Young N.S. colt loses his mama, but bonds quickly with new friend

Orphaned foal missing its mama A newborn colt has lost its mother, but that doesn’t mean it won’t be loved or cared for.

GREENFIELD, N.S. — A newborn colt is in young, but capable, hands after his mother died the night he was born.

Jeff Hennigar and his family raise Standardbred horses on their hobby farm in Greenfield, N.S., and on Tuesday, one of their mares went into labour and delivered a foal at about 8:45 a.m.

"It was probably around quarter to six at night that we realized that the mare was having complications from the foaling and we called in a vet," a tearful Hennigar said. "She worked for probably 45 minutes to an hour on the mare, however, she passed away due to complications."

Hennigar's son, Evan, who was eager to help the vet, quickly became a surrogate for the colt.

"It gave him a different outlook, I think," Hennigar said. "He's been with that foal steady now, nursing it, walking it."

Evan, who says he would sometimes help feed the horses, seemed to relish taking on the new responsibilities.

"I was never really big into horses," Evan says. "I would never really go into the field. I always thought 'Oh, there's a big creature.' I was scared of that, or whatever."

Evan thinks because he was wearing the same sweater he had on when he was trying to help the mare, the colt has latched on to him.

'NOW, I'M JUST BEST FRIENDS WITH A HORSE'

"I guess he kind of thought, 'there's my new mom," Evan said. "Now, I'm just best friends with a horse."

Hennigar says he looked into getting another mare to be a surrogate for the colt, but everyone he talked to about that possibility said their mare already had a foal.

"Sometimes, that can get dangerous for a new foal to come in to the situation," Hennigar said. "We're here 24 hours a day, the bottle's been going good, and we have other horses we may be able to introduce him with. So, I think we may go that way, just to keep him here. I think it would be awful hard to send him away now."

Evan says it is a bit like having a dog.

"For the first day, he'd wag his tail constantly," he said.

Hennigar said he's proud of the way Evan has taken a keen interest in looking after the colt.

"He's been awesome," Hennigar said.

Evan gets up early in the morning to care for the colt and the first night, after the mare died, Evan didn't want to go to bed and wanted to stay with the foal in the barn so he wouldn't be alone.

"I think he really grew up here and I want to thank him for it, too," Hennigar said.

As for the colt, he's still so young, he doesn't have a name yet, but he's already made his first friend.