Stephen came to us as a very young ‘foal at foot’, as an RSPCA case. His owners had left him with a nasty infected injury to a front leg which had also abscessed. He was in a lot of pain and unable to bear weight on that limb.
Pain is very stressful for horses and foals in particular can lose the desire to suckle – which is what had happened in Stephen’s case. He was therefore extremely underweight and lethargic and his dam (the correct term for a foal’s mother), had very little milk.
We gave his dam Annie time and appropriate feeding, to see if the milk bar would open again - but sadly it was not to be. We therefore decided to wean Stephen and thankfully he never looked back.
From the outset he proved quite a little character. He would look everyone directly in the eye, almost like he could read thoughts – something he continues to do to this day.
Always friendly and attentive he can be in a herd of twenty ponies and still be the first to break ranks and come and say hello. It’s like he has been here before.
It was therefore inevitable, given his extraordinary popularity here, that he should be signed over to Here4Horses.
Stephen is very special to us and when the time comes, we will be looking for equally special people to meet his every need and adore him like we do.
Please support Stephen at Here4Horses
