It’s been a very long and exhausting day. We have an urgent need at hand – a foal who is in a very bad way. Her mama is also in bad shape and gets irritated if the baby tries to nurse as she has little to no milk to offer. The baby has bite marks on her little body and a hernia that needs to be surgically repaired. When I visited yesterday, I about lost it when I saw her stagger over and attempt to eat weeds as well as leaves off a tree.
With ribs protruding, these horses’ obvious lack of nutrition, especially protein, is evident by their low, big bellies. Ulcers and parasites are likely, contributing factors to their poor condition as well.
The baby’s dull coat, glassy eyes, slow movements, loss of hair, dullness, diarrhea, and large abdomen say it all – she’s starving to death.
Starvation causes the body to use up its body stores of fat, muscle, and then organs. It causes weakness, impairs gut function, wound healing, and affects the overall immune system. Internal organs atrophy. Bone growth can also be impacted in young horses. It’s a horrible thing.
Thankfully, someone cared enough to do something when they saw these two precious horses and made a call to county authorities. It’s an open case but we were given the okay to pick up the mare and baby this morning. We did make certain that they had enough hay to last through the night. Please – we need your help to help them. They deserve a chance.
The baby, about three months old, hasn’t known a good day in her short life, but you can help us change that.
Vetting is going to be costly. They need everything – blood tests, fecal exams, the mare will need dental work. They both need to see the farrier. And just as important, they need financial support for as long as they are here. They are Thoroughbreds.
I’m deeply concerned about the financial assistance we need for these horses. Donations continue to be down since the arrival of COVID and we still haven’t raised enough funds to pay the farrier bill. We need a ton of orchard hay for the herd ($600+) today and we will need alfalfa as well. The utility vehicle broke down yesterday with a cost of $376 to repair. There are so many things that need to be addressed, but we just cannot walk away from this mare and baby – time is simply not on their side.
If anyone would like to help Baby & Mama, it would be so greatly appreciated. Contributions can be made via the ‘Donate’ button below. Please designate your donation to ‘Baby & Mare.’ Please also note that there is currently a $500 Match Game in progress, whereby all donations up to $500 will be matched dollar for dollar.
If you are not in a position to donate at this time we truly understand, but you can still help by sharing this amongst family and friends. Thank you, all, so very much!
Please keep Baby & her Mama in your prayers.
Sincerely,
Theresa
P.S. Some of you may remember baby Tonka. He was in about the same condition when we brought him and his mom to the rescue many years ago. Sadly, it was too late for Tonka. We pray we’re not too late for this little girl. If you don’t know about Tonka, here is a video in his memory:
