Cameo

SAFE volunteer Casey worked with Cameo during the groundwork portion of the clinic:

I worked Cameo in the Joel Conner clinic for the first time since she returned to SAFE. The first day her feet were quite stuck and she had changing eyes issues, which resulted in some concerning behaviors, including striking out with her front feet. With Joel’s guidance, I was able to help her work through that trouble and got her feet a bit more free. This was evident on the second day, because she moved out much more comfortably and was better able to reach her front feet and bring them across. On the ground she looks completely sound, and I believe that getting her feet freed and balanced will help her maintain soundness both on the ground and under saddle. Before I ride her, I want to continue to work on freeing up her feet, and get to working on changing eyes so that she becomes more comfortable both mentally and physically. Once she feels like she can move, those concerning behaviors should clear up pretty quickly. She’s a great horse with a lot of try, so I’m really looking forward to working with her.

Video by SAFE volunteer Kino M.

What a superstar Cameo was for her first show! She looked great and continues to amaze us this year. Lindsay is doing great with her training and not only got Cameo comfortable with the trailer but also has taken her on a few trail rides! Cameo is ready to meet prospective adopters! Are you ready to take her home?

Sound, gorgeous, and almost cheerful!

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:

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 steadily to get her strong and ready to ride. She has been working on trot poles and is up to 20 mins of trot work with saddling. She has been quiet and has a great work expression. We will be looking to saddling her and adding rider weight and increasing the trot under saddle over the next month. Here is a little bit from her training workout on Monday with volunteer rider Erika:

“Cam looked so great today! We did our walking and trotting with the K&S on…We went back over to the mounting block and practiced having weight over the back, having the saddle jiggle, and having the stirrups moving around at her sides. She did GREAT!!!!”

Here are some GORGEOUS new photos of Cameo. Thank you Jessica Farren for the lovely shots!

Cameo during a bodywork session with Dr Hannah Mueller at the SAFE Open House.

Cameo is getting back to work and doing very well. We are keeping things easy to start with, working on groundwork, saddling, and hooking up with her handlers. Already we are seeing good changes! Here is an update from her volunteer rider Claire:

“Cameo has come a long way in just a few sessions I’ve been able to work with her. Since she was stuck in a stall for so long recovering from her injury, she had a lot of excess energy to burn off, which was very apparent when I worked with her. A few weeks ago, I would saddle her (which she was initially troubled about), then turn her loose in the round pen. She would gallop around, unbalanced, and refuse to look at me. She also spooked consistently at one end of the round pen and wouldn’t go near it. Eventually, I was able to get her to calm down and we ended on a good note (even if she was super sweaty since she is so out of shape!). But the last time I worked with her, it was night and day. She was totally comfortable being saddled, moved out really nicely and calmly in the round pen, and even went to the side of the round pen that she was afraid of. She was listening to me the whole time, and she walked and trotted with me without a halter on. She is incredibly smart and it is a pleasure to work with her!”

Here are some lovely photos that Jessica Farren took of Claire and Cameo working in the round pen this week. What a BEAUTIFUL mare Cameo has become!

Cameo at the Holiday Open House.

Cameo continues to make good progress in her rehab from last July’s injury. Volunteers have been walking and trotting her in hand for the past several months. Cameo is a pretty good girl for her exercise sessions but she is easily spooked if there is too much noise or commotion near the arena, so her handlers have to stay on their toes. 

We are now able to saddle her up for short walks with a rider on board. She will occasionally show some stiffness afterwards, but overall her progression has been uneventful and steady. Her walks under saddle are progressively getting longer and very soon, we’ll start trotting her.

In order to keep her quiet, we have not been turning Cameo out. Winter turnout at Safe Harbor takes place mostly in the covered arena. Once we get the all clear from Dr. Fleck, she’ll have the opportunity to spend time out in the arena with a calm horse as a buddy.

Cameo is a very smart girl and she knows her people.  If you are new to her, or if you are a little bit timid in her presence, she will definitely take note of it! She takes direction well but you must be aware of her and establish a kind leadership with her from the beginning.  

