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The Saga of the Rescue Foal
  • So I volunteer at a rescue for retired racehorses. On Memorial Day, the rescue founder and I walked into one of the barns to feed the two horses in there. I went in to feed her personal horse (not a thoroughbred, but ponied racehorses on the track-she used to train racehorses) and she went to check on the pregnant mare that was close to foaling. All of the sudden, she yells to me that there's a baby on the ground. I walk in, and we see that it is a black filly with a big star and a cute stripe and snip and one white sock. The mare is laying down, her belly is trembling like she's in shock, and the baby is a few feet away chilling out. I run over to the big barn to get a larger halter to get her standing. While the founder is making sure that this mare doesn't collapse and calls the vet, I guide the filly to nurse. Very cute, very feisty little girl. The vet comes out and determines that she's just in pain from the birth and to see if Banamine would be the fix. A couple hours later, we determine that Banamine was all she needed, all is well.

    The next day, I go to feed them. Mom is lethargic and not that hungry, gets Banamine, gets better. The baby is still as cute as before (I cannot stress this enough)(so adorable).

    Well, this morning, the barn manager found the mare dead. She had a body score of 1-2 to start with, and while we were putting weight on her, we weren't able to put enough weight on her in time to withstand the birth and nursing. They found a mare that lost her foal and she is arriving tonight. Hopefully they accept each other and I will update tomorrow.
  • Poor mama and little one. Fingers crossed that the new mare and baby are a match!
  • Poor mare and foal. I hope the new mare accepts her!
    •My Now Projects•

    **Candy Crumbs**
    -This Project Is For Improving W10 Horses (Most Of Them Also Have Kit M)-

    •My Soon To Be Projects•

    **Chocolate Swirl**
    -This Project Was Created For My Fantasy Ponies. All Will Be Hom Chocolate And Appy, And At Least Het Diamond Sparkle (And Maybe Phantom Autumn), With An Assortment Of Other White Genes (Excluding Frame, Rabicano, And GP)-

    **From The Reaches Of Space**
    -For My Wrong Warp Planet Horses. All Will Be At Least Het Wrong Warp, Axiom, And Watercolor-
  • If the mare doesn't accept the foal, how easy is it to raise an orphan foal? I'm assuming that the foal managed to get some colostrum from nursing from her dam but is it straightforward to raise a foal on a bottle?
    HAJ 1 - WhiteValley #60847 HAJ 3 - minimum #175
    I used to be indecisive, now I'm not so sure.

    image

    White-Valley-2
  • the hardest part I 've found it getting them to accept the nipple ; they 'll suck off your fingers fairly easily but you can't get enough in them that way and a lot of foals ( baby animals in general ) don't like the taste / "mouth feel" of the rubber nipple
    ( I' ve raised everything from orphaned foals to goats to kittens on bottles )
    Anni9

    image

  • @annismyrph, would it be possible to hold the nipple on the top of your fingers? Might take two people to start with, but the foal would get a visual of the bottle connected with food and possibly a slight taste and feel of the nipple as well.
  • I used to wrap my fingers around the top of the nipple yes ; and dip my fingers in the milk first so it dripped down the top of the nip but a rubber nipple squeezes very differently than a " real " one ; they are coming close but its not quite there yet ; lol and have held them between my legs to keep them still when they out grew my lap

    Anni9

    image

  • I was not about the nipple life. As soon I could, I taught mine to drink it out of a bucket.

    Another trick, is get a 3 gallon igloo water cooler with the spigot. You can convert the spigot to a nipple contraption (lots of online tutorials on this) and you can clean and fill it once or twice a day and it makes it so much easier when you can't be there all the time.
  • Update! Bad news, the nurse mare rejected her. She hates the bottle. Good news, she loves to drink from a shallow dish and I was able to teach her to drink out of a bucket this morning, which no one had been able to do before! She will get a buddy this weekend.
  • Great news. :)
    What's a buddy? Is it a horse companion or a human who will look after her specially? Sorry for all the questions but I am interested but have no knowledge of horses other than the very basic.
    HAJ 1 - WhiteValley #60847 HAJ 3 - minimum #175
    I used to be indecisive, now I'm not so sure.

    image

    White-Valley-2
  • we used goats or sheep to be horse baby buddies ; I ve also know of people using mini ponies and / or dogs
    Anni9

    image

  • She will be going to another farm with other babies to play with after the judge handling her mom's former owner's neglect case signs off on ownership papers. She's doing well. She misses her mom, but eats really well and gets the zoomies when she's full.
    Post edited by hmfeuerb at 2020-05-29 12:25:41

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