The Whole Horse Place

The Whole Horse Place The Whole Horse Place is an all volunteer, nonprofit organization. We offer something for everyone!

The Whole Horse Place's mission is to make a positive difference in the lives of old horses and humans of all ages by fostering bonds through comprehensive horse care and education. Our objective: We partner senior horses with children and adults of all abilities, foster children, and the broader community. We rescue senior horses and give them new purpose in teaching humans responsibility, confidence, self respect, resiliency, and emotional honesty.

Home from the Jefferson County Fair, and I don't even know where to start. What a week. Buddy, Brice and Paris made the ...
08/19/2026

Home from the Jefferson County Fair, and I don't even know where to start. What a week.

Buddy, Brice and Paris made the trip with Sofia, Jenna and Fred, and I think one of my favorite parts of the entire fair was simply the group we went with. A week of camping with horses can be A LOT, and this group was just fun. Everyone pitched in, everyone helped each other, everyone laughed, and there was just no drama. I don't think you realize how much that matters until you spend a week together!

Jefferson County Fair itself has this wonderful Charlotte's Web kind of feel to it. It's a real old-fashioned county fair. Kids and horses and livestock everywhere, ribbons and contests, people camping together, people wandering over to help when somebody needs som**hing, and things like a pie-eating contest with your horse. It just feels like what a county fair is supposed to feel like.

We also had the honor of taking part in the opening flag ceremony, carrying the flag for the grand opening and National Anthem. Standing there with our horses as the fair officially opened was pretty special, and som**hing I think all of us will remember.

And then, because these are horses and apparently we aren't allowed to have an entire week without SOMETHING happening, Buddy managed to hurt himself in his stall the very first night.
Thankfully our vet was wonderful and helped us right away by video. We did all the things, and by the next day he was fine.

Someone helped get the MagnaWave machine out to us, the one that was donated to The Whole Horse Place at Christmas, and it helped him enormously. And since we had it there, we used it on some other horses too. Because why not? That seemed to be what this fair was about. Someone needed som**hing, someone else helped.

There were ribbons too. Lots of them!

Sofia and Buddy earned several Grand Champions and Reserve Champions, Fred and Paris earned a Reserve Champion, and everybody came home with their share of white, red and blue ribbons. But even better, there was SO much learning. The judge was wonderful about giving feedback and explaining things, and the kids had a chance to really listen, learn and try again.

And then there was Paris.

Paris was well on her way to a Grand Champion in showmanship. She had done everything beautifully. They got to the very end, where she was supposed to set up and stand for the judge...
Paris broke into a trot, strode right past the judge and headed for the exit.

Apparently her interpretation was, I did my part. This is nonsense. My hay is waiting.

So the judge actually walked over to Paris to finish judging her.

There was definitely a judge in that arena, but I'm not entirely sure it was the one holding the clipboard.

And the PIE EATING CONTEST! I think that may have been the most fun of all. Brice was a shark in a fish pond. Who knew that horse could move like that when apple pie was involved?

There are a hundred little things I'm forgetting because we are all exhausted, so I'm just going to post a pile of pictures and videos and let them tell the rest of the story.

I'm incredibly grateful that our kids and horses had the opportunity to attend the Jefferson County Fair. They got to show, challenge themselves, learn from a really good judge, earn some ribbons and be proud of what they accomplished.

But I think what I'll remember most is everything around the show ring. The opening ceremony, the laughter, people helping each other, kids playing Red Light, Green Light at the campsite at night, horses munching hay, the ridiculous contests, camping together and that wonderful little Charlotte's Web feeling of a county fair.

Good horses. Good kids. Good people.

And apparently, really good apple pie.

Look what you all did. Remember the nebulizer we were raising money for because the wildfire smoke around Spokane Valley...
08/18/2026

Look what you all did.

Remember the nebulizer we were raising money for because the wildfire smoke around Spokane Valley has been so awful?