We have a volunteer horse masseuse, Lori M, visiting Safe Harbor once a week and Cameo is enjoying her gentle massage work. Cameo loves attention. Her favorite thing? Getting her forehead rubbed. Which is, of course, the best angle from which to appreciate her beauty!

Volunteer trainer Laura McCorkle has been working with Cameo for a long time now, and has really gotten the chance to get to know this mare on a whole new level. She provided this update about her work with Cameo:

Poor Cameo — she’s the Queen of Walking Big Ovals! This beautiful girl has been in rehab for a very long time, trying to get her hamstring back in shape for riding. Half an hour of hand-walking/trotting day after day, week after week, month after month can get B‑O‑R-I‑N‑G!

Cameo being Cameo, she looks for drama around every corner (and frankly, who can blame her?). A falling leaf — a passing breeze — a raindrop — all these and more can be used as fuel for a classic Arab buck and snort, but a quick sarcastic raised eyebrow and a “rEEEEally?!” from her handler is all it takes, and she drops the drama. She really is a brave, sensible, spirited little beast…she just needs reminding every now and then.

Since the routine is so boring, we’ve been working on getting ready for being ridden again, hopefully soon. Cameo’s favorite cheat is leaning on you with her inside shoulder and looking to the outside, so we’ve been doing some groundwork as we walk — getting her to maintain the correct bend, and asking her to move off inside “leg” (pressure directed at her side with the tail end of the rope, a hand, or an arm draped over her). We’ve also worked on calm, light transitions between stop, walk, fast walk, jog, and trot — mixing it up a bit as we walk around. And around. AND AROUND.…

She seems to appreciate the “games” we play and likes to have some mental work along with the physical. Cameo is a horse who is THIRSTY for tasks to focus on — this horse wants a JOB. We’re doing our best to keep her happy, even though she’s not ready for too much yet. 

We’ll get there.…

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 to take some walks out to the grass and enjoy some time outside. As long as she doesn’t get walked too far away from the other horses, she has remained relaxed and content.

We did have to break down and give her a bath! She has been loosing her summer coat and fluffing up for winter already. She was pretty good about it but really doesn’t like the drips on her hind legs. She managed through it and all survived! Also for the time being we took off her front shoes. We will be working with our farrier to see if she suggests putting them back on or trying her barefoot for the winter.

She is steadily recovering and has shown no signs of lameness on that hind leg. With good healing in place we will be talking to Dr. Fleck soon about getting her back under saddle and into the trot. We want to take it easy and make sure she is ready for that next step.

We are increasing Cameo’s hand walking to 15 minutes 2 times a day this week and so far so good. She is off all medication and is stable. She remains in good spirits and is relaxed for her hand walks and light massages. She loves her fan we set up outside her stall and she spends time with her mane flowing in the wind which is very cute to watch. It is truly amazing that this mare who had little to no trust of humans when she arrived at SAFE is now so trusting. Yesterday after her walk, I cleaned her stall and added some new shavings. While I was finishing she laid down on the fresh bed and let me sit beside her and pet her forehead. I would never believe this was the same mare who was so afraid of everything and everyone around her. What an amazing transformation and wonderful mare!

Last week we had Dr Finn come to work with Cameo. She brought her thermal image camera to help find the area that was causing Cameo’s discomfort in the left hind. The images showed no extremely hot areas which was a great relief. There were some warm lines along her left hamstring that coincided with some strong reactions we had had during the first days when we lightly touched this area. Dr Finn was able to do some chiropractic and acupressure releases to help relax and speed up Cameo’s recovery. We are very thankful for Dr Finn’s time and donation of the thermal imaging camera shots.

Cameo on stall rest

Cameo never stumbled and took a bad step during this, and she walked off fine, but a few minutes later, she was three legged lame, holding her left hind up and putting no weight on it whatsoever. There was no swelling or heat, but she was clearly in discomfort. Dr Fleck came out and examined her, but was unable to determine what was wrong. His suspicion was that something was going on in her hip or pelvis, maybe a muscle tear, maybe a fracture. He gave her pain medication and ordered stall rest through the weekend with a recheck on Monday morning. Cameo was an angel for her confinement, and her attitude remained bright, despite the fact that she was literally hopping on her right foot and keeping her left elevated. She remained unchanged through the weekend, and we all were extremely worried about her.

