The little guy must have felt like a foundling.
He was alone. He was confused. He’d been taken from his birth mother in late February after she kicked at him every time he tried to nurse.
Then, a most wonderful love story began unfolding. A Thoroughbred mare, Maizelle, who had lost her foal at birth two days previously was shown to the little guy’s stall at
Machmer Hall Farm near Paris.
To the amazement of many, the two bonded instantly.
“She walked in and she was like, ‘Oh, you found him. Great,’” said Carrie Brogden, recounting how the substitute mother appeared to think the new foal was her own — a baby she never really saw because it died during its birth.
Her foal had died after Maizelle’s blood pressure dropped during foaling. Deprived of oxygen, the foal was undergoing seizures and not breathing when it emerged.
She’d been looking for her foal since then, nickering and wondering where it went. When she was shown the new baby she fell instantly in love.
So did the baby, who wears his love on his forehead for all to see. His white facial marking looks nearly like a heart with a bite taken out of the upper left corner: perhaps a reminder of the bite his birth mother took out of his own heart when she rejected him.
Mother and adopted son, who are both of the same chestnut (reddish) color, have been doing great since they were paired. The colt’s real mother is also doing fine but without a foal by her side — which seems to be the way she wants it.
“In 17 years she’s the only mare we’ve dealt with that has flat out rejected her foal to where we had to remove the foal for its safety,” said Brogden.