Can you love one a little too much?

Being “horseless” is a choice I have made. I work many long hours for SAFE and when I come home, my family needs me. I could not justify running off in my free time to ride my personal horse or spend the many hours a week I would want to spend with one. I don’t think…

Sierra: Training Update

Horses never cease to surprise and amaze me, both in their adaptability and intelligence. For the past 10 years, Sierra lived at the same farm with the same people and the same horse friend. So bringing her back into the rescue was undoubtedly going to be a bit of a…

Lacey: Training Update

Lacey, Lacey… Lacey… Where do I begin? To love horses you really have to accept everything about them. They have good and bad days; they have personalities and little quirks just like us. I think I will write this report like my teacher did in my parent-teacher…

Emmy: Joel Conner Clinic Update

This is what Sara had to say about her work with Emmy in the riding workshop with Joel: I have been working with Emmy for a while now, and can see how she has come along (with the work of many riders) since she came back to SAFE after her surgery and rehab. She has a…

Bridgit: Riding update Joel Conner Clinic

This little mare is looking GOOD!! Our volunteer riders have been working on getting Bridgit strengthened up and she is looking sound and soft. We really have to commend their dedication to the work. Sometimes it isn’t a very glamorous process… lots of boring trot…

Redmond Reporter: Playing it SAFE Around Horses

  Playing it SAFE around horses: Equine rescue organization moves to Redmond Originally published April 13, 2017 By Samantha Pak, Redmond Reporter Click here to view story on the Redmond Reporter website When Save a Forgotten Equine (SAFE) first started in 2005,…

Stella’s Rehab

Stella has been a very good patient during her rehab work! She is calm and relaxed and has taken this all-in stride. Her volunteer rider, Casey, has been doing canter work as part of Stella’s strength building program. Unfortunately, she is showing some discomfort at…

Dyna: Training update and Joel Conner Clinic

Our sweet mare Dyna came to SAFE right before the big move to our new facility. By no fault of her own we failed to post about her story and properly introduce her. We hope to rectify that now! A woman who had owned her for just a year surrendered Dyna to SAFE due to…

Raven: Health Update — Refeeding

Lisa has been working with Raven and SAFE’s Herd Health team to care for Raven. Here is a a recap from Lisa about Raven’s journey so far here at SAFE: Raven came to SAFE in January severely underweight, having come through two nasty bouts of colic while in the care of…

Ruckus is Adopted!

Congratulations to the Hiner family on their adoption of Ruckus! The Hiners were looking for a companion for their 15 year old retired racehorse, Aurie, also known as The Great Face. Aurie and Ruckus have developed a wonderful friendship, and the two are inseparable!…

Cameo: Joel Conner Clinic Update

This was Lindsay’s first clinic with Joel and Cameo. They did very well and it was a great experience for Cameo. Here is what Lindsay had to say about Cameo in the clinic: Cameo was a very good girl in the Joel clinic! She started out a little tense — lots of people…

Jessel: Training Update

Our baby girl Jessel is growing up to be a fine young riding horse! She has spent the winter in Ellensburg with Joel Conner. He has been fostering her and riding her part time. Since she is so young we don’t want to put too much pressure on her to be in full training…

Marta: Foster Update

We have been so busy moving Safe Harbor Stables that we have neglected a few very important updates. Our sweet mare Marta has a new foster home. Marta’s long term foster mom and dad, Eileen and Andy, cared for her for many years as if she was their own. They loved her…

Vida: Joel Conner Clinic Update

Here is what Sara had to say about working with Vida in the clinic: This was my first time working with Vida, and I was very impressed by this mare. She has a lot of try, and was always paying attention to my feel (even if she did not always respond to it physically).…

Prince: Training update and Joel Conner Clinic

Lori had this to say about her work with Prince in the clinic: I entered Prince into the riding portion of the Joel Conner clinic on March 18th and 19th. Prince is new to some of the tasks that were asked of him. He performed the yielding the hindquarters and…

Nala: Training update and Joel Conner Clinic

A lot has been happening with Nala girl! Once we moved to the new facility, we had enough room to move her back to the main barn and get her back into rehab and training work. Lindsay took her on as her riding project and did a fantastic job getting her going walk…

Gracie: Training update and Joel Conner Clinic

Erika had this to say about her work with Gracie in the clinic: This clinic was the second one that I’ve participated in with Gracie. She is such a sweet mare, and I really can’t say enough good things about her. She connects with humans very quickly, and will try…

Mason: Training update and Joel Conner Clinic

Lori had this to say about her work with Mason in the clinic: Mason and I attended the Joel Conner clinic on March 18th and 19th. I entered Mason in the groundwork portion of the clinic. Mason did a wonderful job of moving out of my way while doing the groundwork. We…

King: Training update and Joel Conner Clinic

When King arrived at Safe Harbor, he was frightened of every noise and every person who approached him. Our efforts to gentle him and gain his trust are really showing and now you can hardly tell he is the same jumpy horse that came to us. Now when you approach his…

Raven: Herd Health Update — Treating Rain Rot

Below is a report from Lisa on Raven’s rain rot and the care she is receiving from SAFE to heal: Raven came to SAFE in January not only severely underweight, but with one of the worst cases of rain rot we have seen. Huge patches of her back, hips, and rump were…

A Home For Every Horse videos

A Home for Every Horse (AHFEH) traveled to Woodinville, Washington in June of 2016 to visit Save A Forgotten Equine (SAFE) to create videos highlighting all of the hard work rescues are doing inside of the Equine industry. Overview: video:…

Training Update: Stevie

Stevie left for Ellensburg last week to begin training with Joel Conner. He was a good boy, jumped right into the trailer and was calm and not stressed even though he was traveling alone. He arrived and settled in well. I spoke to Joel about him and he said that he is…

Training & Health Update: Cameo

Cameo is coming along really well in her rehab work and she is now ready for the weight of a rider. Volunteer rider Lindsay was excited to help Cameo take this next step and helped her have a happy and easy ride. Here is a video of her first ride back: 

Jewel getting some body work

The cold weather has been hard on all of us. The horses and volunteers had to endure a few weeks of abnormally low temperatures for our area and we are all looking forward to warmer spring and summer months! One of the biggest problems is the very hard ground in our…

Health Update: Gracie

We are so happy to report that Miss Gracie is feeling happy and healthy! When the winter weather hit and turnout became limited, the amount of time outside or grazing for the horses was drastically shortened. While we work very hard to rotate all of the horses out…

Training update and Video: Vida

Here is an update of Vida’s progress from her volunteer rider, Jolene: Vida got her first lesson in tying yesterday. She did really good. Only pulled once and though she meant it, she came off it and was really good. While she was tied I worked on taming that wild…

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!

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…

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…