So it was a huge relief when, by the end of the weekend, she finally started putting weight on her bad leg. Dr Fleck was pleased with her progress but instructed us to keep her on stall rest, and continue to monitor her condition. She was rechecked again after a week, and Dr Fleck had us start hand walking her, starting with 5 minutes per day and increasing to 10 and then 15 minutes per day. At 15 minutes, she started showing signs of lameness, so Dr Fleck instructed us to take her back down to 10 minutes of hand walking twice a day.

Special thanks to Tim Matts at Firstfruits Feed, who opened his store on the 4th of July to sell us white pine shavings for Cameo’s stall after she had an allergic reaction to cedar shavings. We are so incredibly grateful for his generosity and kindness at a time when we were very worried about our girl and wanted to keep her as comfortable as possible. 

I had the chance to chat with trainer Laura McCorkle who’s done a lot of work with Cameo over the past months and has seen the slow but steady transformation that this lovely mare has gone through. Laura laughs when she talks about Cameo’s “ice princess” demeanor, because underneath that chilly exterior lies the softest, kindest mare in the world. 

Cameo has really benefitted from the specialized hoof care she’s received of late, and now that her hooves are in better balance, the muscle development in her shoulders has become more even. Laura says that Cameo is feeling her feet now, and she’s a lot more balanced. Last ride, they got four canter transitions “without emotion,” which is always a nice thing!

Like many young horses, Cameo is still learning to accept contact, and Laura says that while Cameo is physically capable of self carriage, she’s still not quite able to deal with it mentally, at least not for very long stretches. She needs a lot of breaks when asked for contact, or she gets nervous, like she doesn’t quite trust that she’ll get the release she needs. So it’s important when Laura asks Cameo for vertical flexion that she changes things up and asks her for lateral flexion to give her a break. This allows her to hold vertical flexion for longer stretches without getting tight in her jaw.

Laura says that Cameo responds beautifully to being asked to be supple herself within movement…so much so that Laura compares her to a little hippie dancer who needs a lot of freedom to express herself. In contrast, she really doesn’t like to be asked to stand at attention. Someday she may graduate to becoming a ballet dancer with perfect control…but for now, weave her a crown of flowers and let her flow!

Cameo has officially grown up!! She went on her first real trail ride and did very well! She had a few jumps here and there but overall it was manageable and she came home a bit more mature then when she left. Couldn’t be more pleased with how grown up she is acting and the level of consistency in her behavior. She is still the hot little Arab but it is with in reason and rideable. She has a few new volunteer riders and she is listening to the different rider and styles well. She will always be a sensitive mare and add to that her intelligent nature she is posed to make someone an amazing partner. Her shoes are still helping her balance and a big part to the changes we have seen in her over the last few months. 

Cameo has improved so much over the past several months. She’s become very steady under saddle and seems so much more mature. She is lovely to handle and work with now that she has lost that flighty edge. She has really settled into the ground work and being ridden on a loose rein. She is walk, trotting and cantering with a more relaxed manner. I think this is a combination of all the wonderful groundwork attention and patience that Laura McCorkle has given her, as well as the balance she is feeling with Jake Cowden’s shoes. The shoes are still a work in progress but we are already seeing such positive results. Her extra muscling on the one shoulder is almost completely gone and we no longer have to pad the one side of the saddle to compensate. She feel a lot more balanced underneath you when you ride and she doesn’t feel as much like a motorcycle leaning side to side as you trot and canter.

Cameo and Laura also participated in both days of the Michael Sparling Clinic at Safe Harbor Stables. Here is what Laura had to say about the clinic and Cameo: “I really enjoyed this clinic – more than the last one (though they were both great). As I have found with other clinics, learning a specific clinician’s techniques helps me understand my own way of working, and adds stuff to my “toolkit”. That shift in perspective is really valuable.

For me, one of the most valuable things in Michael’s approach is the idea that we should always be offering the horse something – not just leadership (though that is critical); not just instruction/training, but something the horse gets to tell US about. I like that Michael emphasizes the importance of looking for what the individual horse WANTS from us in terms of connection – maybe it’s a face rub, maybe it’s a withers massage, maybe it’s just standing still next to us, or letting them move out in a certain way. I think sometimes ANY method of training can be too much concentrated on what we can DO with the horse, but if we take time to connect and OFFER them something, the horse is more motivated to work for us and happier about doing it. And it’s way more fun for us, too!

