Palomino Armstrong is famous for rescuing Chilly
Pepper and Honey Bandit. Those two orphaned mustangs have grown up to
be beautiful horses. Honey's not totally out of the woods, even after
his first birthday, but Palomino and her family of dedicated 2 and 4
footed helpers have brought him a long way on the road to a real horsey
life.
Most of us don't talk about the foals that are lost, but
Palomino, Shirley, Betty, Bonnie, Willis and many others can tell you
about them, by name.
Palomino is putting her heart out there to be trounced by tiny hooves, one more time.
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| This is Rocky. He is such a baby, he has no teeth. He is in Mama Shirley (wild horse angel for whom I named Mrs. Allen in the Phantom books) 's HOUSE |
Here's the first report I got from Willis Lamm of LRTC
A foal was picked up last night by some well intended ATV riders. They had seen the foal by itself in the Ruby Ave. area north of the Silver Springs airport during the late afternoon. Around 8:00 PM, on their way home, they saw the foal again in the same location curled up next to a utility pole. The band of horses that roamed that area was nowhere to be seen. Although it would have been better for them to contact Daryl or the volunteers, they decided to take the foal home.
We got permission to pick up the foal and place it in LRTC's orphan foal project. Betty Retzer and Bob Motamenpour retrieved the foal from his rescuers. Mike Holmes checked out the area and confirmed that the foal was from Bubba's band, often seen near "Four Corners" in Silver Springs. However at the time the foal was picked up the band was nowhere to be seen. Furthermore the foal appeared too weak to be able to keep up with the band, so it was brought in to Shirley's. Although Mike had later located the horses, and while we always like to reunite separated foals with their dams when we can even after we pick them up, it was definitely clear that this foal was too weak to be turned back with his band.
Due to Shirley sustaining a possible rotator cuff tear, the doctor has put her on "light duty. The Dayton facility's capacity to take care of week-old foals is therefore become limited so Palomino Armstrong of the Chilli Pepper rehab project will take this foal, named "Rocky" by his original rescuers as he was found in a heavily rocky area. The next few days will be critical as we have no way of knowing why Rocky fell behind and was left by his band. He could have some serious underlying health problem. Therefore he has been given the regimen prescribed for all foals that are received in his condition. If he flourishes and once he is weaned, Rocky will be available to an appropriate adopter. If he turns out to be half the horse that Bubba is, he will be magnificent.
(NOTE from Terri: tomorrow I'll post a photo of Bubba the wild stallion)
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| First things first: when Rocky picked his way back into Nature, he checked out Matt, Palomino's husband |
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| Rocky can go outside & even feels frisky, but his energy is very limited and he's still a fragile little guy |
Thank you to Palamino once again for caring for this baby and the rescuers who cared enough to stop. If they had not picked up the foal he may not have made it through the night. Is there any word on the dam? I'll keep Rocky and as always, all the horses in my prayers.
ReplyDeleteThought you might like to know there was another player in Rocky's tale. Melissa McMichaels was the first person who the people told about finding the foal . They were going to keep it and she urged them to contact Betty Retzer. It took her a while to convince them. Without her intervention , Rocky might have been in much worst shape when turned over, or may have died at the hands of the inexperienced people who found him..
ReplyDeleteMargot, thanks for the heads-up!
ReplyDeleteThanks to Melissa for having a heart and for her tenacity!