MINIATURE HORSES & Ponies
Who doesn't find miniature horses and little ponies absolutely adorable? We most certainly do! We feel very sorry for these tiny tots that end up at auctions and kill pens. When purchased by kill buyers, they get stuffed into stock trailers with full sized horses and get injured. It doesn't get any better when they arrive at the kill pens; they get shoved in with full sized horses and get beat up and starved down. Those that are not lucky enough to get saved, are sold by the kill pens to feed the carnivores at zoos. We try to help as many of these tiny ones as we can.
Baby WondER IS WEANED!
Baby Wonder was a huge surprise to us! His mother, Lilac, was just saved from Elkhart horse auction on June 19th, and she had just left quarantine on July 18th. 22 days later, little Wonder was found at 3am in a circle of miniature horse mares. He had just been born within the hour because we checked on the minis at 2am, and again at 3am when we heard the dogs barking. We feel very fortunate we saw Wonder right after he had been born and moved them into a quiet. well bedded stall. Poor Lilac was riding kids around on trail rides just before we bought her at the auction while pregnant with little Wonder. Lilac didn't even look pregnant to us! Baby Wonder had a rough start. Momma Lilac was a first time mom and didn't seem to know that Wonder was her baby at first. We were immediately alarmed because not only did Lilac not look pregnant, she also had not bagged up. We were not able to express any colostrum. We kept trying to help baby Wonder latch on to suckle, in hope that it would stimulate colostrum production. As the hours passed by, we knew we needed to get baby Wonder to an equine veterinary hospital for life saving colostrum since Lilac still was not producing any. We took baby Wonder in our lap in the truck with an upset Lilac in the trailer we towed behind us.Dr. Thometz acted quickly and started Wonder on glucose while taking blood to test. They recommended immediate plasma to give Wonder the antibodies he needed to live. Lilac was given several doses of oxytocin and the nursing cocktail morning and night in hope of Lilac being brought into milk. By day two, Lilac was producing a small amount of milk. Wonder was not willing to drink milk replacer out of a bowl, so we were very relieved when Lilac started producing her own milk. By Thursday Wonder was ready to go home, It was 4 days of worry that baby Wonder spent in the ICU at Elgin Equine Hospital. We were so happy to be bringing Lilac and Wonder home to the rescue!
Wonder has been doing great, thankfully. He is a happy, healthy, bouncing baby boy. Momma Lilac is a very good mother. She is protective of her precious baby boy. We are very grateful Wonder survived, and we are enjoying every day with him.
10-09-2021
Wonder continues to do really well. Can you believe he is 3 months old today??!
12-27-2021
Baby Wonder is doing great. He is now weaned and is spending time with Carson, Benny, Willie and Periwinkle. Wonder likes his new friends and is thriving. He has grown big and strong, he is already as tall as Carson and Benny.
Baby Freedom is weaned!
We sure waited a long time for our baby Freedom to be born! After a very long mare watch with round the clock checking on Jasmine for signs of labor, one glance at the baby monitor on April 13th in the middle of the night, brought the long mare watch to an end. Baby Freedom was born quickly and uneventfully. We had wondered if Jasmine would be pregnant with twins, but instead it was just one BIG, long legged baby Freedom! His legs are so long, they are the length of Jasmine's! He stood up faster than most babies and was trotting around the 12x20 stall within his first 20 minutes of his birth. Freedom is inquisitive, friendly, bold and loves attention. He is high energy and thinks humans are his play toys. He is such a delight! He is tasting his entire environment, including tasting us! We are calling Freedom our land shark. Lol. He loves to play chase and loves hugs and scratches. He is growing like a weed! Today, 6-6-2021, Freedom received his first hoof trim! The little ball of energy had been imprinted at birth so he was used to having his hooves picked up and worked on, but he did not want to stand still. Lol. We sure are enjoying him!
On July 5th, not so little Freedom joined the rest of the miniature horses herd. He was so excited, he didn't know what to do with himself! Lol! He immediately decided he was going to be herd leader and started separating the herd. He was rearing and striking and acting like a stallion at just 4 months old! After a few days of watching Freedom's stallion antics, we made the decision to have Freedom castrated early. We took Freedom to Elgin Equine Hospital on the day we picked up baby Wonder and Lilac from the hospital. Freedom took his first trailer ride alone and wasn't the least bit fearful. He came off the trailer at the hospital like he ruled the world. He walked right onto the dark hallways and past all the stalls prancing and acting like he had been there many times before. Not a thing scared Freedom. He made us laugh each time the stable hands would walk the fancy racehorse stallions past us. Freedom would rear up at them and squeal, and frighten the big racehorses! They weren't sure what Freedom was! Freedom's castration surgery was quick and he did great. He is now a precious gelding who is much calmer and gets along with everyone peacefully. At only 4 months old, Freedom is the biggest mini we have, and is probably a Welsh pony/miniature horse cross. He is weaning himself naturally, making it easier on Jasmine and us. Jasmine still watches over her baby boy closely, he never leaves her sight. Jasmine is a great mom.
Wonderful Freedom is enjoying his life here at the rescue. His best friends are Freesia, Iris, Tinkerbell and Sweet Pea.