I also like how this specific style of work connects the hind end with the front end very fluidly. At the last clinic, in the riding portion we were asked to do the “Short Serpentine” (walking in a shape kind of like ribbon candy), and I was very frustrated with trying to do that with Cameo….it was extremely difficult for us both, and I felt that she was not balanced enough or ready for it – but in clinics I always try to do things as the clinician says, so we kept with it. I feel like I’m not really learning anything if I go in there and do things “my way” the whole time! Anyway…I appreciated the exercise and the ideas behind it, so in the months after that first clinic I worked the Short Serpentine with several different clients’ horses including my own and had some great successes with it…but still not with Cameo.

In this clinic, he had us do serpentines again, and I started out as I had in the first clinic, thinking that’s what he was asking for. Cameo was a bit better, but we were still struggling a lot (her balance is better than it was but she still has a long way to go, especially with a tall rider like me!). Then he told me to try a much more shallow version where we looked for just one good step over – a smaller starting point to reach for. That worked much better, and was kind of what I had been wanting to do anyway – it felt great to have the validation that my instincts had been correct and when we switched to that approach this time it worked SO much better!!!! I hope that by the next clinic, Cameo and I will be rocking the Short Serpentines and she’ll be balanced and bending like a snake 

I also liked what he said about looking for relaxation as a primary goal…getting the “correct response” in the body is nice, but it’s important to get it in a way that indicates the horse is relaxed and feeling good about it. It might not always start out that way, of course. Especially with horses with a rough history, you have some issues and braces to work through, but in the end it’s not enough for them to be “technically” correct in their bodies – you have to get right with their MINDS. But that’s what has always drawn me to this approach to horsemanship – a horse’s body is beautiful and capable of incredible things, but their minds and spirits are even more amazing. THAT’s what I truly love to work with and communicate with. Especially with Cameo.”

Cameo gets the right lead canter!! The new shoes are wonderful and the small changes that have been started are making a ton of difference in her ability to carry a rider. We have also noticed that the build up on her left shoulder from the right club foot has started to look more even with the right shoulder. This makes the saddle a lot easier to sit level on her back without having to shim up the right side. We are excited to see how she changes as farrier Jake Cowden continues to slowly change the shoeing angles.

We have been working with farrier Jake Cowden to help Cameo’s club foot by adding shoes. We’ve been making very slow and subtle changes to her hooves, but already we are seeing signs of improvement. She is striding better in the front with lots more toe flip instead of jamming her right front into the dirt. She continues to become more calm and relaxed. As Cameo becomes more balanced and feels more secure in her own foundation, her overall attitude has been changing, which is a welcome improvement! Helping her balance through corrective shoeing is giving her one more way to feel safe when we ask her to do work for us and to carry a rider.

What a joy this little mare is becoming! I had some really lovely quiet rides on Cameo this month. She can still be quite the four year old handful but she has a new peace about her and ground work is helping her find that more and more. Once she gets rid of the excess exuberance and focuses, she is a delight to work with. Her whole body changes from flighty Arabian to an easy Quarter Horse relaxation. I think she is becoming more comfortable on her own feet and with that balance she can quiet her energy. She is extremely smart and has a genuine sweet side when she looks at you with her soft eyes.

We had a really good ride last week but the next day she came out of her stall very stiff. Skye and Cameo can get running and playing hard outside too but I am not sure what caused this soreness; she is still young so maybe she is growing. The next day she looked a lot better and has looked better this week and back to riding. When she first came back to SAFE after being started, she felt very wobbly and unbalanced. The work encourages balance and trot poles are helping her find a better way of moving. She doesn’t feel as unstable underneath me, which I am sure is a good feeling for both of us. She is still pretty rushed and wants to be unbalanced for her canter work. When she is stronger, the canter work will be easier but until she feels more stable, she sometimes becomes very flighty and runs to escape.

Another thing that is going to help is a new saddle that was donated to SAFE by Dawn Anderson. It is a smaller tree so it is great for this girl’s little frame. We are so thankful for Dawn’s support and her time helping to fit our riding horses with the proper saddles.