It arrived, and Jenna is already using it.

Today a neighbor's horse was really struggling with the smoke, so Jenna treated her with the new nebulizer. Afterward she sent me these pictures and said, “She practically fell asleep! She LOVED it!”

She was so relaxed after her treatment.

THIS is why I wanted to get a nebulizer over there so badly. Not just for Jenna's rescue horses, but so it would be there when a horse in the area needed help.

You guys donated $1,032 toward the $1,175 cost. We bought it, got it over there, and it is already helping.

I don't know how to adequately thank everyone who donated and shared our post. This horse isn't one of ours. She isn't even one of Jenna's fosters. She's simply a horse who was having a hard time with all that smoke, and because all of you helped, the equipment was there when she needed it.

That's pretty darn wonderful.

Thank you.

And thank you, Jenna, for not only taking such good care of the rescue horses, but for helping the horses around you too.

Jefferson County Fair, here we come! ❤️🐴Three of our kids who are in the Seabeck 4H club are getting ready to take horse...
08/12/2026

Jefferson County Fair, here we come! ❤️🐴

Three of our kids who are in the Seabeck 4H club are getting ready to take horses from The Whole Horse Place to the Jefferson County Fair in Port Townsend this year!

These kids wanted to participate in 4-H, and we happened to have some pretty wonderful horses who could give them that opportunity, so we thought...why not? Jefferson County also opened their fair to Kitsap County 4-H kids this year, and since their fair is before school starts, the timing worked especially well for our kids.

One of the kids in the club had planned all year to show her 4-H project horse from another barn, but unfortunately he became sick and she wasn't going to be able to go. Then there was Brice. He was available; she recently began working with him, and now the two of them get to go with us too.

We went to Pre-Fair and everyone is getting excited! Jefferson County Fair is a lot smaller and has such a fun atmosphere for the kids. Along with showing their horses, there are all kinds of activities and fun things to do, including a pie-eating contest with their horses, which I personally cannot wait to see.

If you're looking for som**hing fun to do, come see us at the Jefferson County Fair in Port Townsend this Friday, Saturday or Sunday and cheer these three on! And if you can't make it, send them a little good luck. They've been working hard and they're pretty excited. ❤️🐴

Stable Paths today. We started the day the way we usually do. We cleaned stalls, brought up grain, fed horses, and then ...
08/09/2026

Stable Paths today.

We started the day the way we usually do. We cleaned stalls, brought up grain, fed horses, and then sat down and had lunch together.

While we were eating, I asked everyone how their week had been. After they talked for a while, someone asked me how mine was.
I told them it had been good, but exhausting. We had Horse Camp this week and I was tired. But then I told them I had also had this INCREDIBLE boba tea, and somehow that made the whole week better.

That turned into a conversation about how sometimes it really is som**hing that small. The hard things don't disappear, but finding one good thing can change how you look at everything else.

I didn't think much more about that conversation until the end of the day, when one of the kids brought it up again as som**hing that had stuck with them.

Then we brought out Max, Paris and Cracker Jack.

We broke into groups of three and gave them an assignment. Get a horse to go where we ask. Through cones. Through a pattern. Into a box made from poles on the ground.

One rule.

You cannot touch the horse.

They had to work together, watch the horses, and figure it out.
At one point, absolutely nothing they tried was convincing Max to go where they wanted him. So eventually they changed strategies.

Instead of trying to convince Max, they moved Paris.

Max LOVES Paris.

Paris moved. Max followed Paris. And pretty soon everybody was following Paris.

Which gave us a pretty great real-life lesson about influence. Sometimes you don't have to convince everybody. Sometimes you need to figure out who everyone already trusts and respects, get that person on board, and the others will follow.

As we changed the assignments, they also discovered that what worked with one horse didn't necessarily work with another. They had to change their energy, change their approach, communicate with each other and keep problem solving.

And then som**hing happened that I loved.

