these days. She gets to be in a lovely, large turnout paddock 24 hours a day with her best friend Renee as they do the very important work of being aunties to our three resident babies. Angel takes this role very seriously. She loves the…
Progress for Remy
Remy has been working his way back to health slowly but surely. Dr. Meyer of Pilchuck Veterinary Hospital has been seeing him for chiropractic adjustments on a regular schedule, and each time he gets adjusted we see improvement. We are hopeful that this setback is now…
SAFE Runs Smoother with the Help of Interns
SAFE has been fortunate to have the help of some kind, capable young people this past school year who chose to spend their time working as interns at the barn. Thanks to a partnership with The Big Picture School in Bellevue, SAFE benefitted from the enthusiastic…
Glory Helps Start Luna
We sent Luna out to Nick Donohue for her start under saddle, and it was so nice to see a SAFE horse helping another SAFE horse. Thanks for the flagging assist, Glory!
Marvelous Mina: First Saddling!
Mina and I have gotten to know each other well, and I think she’s pretty great. I think she truly does feel affection for “her” people. She has the softest, kindest eye of any horse I’ve ever met, and there’s a lot of soulfulness in her personality. But don’t let her…
Redmond Derby Days Parade
A big thank you to Shasta & Sunny and all the wonderful SAFE volunteers who marched in the parade at Redmond Derby Days this year!
Photogenic Lacey!
Ruby 2019 Site Visit Photos
Foster Update: Dottie Belle
Sweet Dottie is doing very well at her lovely foster home in Woodinville. She has made a few new friends this spring including 2 minis, 3 alpacas, 4 goats, and a flock of chickens! Her SAFE buddy Piper has recently moved home to Safe Harbor for a bit of training and…
Millie’s Beautiful Transformation
What a beautiful mare this girl has become. She is gentle, interested, and affectionate with both her new human and horse buddies. While we have many weeks of training ahead before she is ready to adopt, this girl’s future is shining bright.…
Teddi: On the Road to Recovery
It has now been a month since Teddi had surgery at WSU to fuse her pastern joint. We’re pleased to report that she’s doing great! Everything is going to plan with no complications so far. Her sutures are out and we are no longer needing to bandage her leg. If you…
Surgery for Mina
The very first time we saw Mina from a distance, we thought she was a gelding. But when we got a little closer, it became clear that she was actually a mare with an umbilical hernia. Umbilical hernias occur when the abdominal wall around a foal’s navel fails to close…
New Fancy Video
Recently Joel Conner was at Safe Harbor and Casey asked him to jump on Fancy to see how the work she had been doing felt to him. He was very happy to see how far Fancy had come in the last weeks and complemented Casey on a very nice job setting the foundation for this…
Joel Conner Clinic Report: Moon
Kaya has been helping us with Moon and recently took this lovely big mare into the Joel Conner groundwork class at Safe Harbor. The two really connected over the weekend and Moon had some great changes. Kaya’s groundwork is improving and she has become a very BIG help…
Joel Conner Clinic Report: Anderson
Recently Kaya has taken over riding Anderson at SAFE. She is doing a great job with him and it is really great to see him take to a new rider. He is keeping up the training and seems as the saying goes “the student has become the teacher.” He has been a good boy for…
Training Update: Kat
Kaya has been doing a fantastic job helping prepare Kat for adoption. Kat has gained a ton of weight and has some topline muscle now! She has settled in so well to life at Safe Harbor and her special connection with Kaya is very sweet. We’re glad she has such a great…
A Cure for Amelia’s Allergies
Trying to figure out why a horse is perpetually itchy can be a frustrating, head-scratching, expensive experience. Our last-ditch effort before jumping to allergy shots for Amelia was the elimination diet. Cutting out all of the things she is potentially allergic to…
Asha gets started!