Cameo is looking for a confident rider who can appreciate her green behavior and help channel them in the right direction. She is still very young so I try to keep things fun and not put too many demands on her developing body. We ride a few times a week, other days we play with obstacles and desensitizing tools. And I’m always looking for ways to help her gain more trust in people.

Cameo is pretty brave, but she’s not fond of loud or sudden noises. So Terry and Laura are working with desensitizing her. Here is Cameo’s first attempts at moving over a noisy tarp. Laura is very good at helping Cameo know she can take her time and think about it.

Two days later, another attempt at tarp training. After slowly making the tarp larger and larger, you can see in this video the progress she is making. She did get afraid of it but after still followed Laura over top. It’s a gradual process.

thank you to Andrea for these lovely photos of Cameo!

Cameo is continuing to progress in her work with Andrea Lucianna at Half Trak Farm. It’s been a difficult journey for this mare, and she has her good days and not-as-good days, but she is moving forward all the time. It’s important to keep in mind just how far she’s come when looking at her progress. By those standards, she’s absolutely remarkable.

She continues to go well under saddle and Andrea & Jenny are both pretty pleased with how her body is developing with steady, correct work. They’re promising a new video and photos as soon as the weather improves. In the meantime, Andrea has started asking her to slow down and work in a more collected way of going, to try and focus her mind a bit. She leg yields nicely and is starting to sit her trot. Andrea says that physically she’s pretty straight and correct. She is still developing her balance under saddle and will occasionally trip or stumble. 

Cameo can still be very spooky and Andrea spends a significant amount of every ride dealing with that. Andrea feels this is just who she is and that she’s always going to be spooky. Cameo’s adopter will have to accept that about her, and be prepared to work through it. As we’ve said before, Cameo is a long-term project, and her perfect adopter is going to be someone who understands and accepts that.

Andrea has been testing having others tack her up. Andrea and Jenny have no problem getting a bridle on her. But, some people find the task impossible. She’s good on the ground, and is usually pretty sweet, but she does go through phases where she doesn’t want to allow herself to be caught. Then she turns back into the mare who comes at a gallop when she is called. Again, it’s part of who she is.

Because of the bond that Andrea developed with her before starting her under saddle, Cameo is extremely loyal to Andrea and shows her a ton of try. Cameo has made progress in her interactions with other people, but Andrea remains the one person who does best with her. So again, we have to reiterate that a potential adopter for Cameo must understand that they will have to go through the same process of establishing a bond with her from the start. Once that bond is established, Cameo will belong to her person, and her person alone. Cameo needs someone with the heart and patience to give her that. In return, her adopter will have the sort of horse that will walk through fire for her person. 

Cameo will remain in training with Andrea at least through the end of this month. It would be so beneficial to have an adopter who can go to Half Trak Farm multiple times to work with Andrea and Cameo before making a commitment to this mare. We want Cameo to find her person, so please help us by sharing her story with anyone you know who might turn out to be that person. 

Below: Cameo under saddle with Andrea in the outdoor arena at Half Track Farm

It’s been a while since we’ve provided an update on Cameo’s progress in training, but it’s not because things haven’t been going well…quite the opposite in fact. Things with Cameo have been going SO well that we can hardly believe it.

When we dropped Cameo off at Half Trak Farm to begin her work with Andrea, we saw a major regression in her behavior. She had made a lot of progress working with Brittney at SAFE since her rescue, but she initially regarded her new friends at Half Trak with suspicion, aggression, and reluctance to cooperate. Andrea decided the best way to overcome this behavior was to make herself Cameo’s whole world for a period of time, so for about a week, she was the only human that Cameo interacted with. Happily, Cameo accepted Andrea’s friendship surprisingly quickly, and before long, she accepted the fact that although she was in a new place, it was a safe place, a good place. Once Andrea gained her trust, she was able to proceed with ground work and under saddle lessons.

Things between Andrea and Cameo could not be better. Andrea can call her in from the field, and Cameo comes running at a dead gallop and shoves her head in the halter. Cameo has also learned to bond with other horses…she’s especially close with Half Trak’s weanling filly, and apparently the two are super adorable together.

