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Last month I
started to tell you about the horses – the story
continues……
Our next horse was Alfie – she was owned by an English
family who admitted that they didn't know anything about
horses. When she arrived she was incredibly fat and
could hardly walk as she had chronic laminitis.
 We
thought she would just be a companion for Leo when we
took the others out riding, but once we had slimmed her
down she became a lovely horse to ride. She is in her
twenties now and has had a hard life – she has grey
rings of hair round her front feet from scarring caused
by being hobbled. She is a bit of a loner which makes me
sad, she is definitely bottom in the pecking order but
she has had two foals and she has a close bond with both.
Alfie’s first foal in 2004 was a bit of a surprise. Leo
was only a year old the previous summer, and we hadn't
expected him to be fertile- we have since found out that
though it is not usual before 18 months, horses can be
fertile from 1 year!
The problem with having a horse castrated in Spain is
the flies. It is important with an operation that leaves
an open wound that it is done at a time of year when
there aren’t many flies, but also when it is warm enough
for the horse to stay outside after the op so that he
can move around and keep the circulation going to reduce
swelling. This leaves spring or autumn, but
unfortunately every time we decided to have the
operation done the weather would get bad, and then
before we knew it the flies were upon us. This resulted
in Leo not having his operation until he was nearly
three. From a behavioral point of view this was not a
problem, as he has always been a lovely natured horse,
but on the foal front it was a disaster! (though of
course we don’t think so now.)
Anyway, unbeknown to us Alfie became pregnant. It wasn't
until the early summer of 2004 that we started to be
suspicious. Alfie had become a bit thin over the winter
and we had been slowly fattening her up – a difficult
process for horses prone to Laminitis. Consequently it
was no surprise that she was getting fatter, but all of
a sudden she seemed to look very fat and we decided that
we needed to ring the vet to find out one way or another.
It was a few more weeks before the vet could come, but
we finally got the pregnancy confirmed. The vet said
that she had a few months to go, and I discussed with
her the best plan of action for Alfies care, bearing in
mind her age. She suggested that a bit of light riding
until Alfie started to object would be good to keep her
fit. That evening I took her out for a ride. She seemed
a bit slower than usual but apart from that was fine.
Imagine my surprise when the next morning she gave birth
to her foal on the muck heap, surrounded by all the
other very interested horses!
Luckily everything was fine and I was able to move mum
and foal into a separate paddock for a nice quiet
bonding session. Little Spirit, as we named him, was
tiny and obviously a bit premature, but absolutely
perfect. Now, 2 years later he is still very small for
his age but is so sweet natured and will make a lovely
children’s pony. Poor old Alfie, before we could get Leo
castrated she succumbed to his charms again and last
summer produced little Fern. This time we knew exactly
when the foal was due as we had written the date on the
calendar, so we were quite excited at the possibility of
perhaps witnessing the birth this time. We did get to
see the birth, but not quite how we had imagined! Once
again Alfie decided to have her foal early.
On the day of the birth, 1 month before the due date I
had just picked up a head collar and was walking into
the field to get Spirit with the idea of separating him
from his mum in good time for the birth, as he was still
having milk. Unbelievably, as I walked round the back of
the stables there was Alfie, once more giving birth in
the field in broad daylight (horses usually prefer to
foal at night or early morning).
As you can imagine, I was quite worried as I knew the
foal was early. Thankfully everything was fine and once
more I was able to move Alfie and baby into the separate
paddock. Unfortunately poor little Spirit didn't know
what had hit him – suddenly he had a new baby sister and
his mum didn't appear to love him anymore! Being small,
he soon discovered that if he really persevered he could
climb through the post and rail fencing to get to his
mum. After placing him back in the main field several
times to no avail, I decided to leave him with his mum
and little sister Fern and see what happened. Alfie just
ignored him, which was so confusing for poor little
Spirit, but he stayed just a few feet away from them and
copied everything the foal did. When Fern lay down, so
did Spirit, when she ran around he ran with her, it soon
became a joy to watch and it didn't take long for Alfie
to accept him back, though Spirit soon found out that
the milk bar was definitely out of bounds to him! Spirit
and Fern soon became incredibly close, and now if Fern
can't find her mum she is quite happy to go to big
brother instead.
Horses are incredible to watch, especially when they
live in a herd as ours do. You start to notice little
things about their different characters and how they
communicate with each other. They are sometimes as good
as guard dogs too – you always know if someone is riding
a horse by as they will all rush to the fence to have a
look! Quite helpful, since Scruffy likes to follow
passing horses home!
One day we were able to see the amazing sight of a wild
boar with her two piglets running across our land. We
would have missed it if it wasn’t for the horses
suddenly all rushing to their fence to watch them!
We have been lucky enough to spot wild Ibex while out
riding too, as the horses always see them before we do.
Our guests over the years have been fascinated by the
horses and have been able to work out things about their
different characters just by watching them, even if they
have had no previous experience of horses.
To be continued……………
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