Re: Oakdale, CA - Colt Needs Surrogate Mare

["maggie" <maggisar@bright.net>]

> My friend Earl is in a bind... has lost a mare and has her young colt to
> raise.  He is located in Oakdale, CA near Manteca/Tracy.  If you can help,
> please contact Earl Kelly, kellyarabs@jps.net TEL 209 847-8042 or during
> office hours Kelly2@llnl.gov TEL 925 422-8042.
> Thank you,
> Tina Rushing tinarushing@coastside.net  El Granada, CA
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Earl Kelly <kelly2@llnl.gov>
> To: tinarushing@coastside.net <tinarushing@coastside.net>
> Date: Friday, February 18, 2000 9:03 AM
> Subject: Help, rough night
>
>
> I lost Christl.  I will really miss her.  Last thing she did when I saw
her
> yesterday was to give me a goodbye kiss, I think she knew.  Her 3 week old
> colt is doing fine but really needs a step mom.  Would you put the word
out
> for us?  Earl
>
Earl,
So sorry to hear of your loss, I hope your baby will be ok. Here's our happy
ending story:

We got Lucky in March of '98 when he was four days old.  His mama had become
ill and wasn't expected to make it (she didn't) and the owners told us that
if we could keep him alive, we were welcome to him.  We took him home on my
lap, stopping at the country grocery to get baby stuff.  My husband, Brent,
walks up to the counter with 2 baby bottles, a large can of Similac, a quart
of Pedialyte, and a half-gallon of Moose Tracks ice cream. In our small
village everyone knows everyone, so the store owner looked at him and said,
"either you two work really fast or there's an animal in the truck".

Lucky was very cold, his temp wouldn't register on a rectal thermometer,
extremely dehydrated, and hadn't nursed in at least 12 hours.  It was
several days before he could stand on his own.

Needless to say Ohio in March can be darned unpleasant for a two month
premature foal. Lucky lived in the laundry room for three weeks with our two
greyhounds (he was just a little taller!!).  When he was strong enough to
move to the barn (big old drafty thing), we put a wimpy social outcast
gelding in the stall next to him. Since our barn is "herd friendly", the
stalls are separated by only four-foot high walls and board fences, and the
two became fast friends. In a few weeks Lucky was turned out in the general
population (7 others) and was adopted and loved by all. Since he was so
small, we didn't wean him from goat milk replacer until he was around three
months old.  He's still little, but getting closer to horse size! We should
probably have him cut soon before the 4 yr old gets in trouble..............

By the way, he is very attached to us, but appears to be a normally
socialized horse, no more of a spoiled brat than the rest of the herd.

Maggie Fleming aka Lucky's mama
Brent Fleming-what's one more housepet?
Under a Shooting Star Farm
Lucky aka USS Fortunato-- future distance horse