Andrea absolutely loves Cameo and thinks she is going to turn out to be a nice, nice horse for someone. But she stresses that the person who adopts her has got to be willing to take the time to bond with her. Andrea feels quite strongly that the initial aggressive attitude that Cameo displays is really the complete opposite — she’s actually very timid and needs time to build confidence in her handler. When you think about what Cameo’s life was like before she was rescued — stuck in a stall all the time with no handling — it makes sense that trust would be a huge issue for her. In many ways, it’s absolutely inspirational that she’s able to trust anyone at all. There is no doubt that Cameo is a brave and courageous filly to be able to overcome such a start in life.

Cameo

Cameo’s lessons under saddle are progressing very well, and she’s going nicely at all three gaits. We’ve had the opportunity to see her going under saddle, and as you can imagine, it’s very emotional for many of us who feared she’d never make it this far. However, we’re still not quite ready to share her progress with a video yet…Cameo still lacks confidence under saddle, she’s very sensitive, and she can be spooky in the arena. We’d prefer to give Andrea the time she needs to work through Cameo’s issues before we’ll be ready to share her on video. We are absolutely thrilled with the progress she has made, and we have complete confidence in Andrea’s plans for proceeding with her education. At this point, Cameo will probably need to remain in training for another 30–60 days before she is at the level that Andrea normally sends them home at. We made a decision when Cameo started training that we were committed to seeing her through it, even if it takes longer than what we consider normal.

The best possible outcome we could hope for here at SAFE would be for Cameo to find her adoptive home now, while she is still in training with Andrea, so that her new person could work with Cameo under Andrea’s guidance. Cameo is a lovely mare, a beautiful rose bay with a tiny star who will no doubt turn heads in the show arena. The person that she ultimately bonds with will have a true friend for life. Cameo is likely to be a one-person mare, and the friendship and bond that she will share with “her” person will be remarkable. She’s got so much to offer to the person willing to make a leap of faith with her. Surely that person is out there for Cameo.

Cameo has been in training with Andrea Lucianna for 30 days, and things have not been entirely rosy for our little bay mare. She arrived at Half-Trak Farm with a bit of an eye infection that had to be treated with daily eye drops…a routine that she did not care for in the least. This resulted in a lot of distrust and suspicion, and her behavior reverted back to the wild thing that she was when first rescued. She became difficult to catch, even in a stall. Because this behavior seemed so motivated by mistrust, Andrea decided that she would be the only person to handle Cameo, essentially making herself into Cameo’s “whole world” and helping her realize that she could be trusted. Fortunately, Cameo responded very well to this, and before long was greeting Andrea with ears forward and nickers, even when turned out in a pasture. The two have formed a bond, and this bond has allowed Andrea to move forward with her training.

She now is being worked in full tack and has already had a rider stand in stirrup and lean over her back (see below for video) Andrea is much more hopeful than she was a week ago. She feels Cameo is very smart and learning quickly. She lunges well and has learned voice commands. She is not going to be ready to go after 60 days of training like many of the SAFE horses are, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel, and we are beginning to get a sense for what Cameo needs if she is going to be successful.

It’s all about trust for Cameo. She needs one person that she can bond with and trust, and that person needs to handle her with consistency and fairness. The ideal situation would be if we could find that person right now, and have that person work with Andrea and take part in Cameo’s training. Our plan is to network with Arab trainers in the area and try to find someone who has the confidence and experience to bring Cameo along properly. There are a lot of unknowns when it comes to a horse like this, but the potential rewards are great: she is young, healthy, sound, and athletic. She is beautiful and she can be extremely sweet. But most of all, there is an opportunity here to create and grow a bond of trust with a horse whose previous owner failed her completely. A horse who deserves a chance at a much better life. 

Cameo’s person is out there and if you can help us find that person, we would appreciate your help with networking and helping in the search. The link to Cameo’s page is https://www.safehorses.org/?page_id=13324 — please share her story. 

Cameo wants everyone to know she has been wearing a saddle for a few weeks now, but today was the first time it was put on while she was standing in the cross-ties.

