Pine View Farms has an Extra Special New Mother & Foal!
Gabrielle Sasse, PleasureHorse.com
(Wednesday, January 22)– Pine View Farms has had some great stories come out of their mares and foals (did you see the story of Cookie the Supermare?), not only of winners but of heartwarming love! 2014 is proving to be no exception… Farm Manager Debbi Trubee shared this heartwarming story of the mare Ima Sudden Invester, or “Suzie” and her new foal (by Lazy Loper).
“A mare’s natural instincts never fail to amaze me! We’ve been stressing about how this birthing was going to go since Suzie went totally blind this summer from mature cataracts. We moved her two months ago to Pine View and she has a stall that opens into a private lot, so she’s gotten comfortable in her surroundings and can go outside. She has had other foals, so we felt her maternal skills were very good. She foaled early this morning, and I’ve just never seen a mare take such great care in placing her feet and looking after her colt!”
“We only had one little moment when she couldn’t find him before we got the halter with three bells attached on him. Once she connected the bells to the baby, all was good! We actually had our dear nurse mare Cookie ready with milk in case Suzie couldn’t deal with the baby.” Nurse mares are just what they sound like- mares that have milk (usually via horomone therapy) and will take over for the mother if the mare dies, rejects the foal, or cannot feed the foal herself.
“The mare and foal are owned by Rhonda Malone. Rhonda raised Suzie, so she is very dear to Rhonda,” Debbi continues. “I talked to several people with blind mares to be sure we had some insight before we took this on. The bells are a common thing for people to use with a blind mare. Rhonda has named the little guy Bello.”
The adorable colt plays “jingle bells” as he roams around, and the mare and foal are doing well. Congratulations to Rhonda and Debbi!
Will the baby & the mare be given a forever home ? I question the breeding of a blind mare & creating another horse, when way too many in the thousands, have no good homes, are neglected, are put on killer slaughter trucks for inhumane slaughter across our borders.. Just wondering & speaking up for those that cant. It’s about a Horse’s owner’s responsibility.
Susan, the mare already has a home with, and is much beloved by, Rhonda Malone, as stated in the article. The mare was not bred when she was blind, she went blind during the summer. They are receiving the best care possible at Pine View!
Hi, I surely hope all goes well with mare and baby, but I have a little experience with this also. A few years ago I rescued a TB mare, blind only in one eye, she had a 2 month old colt at her side. The bells do work when the baby moves, but if laid out sleeping they can get stepped on. My poor colt got both his hind hocks stepped on at the same time. He was in bad shape for a few months with swelling, and couldn’t stand on his own for about a week.Im sure yours get the best of care, but with a blind mare accidents can still happen. I ended up seperating mother and colt with round pen panels, the mare still let him nurse through the panels with out getting stepped on again. The best of luck to you.
Such a sweet story of a mother’s love. I love the idea of the bells and his adorable name. But saddened to see such an unkind comment above. Love to mama and her new foal <3
Such a wonderful article!! It makes me feel good to see how loving mares can be. I really think they get a bad rap. I have 3 an I like them better than my studs or geldings.
Cataracts surgery is available for horses.. Ct Draft Horse Rescue had a foal born blind with inherited cataracts… His name is Kai, had surgery, can see…https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=590793367665558&set=pcb.590793687665526&type=1&relevant_count=2
I love this story! It’s great to know there are others that take the time to care for our handicapped friends. I have a handicap horse myself that everyone told me I should put down, but he fought too hard to stay alive and has such a BIG heart. I drew my line of when it might have to happen but thank goodness with our never give up attitudes, lots of love and prayers to GOD he pulled through with amazing colors! He now enjoys life with other horses in the pastures… And I should add, amazing his veteranarian!
What a sweet article and so helpful. We have a blind mare that has the sweetest colt at her side. My mare has a buddy mare that will take her to the colt if he wonders. I will try the bells. I wish my girl would qualify for Cataracts surgery.