Ciara
Quarter Horse mare
Suitability: TBD
Color: bay
Markings: thin blaze
Height: 14.1h
Weight: 840lbs
Adoption Fee: TBD
Ciara came to SAFE in May of 2023 as part of a 7 horse owner surrender situation in the Gig Harbor area. She, along with her 6 herd mates, were living in poor conditions, surrounded by broken panels, standing in deep mud, without clean water.
Ciara had likely had some handling before arriving at SAFE, but it left her reluctant to get caught and rather ‘stuck’ in her feet. But she is a quick learner, and has already made huge strides in her learning, including seeing the vet for vaccines and getting her feet trimmed.
These days, Ciara continues to advance in her training, spending her downtime alongside her filly and paddockmate, Inula, where the two enjoy sunbathing and taking laps around their grass turnout together.
All SAFE horses are adopted with a no-breeding clause, no exceptions.
Introducing Ciara
Before she came to SAFE, Ciara was living alongside her filly, Inula, in a mud pit of a paddock. She was yet another of the Gig Harbor horses to arrive here back in May, and yet another who was afflicted by the same poor coat, long hooves, and lack of clean living conditions that also plagued her herd mates.
But when she stepped off the trailer that Saturday in May, her luck began to change.
Ciara is a curious mare, and while she was cautious and wary of people at first, we felt it would not take long to earn her trust. Over the fence on that first day, she allowed a few cursory head pets, and while she wasn’t accepting of a halter at first, it seemed to be more out of a bit of coy unwillingness versus fear or true misunderstanding.
So we started from the beginning. The time we spent with her in the round pen those first days reaffirmed for us that Ciara was a smart mare, but one who had learned some less than ideal concepts in her past, and was in need of a bit of a refresher. Ciara, like many of the other horses from her case, had a severe misunderstanding of pressure, defaulting to pushing into it rather than giving. She dragged against the feel of the rope with a bull-headed intensity, the concept of drawing in virtually unknown to her. It took a great deal of repetition, but eventually she began to get it, and by the end of day two was a bit more understanding of what was being asked of her, an understanding that would only increase with continued work.
Rome wasn’t built in a day, and it was clear Ciara had a good deal of un-learning and re-learning to do, but we were confident she would get there. We utilized her itchy coat as a way to get closer to her (who can refuse a good scratch?) but she was not ever really fearful of touch. Still, it took a bit of time before she was able to be caught out in her paddock, but we got there sooner rather than later. She was able to get her feet trimmed a few weeks after her arrival, and despite having some hesitation during those initial days of being asked to lift her feet, did very well for the farrier. She also saw the vet, both for vaccinations and a dental, and did very well for both. She has taken more and more walks outside of her paddock, into the big covered arena, and while cautious, becomes braver with each trip.
These days, Ciara continues her training, likely towards a start under saddle in the eventual future. The path ahead may still be long, but we are happy we were able to meet this mare to walk it with her.
Introducing the Gig Harbor 7
The majority of the horses who come to SAFE come as singles or in pairs. One here, one there, typically with some space in between arrivals. But on occasion, we are called to assist with a larger seizure. It hasn’t been all that long since the Fall City 40, and an even shorter period since we took in the Graham 27. Now, we were once again called to help with a multi-horse intake. Seven horses in the Gig Harbor area needed our help, the owner needing to quickly re-home horses that were not easily re-homeable. On the heels of the Graham horses, we felt a bit more prepared for a larger intake, but unlike the Graham horses, these horses had not had regular (or any) handling in some time.
So on a Saturday morning, we loaded up our trailers with panels, and set out with a robust team of people and a brigade of trailers and a plan to pull seven horses out of the mud.
Thanks to a ton of planning, a great deal of manpower, and an earlier scope of the property, we were able to successfully remove all the horses from the property over the course of just a few hours. We ran chutes from the pens, some quite winding and intricate, but everyone left unscathed, and arrived at SAFE in one piece.
Lancelot, the stallion, was the first to pull through the gates.
Next were mother and daughter, Ciara and Inula,
followed by the small herd of mares: Meadow and Mirana, the elders of the group, (and the only ones who allowed us to halter them), and Wren and Harissa.
Seeing them at SAFE was like seeing them with the lights clicked on for the first time. It was clear they were in need of some TLC, but out of the mud and muck, it became obvious just how much. Their feet were overgrown, slippered in some cases. The four mares had a line of what appeared to be rotten hair halfway up their legs, likely a result of standing in a high layer of wet ground. The mother and daughter stank, a smell like rotting, and while there was nothing visibly deceased on the property, it felt very much like a place where death lived. All of them, when confronted with clean water troughs, drank long and deep.
It was clear from the moment we set eyes on the horses that they would take some work to rehab and retrain. Even the mares who let us halter them were not keen on being touched much beyond that. We certainly had our work cut out for us. But this was not the first time that challenging horses had come through our gates, and it will not be the last. The road ahead might be long, but the most important thing is that these horses are safe now, and that is all that matters.
Ciara’s Friends:
1. Beck W.
2. ____________________
3. ____________________
4. ____________________
5. ____________________
6. ____________________
7. ____________________
8. ____________________
9. ____________________
10._____________________
Every horse deserves at least ten friends! Even a small monthly donation can make a difference. Plus, SAFE horse sponsors receive discounts at local businesses through the SAFEkeepers program!