You’ll notice that Cameo is wearing a chain in the photo. That’s because she is still learning how to lead like a polite little lady. When she leads nicely, no pressure from the chain is applied to her nose because Brittney leads her with a very loose lead line. But if she tries to bolt away while being led, she ends up applying pressure to her own nose. Even though she is small, she can be quite strong and has the strength to get away from her handler if she has a moment of being overly exuberant. It wouldn’t be safe for her if she got away and ran into traffic or into another dangerous situation.

In the spirit of celebrating the little things in life, we have a couple of big accomplishments to share with you. Last week, Miss Cameo braved the scary (and admittedly tricky!) little ramp that horses have to walk up and down when leaving and entering the main barn at SAFE Harbor. Brittney worked patiently with her until she was able to do it calmly and safely. This was a very big deal for Cameo and we were very proud of her!

This week, Cameo got to try out the crossties in the main barn, and as you’ll see from the photos below, she was quite successful. Hooray for Cameo and hooray for Brittney for all the time and patience she has put into teaching Cameo the skills that we sometimes take for granted. They are working towards getting started under saddle, and Brittney is taking things at Cameo’s speed, helping her gain confidence and learn the skills that will serve her for the rest of her life.

SAFE farrier Daphne Jones trims Cameo’s overgrown hooves.

Cameo got her feet trimmed earlier this week. Brittney reports that while Cameo seems to be getting over her fearfulness, and is no longer shaking in fear as she leaves her stall, she is now exhibiting some truly bratty behavior when it comes to allowing herself to be caught. Brittney and our fabulous farrier Daphne Jones spent more than 2 hours playing good cop/bad cop with her. She pulled some mean faces and even kicked out at them a few times, but she eventually she figured out that they weren’t going to just go away and relented, allowing Brittney to throw a lead rope over her neck like normal.

Once caught, she acted like she had her hooves trimmed before. She had a few more moments of sassy mare attitude but gave it up quickly.

Brittney has been catching Cameo on a daily basis and lunging her.

Thank you to Chelsey Braswell for these photos of Cameo in her paddock at SAFE Harbor. Chelsey says that as cute as they are, they absolutely do not do her justice — she is even cuter in person! We love her coloring — Jet describes it as “rose bay” which is very apt.

Last Thursday, Animal Control officers transported Logan, Skye and Chip from Frontier Park to SAFE Harbor Stables, but the fourth horse that SAFE agreed to take from the seizure did not make the trip. That’s because the officers were unable to even catch Cameo in her stall.

SAFE trainer Brittney Stewart set aside the entire day yesterday to drive down to Graham to work with Cameo and attempt to convince her to allow herself to be caught. With no time table in mind and her husband Darby along for support, Brittney knew that she could allow Cameo all the time she needed to accept and trust her.

In the end, it took an hour and a half of gentle, patient coaxing in the stall for Cameo to be caught. It took another 10 minutes to convince Cameo that it was safe to step outside the stall, and remarkably only 15 seconds of hesitation before she jumped right into the open trailer.

Cameo hauled in the trailer like a pro, she didn’t kick when they stopped and at the end of the 2 hour ride, she wasn’t even nervous or sweaty! When they got to SAFE, they backed the trailer up into the arena and blocked the sides of the gate so Cameo wouldn’t attempt to run out of the arena. Brittney opened the trailer door to find a happy and  comfortable Cameo in her trailer munching on hay. So happy and comfortable that it took some convincing to get her to come out of the trailer into the arena!

Cameo is now safely ensconced in her stall at SAFE Harbor, and now begins the long process of convincing this unhandled and frightened filly that people are good and kind. Cameo is a living reminder that animal abuse comes in many forms besides just starvation. Horses need fair, consistent handling on a regular basis if they are ever going to be able to live safely among humans. Letting a domesticated horse grow up unhandled and untrained is wrong because in the end, when you’re left with a huge dangerous animal, it’s the horse that will suffer. Cameo is lucky that she is young, smart, and that she has a lot of people on her side who are going to help her learn and grow. Other horses are not so lucky. So once again, thank you to Pierce County Animal Control for taking action in this case. It was a bold move, but hopefully it will send a message that anyone having far more horses than they can reasonably care for is a crime that will not go unpunished. Horses like Cameo have suffered enough.