HEARTBREAK KIDS UPDATE! Norseman is adopted! And, ‘Igloo Momma’.

YAY!

One of you readers traveled to Dream Equine Therapy Center to visit the Nurse Mare Foals (Our Bucket Fund for this month). And, no surprise to us, SHE ADOPTED NORSEMAN! (Norseman is the Belgian colt.)

Here are the adopter’s notes about the day:

Hi there!

My husband and his two boys and I arrived DETC on 4/22 despite the fact that I put the completely wrong address into Google Maps (thank goodness for the navigation system in the truck). They all had a good laugh at my expense and my Husband Scott announced that I was no longer in charge of directions. Hmmph.

It was a bit drizzly so all the babies were in the barn.

The first foal we saw was wee Armstrong. What a beautiful foal. He was zipping all around his big box stall and every time I tried to get a picture, he moved! I did attach one not-so-blurry picture that I managed to get. He’s very sweet and looked very alert and mischevious. =)

The next foal I saw was the Belgian (or “Norseman” as folks have been calling him). His muzzle was covered with milk and was pushed out the furthest of the other foals in “the big foal stall”. I walked up and he immediately latched on to my fleece jacket and turned his big eyes up at me and that was it. I knew he was mine at that moment! I’m lucky to say I experienced love at first sight twice in my life – first time with my Husband, and now with this foal.

We walked around and visited with the other babies and even considered adopting two…but we decided that we wanted to be able to focus our attention on one foal for now.

Especially OUR foal, who is going to be a handful!

I didn’t get many good pictures because honestly – I went full-on horse crazy and couldn’t stop petting them all long enough to use my camera. I’ve attached some of the better shots. I’ll also forward some additional shots that were taken by Julie Westhofen who was kind enough to send them to me.

So, where we are right now in the process is trying to arrange for transport 86 miles from DETC to our home outside of Greenville, SC. We were counting on my Husband’s friend from work but it turns out he just pulled his stock trailer apart to replace the floor. If he can finish the work this week then we should be golden. If not, there is one other guy we try. We are looking for a horse trailer to buy, but we want to get him from DETC this week and I’m not sure the purchase can happen that fast. I guess we sort of put the cart before the horse on this one (or in our case, the horse before the cart) but we will figure it out!

Thanks for letting me share our story and there will be more to come, for sure!

Wonderful! Here was a baby whose fate was either a mass grave or a slaughter truck… But instead, a fabulous ending due to the extreme care of DETC and the generous adopter who had the heart and the ability. Bravo!

HERE ARE HER PHOTOS!

ARMSTRONG

The Lucky Adoptee!

Cremello!

Paint and Black filly with star!

Norseman leading the pack! (Julie Westhofen)

The newly adopted 'handful'! (Julie Westhofen)

IGLOO MOMMA!

I thought this story might come in handy for someone someday. So, the more people who read it, the more help someone may have during those trying times when baby is not drinking…

by Brenda Short, Short ASSets Ranch

donkeys@shortassets.com|http://www.shortassets.com

Early this fall, I got a frantic call from one of my friends. One of her jennets had a foal and just left it in the pasture. The baby was with their horse and “momma donkey” was no where to be found. Immediately they took the foal to the barn then found the jennet that had him and took her to the barn. She was a maiden jennet and wanted nothing to do with the foal plus she didn’t have much milk.

The vet came out and checked out the foal and jennet and gave her Oxytocin and something to calm her down so the baby could nurse, however, it didn’t work. I told her to milk the jennet and give the foal the milk. He needed the colostrum.

They milked her and gave the foal the colostrum and throughout the day and night, they would either milk the jennet or try to restrain her so the foal could nurse and “hopefully” she would accept him. No way Jose’. She didn’t like the foal and continually tried to kick him so they were forced to take the foal out of the stall with his mother.

After about 3 days of bottle feeding the foal with milk replacer, my friend and her husband were just about to collapse from exhaustion. Between taking care of their other animals, feeding the foal, and both working, they were desperate for help.

I remembered a story that our farrier had shared with us and also another friend had used successfully. I immediately got on the internet and emailed it to my friend.

You get an Igloo cooler (or something like it) and remove the spigot. Get a piece of PVC pipe that will screw in where the spigot was. Use a lamb’s nipple over the end of the PVC pipe and secure it with a ty-wrap or a hose clamp. Mix up your milk replacer and put it in the cooler and replace the lid. This not only will keep the milk warm but will also keep the flies out. You can hang it on the fence or on the inside of the stall. Then it’s just teaching the foal to suck from it instead of the bottle.

It wasn’t long until she emailed me back. The foal had latched on to Momma Igloo and was doing great. He would run and play and when he got hungry he would run over to Momma Igloo and fill his tummy and go back to playing. They were able to get some sleep and were doing much better too.

Don’t forget this helpful story. You might need it someday if you have foal rejection, a jennet with no milk or a desperate friend.