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| I was excited to see Beau's band. I had heard Tia had a little colt and I knew this bay mare, Mia (Tia's mom) was due to foal. Mia was acting strangely. She seemed agitated and was circling and stomping a bit. We could tell there was a foal on the ground. It seemed a long time before the band stallion, Beau, nudged him up. |
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| A little tiny foal pops up! It has the family star/snip and is, oh, so tiny. Soon we could see something wasn't right about him/her. The foals head was down and seemed thin. |
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| He would come close to his dam, but we never saw him nurse. She would just move on. I know Mia had lost a foal in 2010, but she did successfully raise Tia, her 2009 filly. I don't know if she was given PZP. The HSUS will not release that information until their study ends. |
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| Tia's healthy colt we call Rio was wanting to play, but the bay guy had no interest. |
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| Rio...this is Tia's robust 2012 colt who was born a few days before the bay. |
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| Here you can see he is thin and just not right. |
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| We leave them in peace, but this was quite upsetting for us to see. We know the foal will most likely not make it. Only the strong survive out here. It is a fine line about when to help them, but I feel here it is best to let nature take its course. |
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| Two days later I return to The Range and see Beaus Band...the little bay foal is gone and the small family band seems to be mourning. So far we have had five 2012 foals perish (that we know about). I am sure this is not unusual. |
3 comments:
Heartbreaking.
It is my first instinct to say- grab that baby and lets save him! But as hard and heartbreaking as it is, these are wild horses, not our back yard pets. Nature is what it is and life in the wild is harsh. We will always be left to wonder what Mia saw in this foal that we couldn't, which told her not to let him nurse and grow. The fact that only the strong DO survive is what makes these mustangs superior to most other breeds of horses. (no offence to "purebreds" and their owners) Still makes you cry a little tear for that sweet little face that we will never see again.
Poor baby, I hope it is peaceful.
Neighgirl
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