A tiny foal who was found beside her deceased mother’s body at a month old is enjoying her first Christmas since her rescue – with a foster mum and a new best friend.
H&H reported in July that the filly had been taken in and given round-the-clock care at Redwings Horse Sanctuary. Named Ruby, to mark the charity’s 40th anniversary year, she has been thriving, and the charity has been sharing her progress in ongoing blogs.
Redwings staff had a mare whom they hoped would adopt Ruby, and “after gradual introductions, Cilla has proved to be the perfect foster mum for the orphan”.
“But one thing was missing from Ruby’s life,” a spokesperson for the charity said. “Cleo, a new best friend who needed Ruby just as much as she needed her!”
Redwings head of welfare and behaviour Nic de Brauwere said the charity wanted to ensure Ruby learned social skills, which foals pick up through interacting with each other and older horses.
“We have seen in the past that a lack of juvenile companionship and appropriate human interaction can lead to a very frustrated adult horse that can be unpleasant to work with, or even dangerous,” he said. “This frustration comes from the horse having an expectation that humans mean food, attention and play, considering people to be their ‘herd’, so, when the horse’s expectations are not met, they show their frustration through unwanted behaviour.
“It was important that Ruby had a friend her own age, so when we got the call about abandoned foal Cleo we hoped they could be the friend each other needed.”
Cleo had been abandoned, and had to have one eye removed owing to a painful condition, the spokesperson said. Having had treatment at Abbey Vets in south Wales, she arrived at Redwings in October.
“These two really needed each other, and we are so happy that we got this call and were able to help,” Mr de Brauwere said.
“We were keen to get Ruby and Cleo together, for the sake of them both, but we had to do it right. After passing her quarantine period Cleo was moved into a field next door to Ruby and Cilla to test how they got on.
“Integrating horses is a careful process where new horses are introduced to each other safely, in this case initially meeting over a fence, then gradually allowed more interaction until they happily live in the same herd.
“Our behaviour team observed that Cilla was slightly stressed by Cleo, so the decision was made to have play dates for the foals in Cleo’s field initially. These play dates started with some mutual foraging but soon evolved into them playing and chasing one another.”
Mr de Brauwere said it took a few weeks of careful management and monitoring to ensure all three horses were happy, but they have settled in together.
“This has been a great development for both Ruby and Cleo,” he said. “They were both traumatised orphans who desperately needed help when they came to us here at Redwings. Now they have each other to grow with, under Cilla’s guidance. It’s the perfect Christmas gift.”
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