We found Lark with her sister Starla at an Oklahoma kill pen in late January, 2022. Someone had brought them both to the kill pen, dumping them wild, pregnant and untouchable. They were placed into a chute and had their blood drawn for a Coggins test and they were micro chipped to be put on the slaughter truckload. The stallion that was dumped with them, was rescued by a fellow rescuer. The owner of the kill pen decided to list them for sale for a short time even though they were wild, because they were said to be pregnant.
Pregnant mares are supposed to be kept in low stress environments, to reduce the odds of miscarriage and so they can raise a healthy foal. Dumping pregnant mares into auctions and kill pens increases their odds of miscarriages and premature births from stress and from the highly contagious "superbugs" pathogens that run amok and get many horses very sick and even kills some in these awful places.
We had the wonderful Melanie Witherspoon go to Oklahoma and pick up the two pregnant mares. Melanie used her large open horse trailer for their long drive back to Melanie's quarantine for the least stress possible. Melanie said that both mares were terrified and claustrophobic.
Melanie felt that the best place to put them at her quarantine facility was a quiet area that was very large, indoors, and to keep the human interaction to a minimum so they would hopefully adjust to being indoors and start to relax some. Melanie said they would panic and try to jump out of the corral they were in when they came to take care of them and keep an eye on them.
Starla was the most pregnant looking of the two and the most upset. Tragedy struck Starla and she had a probable uterine artery rupture which caused her baby to be born early and made Starla lose her own life as well. Very tragic experience for Melanie and for us, and it had to be very hard on Lark to experience as well. The vet said this happens with wild horses that are captured sometimes; Their stress hormones are very elevated along with their blood pressure and it can cause uterine separation prematurely or make their uterine artery rupture. Our only consolation was that she was safe, well fed and well cared for in quarantine and died there instead of at the slaughterhouse. Starla and her baby we named Sparrow, were buried together.
Lark stayed in quarantine an additional month until she was ready to come to the rescue. She spent a couple of weeks with our transporter who was going to try to gentle her, but Lark did not come around. She was then delivered to our rescue along with another mare she made friends with whom we had rescjuerd previously. Lark spent her time in a larger paddock with her new friend in the adjoining paddock. The busy rescue made her nervous, but as long as we left her alone in her own area, she was settled.
Lark had a very easy, uneventful delivery in June and her baby Coro is just gorgeous. Coro is a white medicine hat and shield paint horse with grulla patches the color of Lark and a dorsal stripe. Lark was fiercely protective of Coro and would not let anyone near. She was an excellent mother. We did not get to handle Coro until Lark had decided it was time to wean Coro. We separated them and carefully took Coro. We thought that since Coro was not imprinted at birth and was handled for the first time at 6 months old. Instead we were pleasantly surprised at how quickly Coro decided that being petted and scratched and hugged was pretty nice. Coro is a doll! Coro has been the constant companion of Simon, who tragically lost his mother at 4 months old, from an intestinal twist.
It has been a year since we rescued Lark. A year of no luck trying to make friends with her. Then all of a sudden 3 days ago, Lark decided to walk up to us and let us pet her forehead when we went to feed her! We are hoping this means she is going to be a little more open to us.