The first of the mamas from last year is on her way to get started! Asha moved down to Nick Donohue’s training barn at the end of May. We had only been able to do a little bit of groundwork before she left Safe Harbor so Nick would be starting pretty much from the…
Luna: First Saddling
We currently have two horses in training with Nick Donahue at Silver Spade Ranch. Today Luna was saddled for the first time, and allowed to move out in the round pen and become accustomed to this new sensation. Nick says he’s happy with how she did! We’re so excited…
Stormy: Worth the Wait
Stormy’s story is truly a fairy tale! She came to SAFE scared and hurt, with little to look forward to. Today she lives like a princess, and although her “little girl” is a proper grown up, the love between these two is absolute magic. Thank you to Leigh for sharing…
Who’s Your Fave? It’s Stella!
Recently we asked our volunteers if they had a favorite among the SAFE horses, and if so, what it is that they love about them? The answers we received gave such wonderful insight into who our horses are and what they mean to us, so we wanted to share these words.…
Joel Conner Clinic Update: Sienna
Sienna was set to be in the clinic with Joel but we had a little setback the day before he came out. It had been a very busy week with outreach cases and Sienna was not able to be worked as much as normal. I jumped on her for a quick ride the day before the clinic and…
Local Eagle Scout Goes Above and Beyond for SAFE
Zeke Almond, a 2019 graduate of Woodinville High School, completed his Eagle Scout Project on June 23rd, 2019 at SAFE. Zeke designed and built a storage shelter to house tools and equipment near the quarantine area of our facility. Zeke is a member of troop 525 and…
Who’s Your Fave? It’s Renee!
Recently we asked our volunteers if they had a favorite among the SAFE horses, and if so, what it is that they love about them? The answers we received gave such wonderful insight into who our horses are and what they mean to us, so we wanted to share these words.…
Piper Wears a Saddle!
Our baby Piper is growing up! She is just a bit older than two now so we’re introducing her to some groundwork. She attended her first Horsemanship Clinic at Safe Harbor last week. She did very well with all the other horses around us. We worked in the last hour of…
Amelia Finds a Friend
Joel Conner Clinic Update: Amelia
Amelia has been moving along steadily in her training with horsemanship volunteer Phoebe. They have been able to take thing slow and at a comfortable pace for Amelia who has had some trust issues from her past life. A few weeks prior to the clinic, Phoebe was able to…
Joel Conner Clinic Report: Millie
What a superstar Millie was during the recent Joel Conner Horsemanship Clinic at SAFE! The first day she took the lay of the land. It was her first time in an area with so many other horses and she was interested in meeting them all. She did well focusing on me and…
Photo and Training Update: Sienna
We had a chance to have photographer Alessia Rauseo visit Safe Harbor and take some beautiful photos of our sweet Sienna. Sienna has recently come home from Nick Donohue’s training barn and she’s doing very well. She is still fairly green but she is accepting me as a…
Alumni Update: Aiden
Congratulations to Cooper (Aiden) and his girl Maeve who had a fabulous day at the 4H qualifying show this past weekend. The pair won blues in English and Western Pleasure and took Grand Reserve in bareback equitation! Cooper and Maeve, we are SO PROUD OF YOU!!
Alumni Update: Whiskey
Whiskey’s adopter reached out to us recently via the SAFE Alumni Facebook group and shared this great picture of the pair on the trail. Therese says that Whiskey is still going strong at age 24, and that they’ve had some great adventures in the high country together.…
Teddi’s Big Day!
On June 10th, Teddi loaded like a pro into our horse trailer and went for a smooth 5 hour drive to Washington State University. After months of anticipation and preparation, the day had finally come to have the…
New Video for Zoe!
Zoe has been home from training for a few weeks . She has matured so much with her riding and is ready to meet prospective adopters. I have enjoyed getting to ride her and figuring our who will be suitable for her at this point in her education. We have had a few…
Training Update: Sienna
This horse is helping me be a better rider, horseman, and hopefully, a better human being. Her try inspires me to work harder to be the partner she needs to guide her through this journey to adoption. Where she is today is light years from when we first met. Her…
Goodbye, Boss Hoss
At the heart of the work that SAFE does is one simple goal: putting a stop to equine suffering. It’s something we have done for every horse we’ve encountered over the years. We’ve removed horses from situations of dire neglect and shown them that there are good people…
