Training Update: King
King is working through the groundwork phases to becoming a riding horse. Last week Jolene began having him come up to her along the fence, to get him used to her swinging her leg over him and weight of her on his back. As you can see from the video, he took all of…

Announcement: SAFE is Moving to a New Home in Redmond!
After nearly 5 years in our current Woodinville home, SAFE is going to be moving to a new location. On Feb 1, we will begin packing our belongings and moving our horses to a fabulous equestrian center located in Redmond WA. This facility has 30 stalls, an indoor…
Sophie: Adoption Announcement!
We are beyond thrilled to announce the adoption of our young mare Sophie! This special mare has an even brighter future with her new family, Julie and Paul W. They have been volunteers and neighbors to SAFE for the past 5 years. Julie has the experience and…
Training Update: King
Jolene has been working to prepare King for his first saddling. He is a very sensitive boy so she has been preparing him with a ton of groundwork and it shows. The experience was very successful and he was able to experience this important training step without too…
Companion Status for Rico
Rico is one of five horses that came to SAFE after their owner passed away unexpectedly. From the beginning, we knew that Rico was unsound, but we were told that all he needed was “special shoes” and he’d be okay. At his first trim, our farrier told us that his hooves…
Health Update: Banjo
On December 21st, we took Banjo (aka Joey) up to Pilchuck Veterinary Hospital to perform a biopsy on his coronary bands. Joey, whose hooves were horribly neglected before coming to SAFE, has had swelling and extra hoof material built up on his coronary bands since his…
Training Update: Gracie
Here is what volunteer rider Erika has to report from working with Gracie: “Gracie: Gracie wore the Back On Track underneath her blanket for an hour. It seems to help her be not so stiff when we start working. Gracie was in a good mood and was nice and forward for…
Training Update: Bridgit
Here is what volunteer rider Erika had to say about working with Bridgit this week: “Bridgit: She was in the top turnout area above the arena while I worked Cam. And was pretending to be a bucking bronco almost the whole time. I thought it would be a “fun” or…
Training Update: Cameo
Cameo was a doll at the last open house, making new friends with everyone who stopped in to see her. She loves her outside stall where she can see all that is going on at the farm and has her buddy Stella always within sight. The volunteer riders have been working…
Training Update: Stella
Stella is now 9 months in recovery from her left hind peroneus tertius tendon rupture. She has, to say the least, been a ROCKSTAR for the entire rehab! She is now back up to full saddle work and Casey, Stella’s volunteer rider, has started to add the canter into their…
Vida’s First Ride at SAFE
Stormy & King in Turnout
Stormy and King enjoy some indoor turnout on a snowy day.
Video: Emmy Trot Work
Adoption Announcement: Oscar!
It is with great happiness that we announce the adoption of SAFE horse Oscar! He has spent the last month getting used to his new life and proving to be the best boy ever! Oscar joins his new owner Vickie C and her family on their lovely farm in Redmond. He has fit in…
Training Update: Rosie
I have been working Rosie over the last week to prepare her for riding. It is my belief that Rosie must have been used in some sort of sport where she was asked to be very hot with not a lot of relaxation. This showed in a few ways beginning with her work the ground.…
Training Update: Anderson
I don’t know if I will be able to put into words how pleased I am with the work Joel Conner did with Anderson. Anderson and I had hit a pretty hard spot in our training this last summer and while I loved working with him, I knew that he needed a better hand to get him…
Sierra History
Sierra (aka Baby or Wildfire) was rescued by SAFE in early 2006 as a 6 month old filly, along with her dam Brandy, a pony mare. Her sire was reportedly a mustang. As a filly, Sierra was black with a blaze and two blue eyes. At the time of her rescue, Sierra was…
Stormy Update
We had a bit of a setback in Stormy’s healing process post-surgery. After the bandage removal, we continued to clean the incision site daily and administer antibiotics as Dr. Fleck had prescribed. He said to continue to treat and monitor it, but there was potential…
Training Update: Jessel and Lacey
Jessel and Lacey made their way over to Ellensburg to start working with Joel Conner. They are both doing well and I checked in with Joel this week to see how the girls are doing. The plan is to give Lacey 90 days of professional training and let Jessel winter over…
Training Update: Sophie
Sophie is just reaching about 40 rides this week in her training with Joel Conner. We were all very excited when Joel surprised us and brought Sophie over to ride in the clinic here at Safe Harbor. She looked AMAZING and while he explained about her “baby stuff” that…
Funny Girl Gracie
Joel Conner Clinic Report: Stevie
We are so grateful for the help of our volunteer riders. Casey is one of a very special group of people who make SAFE a great community, working together to train and find adoptive homes for our horses. She has been studying and working up to five times a week out at…
Health & Training Update: Stella
Our wonderful volunteer rider Casey has been dedicated to Stella’s rehab work and a tremendous help to getting this mare onto the road to a full recovery! Here is what Casey has to say about the progress she is making with Stella: After four months of strict stall…
Joel Conner Clinic Update: Emmy
We have been working on strengthening Emmy’s stifles for the past few months. There have been a few small setbacks but we have been slowly working her up to weight of a rider. Her training currently is a combination of lots of walking both on the ground and with a…
Joel Conner Clinic Report: Jewel
We are so grateful for the help of our volunteer riders. Casey is one of a very special group of people who make SAFE a great community, working together to train and find adoption homes for our horses. She has been studying and working up to five times a week out at…
Joel Conner Clinic Report: King & Vida
