Melinda and Stormy

SAFE is overjoyed to introduce you to a new staff member who will be joining us in early January. Melinda Merryman is a veterinary technician who has accepted a position with SAFE to oversee the health and well-being of our horses.

Melinda has been volunteering with SAFE since 2013 and has held a position on our Operations Council for the past two years as our Herd Health Manager. As a volunteer, Melinda has done much to improve the level of care our horses receive. She established an in-house fecal testing program, which allows us to determine the best and safest deworming plans for all of our horses, saving time and money by doing the testing ourselves. She also established important quarantine procedures to prevent the spread of disease or illness within our herd. Her input and oversight has resulted in fewer vet calls and more happy, healthy horses.

Melinda has done all this while working full time as a vet tech at a small animal shelter, which understandably put a limit on the amount of time she was able to devote to SAFE. As a result, many veterinary-related tasks and responsibilities fell to our Operations Director, our Barn Managers, and our volunteers. These individuals have all done a terrific job, but we’ve always known that taking care of the vet needs of 28 horses is a full time job. Happily, SAFE has grown to a point where we can justify adding a new staff member to fully handle these responsibilities.

Melinda obtained her vet tech license in 2008. She started her career at an equine hospital in California, but became homesick and moved back to Washington where she worked in an ambulatory practice and also as an equine surgical technician at a large referral hospital. Several years later, she was offered a position at a small animal shelter, and moved away from equine practice. She is very excited about moving back into the equine field as a staff member at SAFE. Her responsibilities will include the management of all vet and farrier needs, including setting appointments, performing on site care, making treatment decisions, and record keeping. She will also be working on developing a comprehensive feeding program for all horses, and conducting training sessions for volunteers wishing to learn more about horse care.

Welcome on board, Melinda!!!