We received a call from a lady , who needed our help with a new born foal. He had been taken to her , after being found up on the hillside , by local people out walking . They had found him just laying there on his own, very cold and wet from the rain , they stayed around , watching to see if the Mother came back to him, sadly after a long wait they began to worry about the new born foal who was getting very cold out there on the hills. They took him to a lady living very close by , who was well known in the area for her own beautiful ponies grazing on the hillside . And at this point the lady who now had the newborn foal in her house , rang us to see if we could provide something the foal needed very urgently , Colostrum ! We drove to the lady’s house and met the beautiful colt for the first time .
We decided to name him Tom after he shared a birthday with the famous Sir Captain Tom , the great Hero of the day, albeit 100 years apart! As soon as we arrived at the lady’s house we gave him Colostrum , in a Powdered form , which we always keep in stock. It was getting dark , so we quickly went to the place where he had been found, and sadly so sign of his mum, that night and no sign of her , nor the next day ,when a proper search was made , sadly again no mother found. We could only believe that Tom’s mum was a maiden mare (first foal) and had for whatever reason, had become separated from her new born foal.
We brought Tom back to the Sanctuary, taking him to the house and wrapping him up , and giving him warm ( foals milk) every few hours . Sadly after 24 hours he started to have seizures. After our own Vet was called out several times, she decided that Tom needed a plasma transfusion (blood transfusion). This blood was donated by foal loving “Middy” who also lives at the Sanctuary. The transfusion enabled Tom to receive the vital antibodies needed for his little body to filter the toxins that were causing the seizures. Miraculously Tom’s seizures stopped within 24 hours!As you can see, our strapping young Tom is now on top form!
Tom was hand reared by all of the Woodfield Team , giving him his warm milk every few hours , and during the first few weeks , throughout the night as well . But Tom was lonely , he had no friends to play with , and without a real Mum, he became very attached to us . So we were delighted to take in two foals of a similar age! They became good friends and can be seen out playing “tag “ in the fields most days . They have nice warm Coates on to keep out the cold, several feeds a day of Foal Creep, and now they are on proper feed, with lots of Vitamins, and minerals to help them grow up into strong ponies. And like all the ponies at the Sanctuary , as much Haylage as they like ! Our visitors enjoy seeing Tom out playing with his friends in the field ! He is a very big Character , and can be cheeky , as so many hand reared foals are ! Read more about Tom when he meets up with more rescued youngsters of a similar age ………………. Kevin and Reggie !!!