Volunteer rider and trainer Jolene D has been working with both King and Vida to get them ready to saddle up and ride. Here is her report from our recent Joel Conner clinic: KING I had a wonderful time working King in the clinic this past weekend. It was the perfect…
Joel Conner Clinic Report: Gracie
SAFE’s volunteer riders and their horses spent last weekend working with Joel Conner. Here’s a report from Erika S about her session with Gracie: My first time working with Gracie was two nights prior to the clinic. She seemed anxious, and seemed like she was…
Joel Conner Clinic Report: Ruckus
SAFE’s volunteer riders and their horses spent last weekend working with Joel Conner. Here’s a report from Terry about her session with Ruckus: When I found out SAFE was getting another mini, I thought we would be thinking of him as a companion only. Sunny and Shasta…
Health Update: Stormy
Stormy has been very patent and relaxed during her recovery from her eye surgery. She had a bandage change Monday 11/14 and Dr. McCracken was pleased with the progress. We were able to remove the bandage on Friday 11/18 and she was allowed to have time out in a small…
Joel Conner Clinic Report: Ben
SAFE’s volunteer riders and their horses spent last weekend working with Joel Conner. Here’s a report from Melinda SAFE’s Herd Health Manager about her session with Ben: I had the pleasure of working with Ben for both groundwork sessions of the Joel Conner clinic over…
Joel Conner Clinic Report: Prince
SAFE’s volunteer riders and their horses spent last weekend working with Joel Conner. Here’s a report from Lori about her sessions with Prince: Prince and I entered the Saturday groundwork class. Prince started out being extremely herd bound and more focused on his…
Joel Conner Clinic Report: Rosie & Bridgit
SAFE’s volunteer riders and their horses spent last weekend working with Joel Conner. Tess worked with Rosie, our new intake, in the morning groundwork sessions and with Bridgit in the afternoon riding workshop. Tess writes about the clinic and shows a ton of…
Joel Conner Clinic Report: King
SAFE’s volunteer riders and their horses spent last weekend working with Joel Conner. Here’s a report from Ann A about her session with King: I worked with King in Sunday’s groundwork session. I had not worked with him before and really enjoyed getting to know this…
Training Update: King
We have begun the process of evaluating and setting a training plan for our new horse King. He is currently started training with Jolene, one of our volunteer riders, and they are already making strides to a great partnership. Here is an update from Jolene about her…
SAFE Holiday Card Sets Available Now!
SAFE is thrilled to offer this great holiday card set featuring Sunny D and Shasta playing in the snow. This set of 15 greeting cards with envelopes is just $20, which supports the horses in SAFE’s care. Quantities are limited and you must act quickly! Pre-order…
Love and good wishes for Stormy today!
Please think healing thoughts for Stormy, who will be undergoing surgery today to remove her left eye. Her friend King accompanied her to Rainland Farm Equine yesterday afternoon, and the two should be returning to Safe Harbor on Friday if everything goes as planned.…
Stormy Weather
We’ve continued to treat and monitor Stormy’s eyes. As we told you before, she was put on a medication that initially seemed to be helping in both eyes. However, within a week, Stormy was back to squinting her left eye, which is a pretty clear sign that it’s hurting.…
Bridgit & Gracie Get Massages
Brigit and Gracie were treated last week to massages from Lara Lutz of Island Equine Massage. Lara is a long time SAFE supporter, adopted mom to Amber & Louie, and a member of SAFE’s Board of Directors. She is also now a licensed equine massage practitioner. Lara…
Mason gets some TLC
Mason has had a bit of a tender hoof lately. To help him feel better, he got a circulation taping on his right hoof to help increase blood flow and promote healing. SAFE Barn Manager Lori, who has been working on both training and bodywork with Mason, said that the…
A Home for Every Horse Visits Save a Forgotten Equine (SAFE)
A Home for Every Horse Visits Save a Forgotten Equine (SAFE) published June 28, 2016 written by Mariah Hammerschmidt Link to Article Online In mid-June, A Home for Every Horse (AHFEH) and AIM Studios traveled to Woodinville, Washington to visit Save a Forgotten Equine…
That’s the spot!
SAFE volunteer Harriet C finds Bridgit’s scratching spot! (photo by Jessica Farren)
Brave Lacey!
Lacey has been doing a lot of ground work in preparation for starting her under saddle training. Today she got to face off against the scary tarp…and she did great!!! This is a terrible Halloween costume! Lacey shows the tarp who’s boss
SAFE Receives a Training Grant from the ASPCA
We are proud to announce that SAFE has been awarded a $5,000 Training Grant from the ASPCA Equine Fund. 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 and…
An update on Hickory (now Listo)
this just in from Hickory’s adopter: I thought you might like a Listo (aka Hickory) update. Listo has been with us for 8 months now. He is doing great and has settled in with my other two horses. There have been some challenges along the way but none to great and none…
Saddling Stevie
Today, after much preparation and groundwork Stevie was ready to be introduced to the saddle. He had just a few bucks feeling out the saddle but quickly settled to a nice comfortable and relaxed walk, trot and lope. Volunteer rider Casey A. has done great work…
Video: Stifle Strengthening Exercise
Jewel helps the vet demonstrate an exercise to help strengthen a horse’s stifles:
Video: Emmy Trot Poles
New Friends: Annabelle and Aubrey
It’s always interesting to pair up two horses for the first time…you never quite know how they’re going to get along. Happily, Annabelle and Aubrey, two mares looking for companion homes, hit it off right away when turned out together for the first time. Since this…
Video: Bridgit Ground Work
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Alumni Visit with Anakin, Strider, Einstein, and Kai
We had the amazing good fortune to visit some old friends recently: Anakin, Kai, Einstein, and the big hoss Strider. All four boys are living the good life in their neighboring adoptive homes. Thank you so much to Barb and Michel for inviting us over! Can’t wait til…