Sometimes everything turns out differently…..

…. than you think. A farmer’s greatest joy in the barn is when births go well and everyone is healthy. If the newborn is also female, the farmer’s heart leaps with joy.

Our black mare Perl brought a sweet filly into the world on March 24th. We were able to witness these beautiful moments and help her. Every mother can understand that foals initially struggle with drinking because they can’t properly grasp and understand the teats (it’s not much different with humans). Our foal was unable to drink either from a bottle or directly from the mare.

My husband noticed that the tongue was very short, so we called the vet and also a veterinary clinic to ask for advice. Sad news came – no rescue in sight, the foal would never be able to drink or eat. We had to say goodbye to the foal. Such a situation breaks your heart.

Two days later, the horse breeding association contacted us looking for a foster mare because a foal urgently needed a “mother.” Foals being raised by hand must be fed and cared for every two hours. We volunteered, since Perl is a good, experienced mother and we saw how much she was suffering from the loss of her little one. A nice Pinzgau family came by and proudly showed us their spotted foal, whose mother had died. We sprayed both with perfume and gave them globules – at first they couldn’t stand each other at all, but after almost 1.5 hours Perl showed herself to be a good substitute mama and was already following little Ramona around.

Grandpa Hias then put a bit of oats on little Ramona’s back so that Perl would more easily start licking her off, and very slowly – at first very hesitantly and reluctantly – she began to let the little one drink. Finally the men put them in a stall together. Since Perl had already been separated from her foal for two days, the amount of mare’s milk automatically decreased and the foal wasn’t getting enough. Veterinarian Dr. Christ also knew what to do here with homeopathic remedies and it got better day by day. So now we simply hope that it stays this way and the two of them live on happily and without complications :-)

Even though Ramona cannot replace our foal and we have to give the spotted foal back after the summer, it is still wonderful that the foal is being cared for in the best possible way and Perl can thrive in her favorite role – namely as a mama.

All the best from Zittrauerhof in the Gasteinertal and until the next farm story. Katharina Schwaiger.