Moonshine

Moonshine is pending adoption, and has been on trial with his potential new owner at SAFE Harbor, taking lessons with Brittney and learning to jump! He’s doing fantastic, we could not be more proud of him.

During his pre-purchase exams, a mass was discovered in the vicinity of his boy-parts, and it was recommended that it be removed in order to make him more comfortable. Moonshine’s tumor removal went very well yesterday, though it was a challenging location for Dr. Penny. She said it was a solitary mass with no indication of spread or any other tumors. He gets one day of stall/paddock rest, then can go back into turnout since moving around is better for the healing process. Unless he develops an infection or excessive swelling beyond what is normal, he can be saddled and *lightly* worked by Friday of this week, building up slowly to full work after stitches come out on December 11th. A biopsy on the mass is pending, but Penny’s guess is that it’s a melanoma.

We’ll be keeping a close eye on him, and keeping our fingers crossed that his healing continues in a positive direction. He’s such a good boy, we all enjoy him so much.

Santa with Moonshine and his girl

Moonshine got to take part in the Holiday Open House, where he was suitably adorable. (Shasta does not agree…she tried to kick his lights out when he encroached on the photo set…fortunately her legs are so short that she could’t actually make contact with him!) Here he is with Santa and his girl.

Moonshine was such a superstar at the Haunted Open House! His was the most involved costume of all the horses, and he handled it like…like…like he’d been wearing clothes his whole life. After the party was over, I took several more shots of him hanging out in his paddock. He’s hard to photograph because he’s so darned friendly, he just wants to come in close for a snuggle! I managed to get a few good shots by stepping back from the fence. He’s such a good boy, you just can’t help but like him!

We’re also very excited because Moonshine is pending adoption! Here’s a quick shot of him working in a lesson today over trot poles:

Moonshine enjoyed some time in the arena to stretch his legs and play. He took the opportunity to show off some of his fancy moves! 

Moonshine has finished his training and will be coming back to SAFE Harbor Stables this Friday. His trainer, Andrea Lucianna, told us that there have only been three SAFE horses that she seriously wanted to keep for herself…Delilah, River…and…Moonshine. She said if he was just a little bigger, she’d find a way to work him into her program. Moonshine is a nice, nice horse with a sweet disposition and great movement. He’s also a steady eddie — she never has to lunge him, and he can have 2–3 days off and be just fine the next ride.  She recently tried out a couple students on him…two advanced riders, and then a relative beginner, and he did great for all three, including the novice rider! We’ll have some photos and hopefully video to share with everyone very soon, and we’ll let you know how he progresses once Brittney takes over his training. We can’t wait to see Moonshine…he’ll be picked up from Half-Trak farm in Arlington and Cameo will be the next SAFE horse going into full time training!

Moonshine started cantering under saddle this week without a lead pony! He’s doing great!! Here’s a video taken the week before last of his first ride off the lunge line. Look closely and see if you recognize the horse that he’s working with in the arena…it’s Delilah!! A rescue horse helping to train another rescue horse! How cool is that? Great work, Andrea and Co.!!

It’s a big day for Moonshine! He’s climbing aboard the trailer and heading up to Arlington to start training with Andrea Lucianna at Half Trak Farm. Andrea will have her hands full with this sassy young man as he learns to adjust to a life where he doesn’t get to do absolutely everything he wants at any given moment! We wish them both the best and look forward to updates on his progress!

Moonshine continues to be sweet with just a little sass. He is easy to catch and handle. He is 3 now, and will be heading off to our trainer’s soon to learn what it means to have a job. He has enjoyed his time with his foster mom, Jackie who says that she’s going to miss him!

Moonshine is enjoying life at his new foster home. He’s recovered from his gelding surgery and is now living a life of leisure as he grows up. His foster mom had this to say about him:

Moonshine is doing very well here with us, and has bonded extremely well with our older TB gelding.
He is very much a baby, with all the baby antics like nipping, breaking fences and playing with everything, especially me.

We are currently working on ground rules, like respecting human space, walking, backing up, and stopping on command, and on the days when he gets to go out and play for a few hours, the work is going great. But if Moon hasn’t been out for a while, we really really have to enforce those ground rules. Typical baby!

He has the sweetest personality, is curious, brave and willing. He will make somebody a great little horse, and his antics are hilarious sometimes. Like the time he chased a deer in the pasture. The deer ran, Moonshine after, deer flew over the fence and Moon ended on his bum mid gallop. If a horse could ever have a red face Moonshine would have had one, haha.

Last week the farrier was out, and he behaved well for the most part. He should not be hard for shoers later for sure.

I can say we love having him here, my other horse really likes him, and is teaching him to be a horse. I’m trying to teach him to be a safe horse, and Moonshine is doing his best for now. He will always have a place in my heart:)

We are so grateful to Moonshine’s foster mom, Kristin, for taking such wonderful care of him. Her work will undoubtedly have a huge effect on the horse he’ll be in the future. Thank you, Kristin!

Moonshine is healing up after his castration surgery and making new friends at NWESC.

Moonshine arrived at SAFE as a stallion so our first order of business was changing him into a gelding! Moonshine was castrated on October 1st as part of our castration clinic hosted by NWESC.