One girl stepped up when the other two members of her group weren't really doing much. She was trying to carry the whole assignment herself, and at one point she came in with too much energy and startled Max. We asked her to bring it down, and she did.

Later, though, she felt like she had failed.

She told us she had been “too much.” She said she should have communicated better, listened better, and asked the other girls to do more instead of trying to do everything herself.

And what she couldn't see was that what she had just described WAS leadership.

Leaders don't always get it right the first time.
Sometimes leadership is being willing to step up when nobody else does. Sometimes it's realizing your approach isn't working. Sometimes it's listening when someone tells you to change som**hing. Sometimes it's recognizing that you're doing too much yourself and need to bring other people into the work.

She did all of that.

She didn't fail at leadership.

She practiced it.

The activity we used today came from Girls Rule! / Teen Sense / Sister Sense, an equine-assisted group activity guide from Horse Sense of the Carolinas. I love this book because the activities are so easy to adapt to the horses, the kids, and whatever lesson happens to unfold that day. Today's activity was called “Bring Us a Horse.” We changed it around quite a bit, and the horses took it from there.
At the end of the day, I wrote down what everyone said they had learned.

Different people noticed different things.
Problem solving.
Confidence.
Communication.
Leadership.
Learning that different horses, just like different people, need different approaches.
Understanding why people do things differently.
And finding the positive, even when the week has been hard.

All that from cleaning stalls, eating lunch, three old horses who wouldn't necessarily cooperate, and one really good boba tea. ❤️

The smoke in Spokane Valley from the wildfires is horrendous right now, and we are buying an equine nebulizer for a barn...
08/08/2026

The smoke in Spokane Valley from the wildfires is horrendous right now, and we are buying an equine nebulizer for a barn in the middle of those fires, that is very special to us.

This is the barn where Dillon, Joanie, and Cowboy came from. Our board member Jenna fosters rescue horses there, cares for them, and helps find them homes when they're ready. Some of those horses have eventually found their way all the way across the state to us.

With the smoke as bad as it is right now, we want Jenna to have a nebulizer available for the horses in her care. We're purchasing a Flexineb E3, which is $1,175.

We're buying it either way but we need help. If anyone would like to help us with the cost, we would be very grateful. Donations of any amount toward the nebulizer will go directly toward purchasing it and getting it to Jenna in Spokane Valley.

It feels especially important to us because this is a chance to give som**hing back to the place that gave us three horses we have loved so very much.

Dillon came from there.
Cowboy came from there.
And our Joanie came from there. ❤️

Now there are other rescue horses standing in that awful smoke, they are getting sick because they can’t breathe, and we'd like to help take care of them too.

Welcome, Max. ❤️Every once in a while, a horse comes along that just speaks to your heart.This is Max.Max is in his twen...
07/31/2026

Welcome, Max. ❤️

Every once in a while, a horse comes along that just speaks to your heart.

This is Max.

Max is in his twenties and can no longer be ridden because of severe arthritis in his knees. His family loved him very much, but life changed overnight. After a serious car accident, they lost their jobs and are now losing their home. They had already found a home for their other horse, but no one wanted the old horse that couldn't be ridden.

Before they found us, they had made an appointment to have Max euthanized. When the day came, they just couldn't do it.

Four years ago, they rescued Max from a terrible situation. He had been living in a m**h home, standing among broken glass and barbed wire, emaciated and forgotten. They named him Max's Second Chance.

Now he has another one.

The good news is that, despite what his knees look like, Max isn't showing signs of being in pain. After talking with our veterinarian and our farrier, the plan is simply to let him be a horse. He'll spend his days making friends, enjoying good food, getting brushed, soaking up the sunshine, and receiving all the love we can give him. We'll reevaluate him in September and let him tell us what he needs.

One thing we didn't expect happened almost immediately.

Joanie adopted him.

