FOAL BOOM AT REDWINGS
| FOAL BOOM AT REDWINGS The stork has been very busy at Redwings Horse Sanctuary this year, and the charity finds it has a record number of foals in its care - 18 and rising! | |
In another group was donkey Leah, who has had a foal named Cain, who is enjoying good health, progressing well and is gorgeous!
Austin's mum has sadly rejected him; both were rescued from a site in London. Mum experienced a very difficult birth and, after a patient start, she soon became aggressive towards Austin and showed signs of rejecting him. Austin was unable to get the colostrum (mother's first milk) he needed without the intervention of the Redwings' team, but after a ‘touch and go' start he has progressed well thanks to round the clock care and feeding by staff. Austin has since been given help from surrogate dad, Chocolate, who has been helping him learn the behavioral habits that mum would have taught him.
Welsh cross foal Mini came from the same rescue as Austin (all were named after cars) and was born to mum Skyline. Mini has also needed careful monitoring after having to have a plasma transfusion as her antibodies tested very low but she is fine now.
Other foals born this year - in good health - at Redwings include native cross Bonsai, son of appaloosa Snowberry; Wisteria, daughter of Welsh cross Lilac and Monkey Puzzle, a skewbald Welsh pony and son of Oak, whose mums were rescued from London in December. Group rescues are often named after a theme - in this case trees - to help record keeping! Ponies Roly Poly and Custard are also new arrivals; their mums were carrying them when they came to us from Birmingham in May, and that group was named after puddings (it must have been nearly lunch that day)! Sadly though Custard lost his mum very recently as her liver failed as a result of the poor conditions she had previously been living in, but little Custard is in the right place for special care and attention so is progressing well.
Chief Executive Lynn Cutress said: "Many of our residents are elderly or have health problems so to have so many foals is very refreshing and a real joy for our staff to know they have been able to help them, particularly in the cases of Austin and Custard who would not have survived without our help, in particular the expertise of our veterinary and nights teams. We will assess each foal as it grows, and it is very likely that many will be able to be re-homed through our Guardianship Scheme in the future."
However, whilst foals are lovely, Redwings is keen to point out the effort, work and expense they represent. "If you have a mare it can be tempting to put her in foal," comments Welfare Officer Rachel Fairhead. "We always advise people to think carefully about the implications beforehand but now, with the current economic climate seeing horse sales slow down and household finances being squeezed, we are even more concerned and want to warn people to think very carefully before breeding their own mares. A new foal is wonderful but you have to be able to afford to keep it and budget for veterinary expense."
To learn more about Redwings, visit www.redwings.co.uk
Added on: 13/08/08. Views: 304
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