Our Resident Comedian Ben

Some pictures are worth a thousand words, and some, like these, a whole bucket of laughs.  Ben is a big goofball with as many expressions as that of a great stand-up comedian.  We love hanging out with this big guy as his antics always put a smile on everyone’s face.…

Finding the Feel: Update from Jewel’s blog

Claire Crist, a volunteer at SAFE, is doing her senior project by helping horses get trained and adopted at SAFE. Her blog, Finding the Feel, documents her work with SAFE horse Jewel. Read more at http://learning.safehorses.org. Here are some videos from our ride on…

Health Update: Banjo

Recently, I visited with Banjo, who is still under Dr. Hannah Muller’s care at NWESC. He is doing well and will hopefully be ready to be released shortly. Daphne Jones just completed Banjo’s second trimming and she reported that his deep fungus shows signs of…

Banjo Vet and Farrier Update

Banjo had his dental done Tuesday evening. It took a lot of work and he had one tooth that had to be removed. It was infected deep into the socket. He is on bute for a few days to help with the pain. Hopefully this will help him start eating a bit better. Banjo got…

Cameo: Health Update

It has been 3 months since Cameo’s torn hamstring injury. She has been doing well for her rehab and time off. She was allowed out of her stall rest and put into a stall with a run. We have steadily increased her hand walks to 30 minutes. She also has been quiet enough…

Jewel’s new shoes

Jewel has doing well in her training and riding work with shoes on for the last 6 weeks. Our farrier Marla Karabinos was out yesterday to put a new set on. We discovered that she has a pretty significant bruise along the outside of her right front foot under the shoe.…

Karma: Health Update

We got some exciting news from Dr. Fleck on Karma’s recheck ultrasound. The check ligament is laying down new tissue and healing well! Part of the rehab for this injury will be to begin to “load the leg” by slowly increasing Karma’s work. We’ll begin by adding 5…

Scarlett: Health Update

Scarlett has continued to be a good girl for her handwalking rehab. She shows signs of being very stiff in her hocks. We are continuing to monitor her through her rehab and look for ways to make her more comfortable. We recently had a new set of shoes put on Scarlett…

Stella is one FUN ride!

Stella has been a doll to work with in training at Safe Harbor this past moth. I have been her primary rider but recently I asked volunteer rider Casey to ride her a few times a week. Stella was absolutely great for her new rider. This was a really important test to…

Banjo Update

Banjo is doing well at NWESC. He was a bit sucked up in his flanks on Friday and they think it was from de-worming. He’s been given some Probiotics and Banamine to help. He is also on a little bute to help with his hoof pain. He is soaking in apple cider vinegar each…

Lola keeps on going strong!

We have been steadily adding riding time to Lola’s workouts and she is doing great. She has been easy to start up again with no big issues and acts like she didn’t miss a day of work. We continue to stay on the rail or do big circles so we don’t over stress any…

Finding the Feel: Jewel

We are all very excited that for her senior community service project, volunteer Claire Crist chose SAFE! Here is a little about her first project with Jewel. You can follow her progress online at: http://learning.safehorses.org “My name is Claire Crist. I’ve been…

Ben & Oscar — An Unexpected Friendship

A few weeks ago, we had a wonderful group from Microsoft come to SAFE for a Day of Caring. All the horses had to be out of the barns since the group was pressure washing and replacing gravel and mats in the stalls. So we were a little short of places to put all the…

Phoenix shines in training!

Volunteer rider Jolene Duncan has been spending some quality time with Phoenix. When we talked about project horses Jolene could concentrate on, I was very happy she was willing to take on training with Phoenix. We both agreed that what this beautiful boy needed was a…

Ben: Follow up Bodywork

Dr. Christin Finn came to see Ben on Friday for his third bodywork session. Each time, the work has made changes to how he moves and even the shape of his back. This time it was clear that we needed to push through some very tight back and pelvic muscles. While the…

Anderson: Training update & Video

Anderson is coming along well in his training and shows every indication of making a great riding horse partner. Here is a video of his first ride with a saddle. You can see he is very cautious about this leather thing on his back but once Darik sits on him he had…

Sophie Update

Volunteer trainer Laura McCorkle has been spending some time with Sophie over the last few months. Here is a little about what Laura has to say bout this young mare: “Sophie is a lovely, willowy, long-legged teenager — with all the good and sometimes aggravating…

Hickory & Mesquite: Training Update

All reports have been glowing for our new riding horses, Hickory and Mesquite. They are both in training with Joel Conner and are coming along well with the work. As expected, Hickory has been fairly easy with only minimal issues. He is the younger of the two and…

Annabelle is looking for a Foster home!

