Saturday, May 21, in the evening, a call came into WHOAS at 4:30 pm from conservation officers that campers in the Burnt Timer/Fallen Timber area had come across a very young wild horse that had apparently been abandoned. They requested help from WHOAS to see what could be done. It’s the long weekend and the area was occupied by large number of campers all up and down the Stud Creek road.
It was determined that we would respond as soon as we could but we desperately needed foal milk replacer powder if we rescued the baby. A frantic search ensued Saturday evening on a long weekend when everything was closed.
The campers that we were talking to did an exceptional job of taking care the best they could feeding it some cow’s milk to keep it hydrated. In fact one of the fellows stayed awake most of the night making sure it stayed around and got nourishment. A hero!
On Sunday morning our team headed out and after some difficulty located the little one. He was easily caught up and loaded into our trailer for the trip home to the WHOAS facility.
Safely home we let the little colt find his feet and get used to his new surroundings. Luckily we had managed to purchase a large pail of foal milk replacer and a bucket was prepared.
After some coaching by Danny who has a lot of experience with this, the colt began to get the idea that there was some good food to be had.
Being the weekend we had lots of volunteers to help with all the other horses under our care. The little colt in this whole process gained the name “Heaven”. The reason was “thank heavens we found him”! His time spent with the caring campers had already imprinted on him that us humans were not that bad. He was very friendly and began to check us all out even our visitor from the Yukon.
A pen was prepared for Heaven in one of our horse shelters using panels to confine him for his own safety. Lots of fresh bedding was put down and hay was put in his bucket so that he could investigate whatever it was. Still too young to really consume hay, young foals do mimic the adults and try out different grasses and plants.
WHOAS is so grateful to all the caring individuals that helped take care of and keep a watch on the little boy until he could be rescued. We also want to thank the conservation officers for their help and understanding in this situation.
There may be many reasons why the little colt was separated from his herd and had to seek out human company. But he was lucky there were people around that wanted to help him out.
We have volunteers that stay out at our facility 24 hrs a day right now. They will make sure that Heaven receives feedings at regular intervals throughout the day and night. We will keep you up-to-date on his progress and look forward to watching him grow and thrive.
