Dedicated young horse lover tale
Twenty years ago when I started to import QH in France, one of my brood mares had twins, 2 fillies. One was smaller than the other, which is common in this situation.
Of course I wanted to save both, and unfortunately the mare was a bad milch mare, so I hired a 16 years old girl (a true horse
enthusiast) to help out. I handed her a Perrier bottle full of milk with a rubber teat, telling her:
-
"You are now responsible for their lives." !!!
As you will see, she did not take this statement lightly... The girl actually lived with the mare and the twins for one month in the roomy foaling stall where I had chained up a 7 feet high "jail bed"!!!
It was great to watch how she naturally imprinted both and became part of the family. She was so serious about her "mission" that it was 2 years later before she told me she had suffered from breathing in ammonia vapors from living 24 hours/day in the stall!! (In March in this part of France the
climate is rather humid and cold so the ventilation was poor...)
I felt so sorry she had taken me so literally! I remember seeing her with tears in her eyes, thinking it was from her deep concern. Now I know the tears were from the AMMONIA fumes she was living with all day long even though she was conscientiousely cleaning the stall everyday!
The fillies survived because of her hard work,dedication, and love of horses.The little one, a palomino, grew up and looked like an Arab Palomino and the other as a Buckskin Quarter Horse.
-------------------------------oOo-------------------------------
Horseguard
"The fence doctor"
Horseguardfence.com (USA)
Sangliere.net (France & Quebec)
-------------------------------oOo-------------------------------
*
*