From the moment he arrived frightened and unsure, she stayed close. She watched over him, wouldn't leave his side, and the two have become inseparable. Sometimes horses know exactly what another horse needs.

I also have to give a huge thank you to our farrier, Katlin. Max can barely lift one of his front feet because of the arthritis in his knee, but she never rushed him. She gave him all the time he needed, patiently working with him until she was able to get his feet trimmed. Watching someone meet an old horse where he is, instead of expecting him to meet us where we are, is a pretty special thing.

We don't know how long Max's journey with us will be.

But we do know this: every horse deserves to be valued for more than what they can do. Sometimes the greatest gift we can give an old horse isn't more years. It's making sure the years or months they have left are filled with kindness, dignity, and people who care.

Welcome home, Max. ❤️

One thing I've realized lately is that people may not know we only scheduled two camps this summer on purpose.Instead, w...
07/25/2026

One thing I've realized lately is that people may not know we only scheduled two camps this summer on purpose.

Instead, we're here three days a week, and families can choose the days that work for them. The atmosphere is completely different.

It isn't camp.

It's being a ranch hand.

The kids don't show up expecting to be entertained. They show up expecting to work. They clean stalls, fill water buckets, groom horses, learn new skills, help each other, and slowly become part of the rhythm of the barn. Somewhere along the way, the horses become "their" horses, the wranglers become mentors, and the barn feels like a place they belong.

Looking through these pictures, I realized they probably don't seem extraordinary to anyone else. They're just snapshots of kids, horses, volunteers, and ordinary days. But to me, they're everything.

It was hot this week. Really hot. We survived with fans, popsicles, plenty of water, and a lot of laughter.

I'm especially grateful that, because of the grants we've received, so many of these young people are here on scholarships. Families don't have to choose between paying the bills and giving their child a place where they can work hard, build confidence, and simply be part of som**hing good.

These are the days your support makes possible. Not flashy. Not exciting. Just good kids, patient senior horses, incredible wranglers, and another week spent taking care of one another.

Honestly, those are my favorite kind of weeks.

What a wonderful Sunday.Thanks to Josh, who organized a Target volunteer work party, Target team members and their famil...
07/21/2026

What a wonderful Sunday.

Thanks to Josh, who organized a Target volunteer work party, Target team members and their families made the trip from Olympia and Gig Harbor to spend the day with us. Before the work began, there was plenty of time for brushing horses, handing out treats, and making a few new four-legged friends.

Then everyone got to work.

With funding from The Norman Archibald Charitable Trust, we were able to install new fencing around several paddocks. The last of the gravel donated by the Bainbridge Island Rotary Club found its way into potholes throughout the paddocks, making them safer for both horses and people. By the end of the day, every horse had been brushed to a beautiful shine and was quite certain the treats should keep coming.

It truly took a community to make the day happen. Twelve of our own volunteers were here to teach, answer questions, lend a hand, and keep everything moving. Josh made sure no one went hungry, providing hamburgers, veggie burgers, and hot dogs, and Harrison Homes generously shared the sides and condiments left over from their employee recognition barbecue the day before. Everyone also received one of our volunteer T-shirts featuring our logo, designed by my niece Tiffany Elise and beautifully made by Shawna Vose. We appreciate the care and work Shawna puts into every shirt she makes for us.

There is som**hing special about sitting on hay bales after a morning of hard work, sharing lunch, laughing together, and looking around at everything that was accomplished.

To everyone who spent your Sunday with us, thank you. Whether you carried fence panels, shoveled gravel, brushed horses, handed out treats, or simply showed up with a willing heart, you made a lasting difference. Our horses are safer, our facility is better, and our hearts are full because of your generosity.

Days like this remind me that The Whole Horse Place has never been built by one person. It has always been built by people who care enough to show up. Thank you for being part of our village.

Some Stable Paths days are carefully planned.Some have plans... and then life takes over.This was one of those days.We s...
07/13/2026

Some Stable Paths days are carefully planned.