Sweet Miss Annabelle is healthy and ready to move out of SAFE Harbor to a foster home and help us make room for new intakes. We are looking for a foster who can take in this arabian girl and give her a quiet place to be a companion non-riding horse. She is still…

Nala: Health Update

Nala has been very well behaved for her rehab, stall rest and hand walking. Three weeks ago we took off her shoes and balanced her feet in a bare foot trim. Farrier Marla Karabinos will be checking her this week to see if she is foot tender and if she will be needing…

Rest in Peace: Craspedia (2007–2015)

Rest in Peace: Craspedia (2007–2015)

It took just a moment to fall in love with him, but it will take a lifetime to forget him. We met Craspedia in a field, a tall handsome fellow with a kind eye who stood calmly and quietly while we said hello to him. His owner had contacted us a few days before,…

New SAFE Intake: Banjo

Banjo was surrendered to SAFE by his owners on the recommendation of City of Snohomish animal control officers, who discovered the gelding had not received basic vet or farrier care for more than five years. The horse had gone unhandled for many years as well, making…

Maggie Returns

A few weeks ago, we received the unhappy news from Maggie’s adopters that they needed find a new home for her. This was by no means Maggie’s fault. She had fit in well at their farm, behaved like a perfect lady, and given them her trust. But they felt that their…

Mesquite: Making great strides!

Mesquite left early this morning for Vancouver WA where he will join his friend Hickory in training with Joel Conner. You might recall that Joel rode both boys at his clinic at SAFE in mid-August. Now they’re both going to get the start they need to be saddle horses. …

Rest in Peace, Rose City Special (1997–2015)

Rest in Peace, Rose City Special (1997–2015)

We never truly know how much time we’ll have with the ones we love. We give our hearts to our animals, knowing that chances are good that we’ll end up outliving them and having to face saying goodbye. It’s a risk that most animal lovers are willing to take, grief…

A hard day to say goodbye

There’s no real way to properly express what happens when we lose a horse. Today, we said a too-early goodbye to Sapphire due to a colic. Sapphire was discovered down in her stall this morning by her foster caretakers in deep distress. Dr Holohan from Pilchuck was…

Stella is home from training!

Stella is home from 45 days of training with Joel Conner. I got the chance to ride her in the clinic when Joel was at SAFE and it was a blast getting to know this spunky mare. She is a very sensitive and smart girl. She handled being in the arena with ten other horses…

Einstein Finds a Family!

We are excited to tell everyone that Einstein is on an adoption trial. He has settled into the farm and is getting to know the other family horses…Strider and Skye! Yes you heard me right, Michel contacted SAFE soon after Einstein had been rescued. She has been…

Health Update: Scarlett

We have really enjoyed getting reacquainted with this pretty little chestnut! Unfortunately, Scarlett came up lame at the end of July, so we had Dr. Devine, from Pilchuck, come out to evaluate her. After flexion tests and nerve blocks, the lameness was localized to…

Oscar working at SAFE Harbor

We have been working with Oscar on relaxing at the gaits and riding with just seat and leg. He is getting used to the light contact in the reins and that he can go around steady and without worry. He is doing very well and finding his balance! Here is a clip of Oscar…

Health Update: Karma

Karma seen today for 1 month check with Dr Fleck to re-ultrasound her check ligament. The healing has started well and the ultrasound looks good, she is filling in the tear but it is not completely healed yet. Dr Fleck said she can go out in her in and out run if she…

Training Update: Jewel

Volunteer rider Claire has taken on Jewel as her special project. She has been working with her since just before the SAFE show and there have been some great changes since then. Here is an update from Claire about how things are going so far: “Jewel is an absolute…

Training Update: Khianna

  We have a wonderful group of volunteer riders at SAFE who not only make my life as the Operations Director easier but also are a vital asset to the horse’s preparation for adoption. The volunteers help with everything from turnout, hand walking injured horses,…

When can we play with Bridgit again?

We have been patiently waiting to start working with Bridgit again….She “popped a splint” on her left front a few weeks ago and we have been waiting for the heat and swelling to go down. Meanwhile the little munchkin has been enjoying long turnouts next to her buddy…

Handsome Ben!

Volunteer Jessica Farren was out to the stables last week and took some beautiful photos of Ben and volunteer Ann working in the arena. We also had a few others with Ben and Terry in the arena a few weeks ago. He is truly a stunning boy and his looking healthy and…

Checking in with Annabelle

If Annabelle could tell us all the stories of her life, I think we would all have a good long cry and then gather ourselves up and look to the future. She is a tough girl who has spent a good part of her life fighting for her safety. Annabelle has a deep soul and we…

Anderson is making great progress!

Anderson is doing excellent in training with Darik. He has spent some time relaxing into being a good gelding and getting used to the life as a domestic horse. We got to spend some time with him and watch Darik work him in the arena. He still has a cautious nature but…

Health Update: Phoenix

We wanted let everyone know where things are currently with Phoenix’s health and lameness status. After trying a few different shoeing options over the last few months, some that helped but some that didn’t, we decided to ask Dr. Devine from Pilchuck come out to take…