#sorrynotsorry for my goofy baby voice. 😆
Mama Stella is doing amazing. She will come up to touch on her own. This is exactly what I want from her so she does not feel forced or cornered into interacting, especially since it’s pretty clear she gets worried about where Baby Timo is. She is such a good mama.
And Baby Timo is truly a little spark of life. He is growing well and is full of energy. I am still so in awe of this amazing mare.
-Tami
Stella is starting to make some good milk! Timo actually left half a bucket of his milk replacer tonight and usually he slurps it down. This was breakfast this morning. 😍
Stella is a miracle for Baby Timo. We firmly believe that she was placed in our path for this higher purpose. She is just an incredible nursemare momma and has made Timo’s transition as an orphan so much easier. Stella is a treasure and she is so loved dearly here on our farm. ❤️
For those of you who don’t know the story, Stella is a 10 year old Devil’s Garden Mustang mare. She came into our rescue just about two months ago after being in a home briefly that could not care for her. Stella had lost quite a bit of weight in a short period of time so we focused on getting her healthy the last two months. She is actually not completely gentled yet (but we are in the process and she is not reactive and very calm, as you can see).
On Wednesday, we got the call that a wild orphan foal had been separated from its mother and found alone on our local reservation. We picked him up and brought him home. He is one of the youngest orphans we have had (he’s 1-2 weeks old). And he spent hours just standing in the corner of the stall, being completely out of sorts and clearly very depressed. Our hearts broke for him as they do every single time we get one of these babies in. They have to adjust to life without a momma and while we have tried to find nursemares, it’s very rare we can.
The next morning, I let baby Timo out in the run to exercise his legs and he saw Stella. Stella also was very interested in him and called to him and he called back. Stella was in with another filly who had a mom and we knew she was not aggressive toward the foals. But, she is in the process of being gentled and halterbroke so we discussed the issues with not being able to handle her completely yet without having to haul to the chute. Ultimately, we decided to go with our gut based on our observations of her interactions with baby Timo over the fence and with consultation of our vet.
Stella has had at least 6-7 of her own foals and is very nurturing, by nature. So, we put baby Timo in her pen and they instantly bonded. She immediately licked him from his ears to his tail as if he was her own brand new foal. Then, she started grooming him. This was with absolutely no hormones or drugs to induce acceptance of an orphan and that is what makes this story and this mare