Some have plans... and then life takes over.

This was one of those days.

We started the morning with chores, then had to slide the roof back on the shavings tent so we could get to more shavings.

Somewhere in the middle of that, the kids started asking about what things cost here and why we do things the way we do. Before long, we weren't really working anymore. We were just sitting around the shavings tent telling stories.

No agenda. No lesson plan.
Just life happening.

Before lunch, someone said som**hing that reminded me of a story Tommy Cash once told us. As a kid, his family had a racehorse. The horse was leading its very first race until it came around the homestretch and saw the shadows from the grandstand flagpoles stretched across the track. Thinking they were obstacles, the horse jumped every single shadow. Every horse in the race passed him while he leaped his way to the finish line.

We laughed.

Then, later in the day, we realized maybe that story had been the lesson all along.

How often is life going well until we convince ourselves there's som**hing to worry about? We overthink. We imagine problems that aren't there. We make jumps out of shadows.

After lunch, everyone wrote down three good things from their day.

Some were simple.
"I went to see the horses."
"I had an apple thing."
"I ate a good lunch."

Shylia wrote:
• I get to spend time with G-Ma.
• The privilege of being outdoors.
• I ate today.

There wasn't anything fancy about those answers, and maybe that's exactly the point. Gratitude doesn't have to be big to be powerful.

Then we brought the horses out.
We brushed them, stretched across their backs, leaned off the sides while someone else held them, laid across them, and practiced trusting both the horse and the person standing beside us. None of those exercises work if you're holding on too tightly. At some point you have to believe your horse is going to stand quietly and your partner isn't going to let you fall.

During our wrap-up, one participant said that looking for the good helps them focus on their strengths instead of their weaknesses.
Another shared that bad things are always going to happen, but it's up to us whether we spend our energy staring at the bad or noticing the good that is still there. Another said having a positive mindset helps them trust the people around them. And another reminded us that sometimes you have to look back and process the past, but not stay there. There is always som**hing good if we're willing to look for it.

It wasn't a dramatic day.

We cleaned stalls.
We adjusted a roof.
We shared lunch.
We told stories.
We noticed good things.
We trusted our horses.
We trusted each other.

Sometimes that's enough.
And maybe the biggest lesson from the day is one we'll all remember this week...

Don't waste your energy jumping shadows. ❤️

Buddy has had quite the couple of weeks.If you've never seen hives on a horse before, this is what they can look like. P...
07/10/2026

Buddy has had quite the couple of weeks.

If you've never seen hives on a horse before, this is what they can look like. Poor Buddy has been covered in wheals for almost two weeks now. The veterinarian has been out, he's on prescription medication, he's had several baths, and today he got the full spa treatment with a body clip.

Judging by his expression, I'd say the body clip was exactly what he needed.

He must have been so hot because he never completely shed out this year. Lexi from Dr. Crystal's office said he's the fifth horse she's clipped this summer that hadn't fully shed. Apparently it's just been one of those weird summers.

Before anyone asks, no, he doesn't have Cushings or a metabolic issue. We tested him earlier this year, and everything came back normal. Sometimes horses just don't cooperate with the weather.

Buddy got the kind of body clip all the fancy show horses get, and Lexi did a beautiful job. Unfortunately, instead of showing off sleek muscles, Buddy is currently showing off his collection of hives.

The clip is show-ring worthy. The hives...not so much.

The good news is he's feeling great and seems much more comfortable now.

I even asked Dr. Crystal for a doctor's note...just in case the judge doesn't appreciate Buddy's unique beauty at pre-fair this weekend.

Address

4764 SW Old Forest Way
Port Orchard, WA
98367

Opening Hours

Monday 2pm - 5pm
Tuesday 10am - 4pm
Wednesday 10am - 5:30pm
Friday 12:30pm - 5pm
Saturday 10am - 4pm

Telephone

+13608950940

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