| Upon our cowboys arrival they found foal #71 a newborn, deceased. After speaking with the person who witnessed it, the newborn was not with its mother or its herd. It had wandered to another nearby band, away from its mother Mimi, who was a first time mom. Hidalgo who is Mimi’s stallion, for reasons unbeknownst to us went into the other stallion’s group and aggressively tried to move the foal and in the process caused massive head trauma. Cowboys tried to have the mother approach or at least see the deceased foal but as in many cases with new dams they dissociate.
I want to be clear that this is in no way shape or form a serious behavioral problem, Hidalgo has many foals in his group and has never had a problem with any of them or any other ponies for that matter. Far less than other stallions like Prince, Ajax, or Riptide. These babies are fragile and this foal at under a day old and slightly premature had already been left by its mother for which we likely would have had to intervene anyhow. While not a normal circumstance, stuff like this inevitably happens in the wild it is important that people remember one mis step, one wrong turn, or hours without mom for a foal may be in a life threatening situation. This is a just a freak accident, wild horses can be dangerous, especially to each other, but also to people. This wasn’t the first foal who was killed accidentally and in reality it will not be the last. While sad, it is the reality of life out here, please respect the fact that this was not preventable or predictable and there is no cause for concern.
We had made a note last year to bring in thunderstorm skies due to her losing multiple foals over time. Her and her foal will visit the vet for the time being to ensure their well being and run a few tests. |
