News Update April 12th, 2008

I have always known it was a tremendous honor that horses allow me to be close to them in some of their most intimate and vulnerable times. This past weekend provided an exquisite example, which I'd like to share with you.

For readers who have followed the previous four Expositor articles discussing our Sorraia Mustang Preserve, you may recall that in 2006 my husband, Kevin Droski and I acquired a yearling stud colt, Altamiro, from a zoological park in Germany as part of a transcontinental effort to save the Sorraia horse from extinction. We were told by my friend Hardy Oelke (author of BORN SURVIVORS ON THE EVE OF EXTINCTION: Can Iberia's Wild Horse Survive Among America's Mustangs?) that Sorraia stallions typically do not become sexually fertile until age four.

Altamiro will turn three years old on May the fourth. Two of the fillies are coming four this summer and the other one just celebrated her third birthday April 13th. It suits me just fine to wait until everyone is a bit older before foals begin to arrive and when folks routinely ask me if I am expecting foals this spring, I say "No."

Now, it seems I will be saying "Yes!", as the magic of Manitoulin Island and the wisdom of nature have provided us with an unexpected gift.

On Saturday, after a day and a half of winter overtaking the slow start of spring here on Gore Bay's East Bluff, I had opportunity to hang out with the herd a bit as they were finishing up their late afternoon hay. Altamiro was showing studly interest in Bella, something I'd been looking for but not seen yet this spring. Upon closer inspection however, I noticed that Bella was not in heat... she was in the first stages of delivering a foal! My amazing shock gave way to intense worry because what I was looking at wasn't quite the same as shown in the textbooks.

Within ten minutes, the dogs were safe in the house, Kevin was by my side, I had my camera and we were back on the scene ready to assist, if necessary in this unexpected event. Bella, was laying down and we could already see upon our approach the foal sliding out of her and onto the pristine snow -- a membrane encased wriggling package of baby horse making its entry into the open world. Bella immediately got up and I began a series of noteworthy photos documenting a natural equine birth, one which differed greatly from anything I'd read about in books.

This birth was so quick, so seemingly effortless for Bella (who had previously not looked nor acted like a pregnant mare) and was so amazingly assisted by Altamiro that I still can hardly believe we were fortunate enough to witness such marvelous intimacy.

From the moment Bella had begun her delivery, Altamiro set himself up as her guardian and helpmate. While Bella took several minutes to regain her composure, Altamiro began licking the foal. Soon, Bella joined him and together mother and father helped dry the foal with their tongues and free it from its embryonic sac.

Altamiro then began prodding, poking, nipping and gently biting with what appeared to be an attempt to induce his son to get up. Numerous times I put down my camera thinking I should intervene as Altamiro became more brusque, actually grabbing the colt by the ridge of his wee neck and attempting to lift him up with his teeth. Kevin put his arm on mine and said, "Let them be, he's not going to hurt the foal." This went on for what seemed like a half an hour, with so many near risings and tangle-legged falls back to the ground.

I became concerned that the foal had bad legs and wouldn't be able to ever get up... Bella's seeming indifference and Altamiro's increasingly rough insistence only made my worry grow. "It's okay, assured my wise Kevin." "Shouldn't we try to help him?" I asked. "Not yet, I think he can do it, give him a while yet... he'll get up in due time." And within just a few more minutes, he did!

Next came the ever important first meal, and once again, Bella patiently waited, while Altamiro took up the job of stimulating his son to move around, bit by bit and nip by nip inducing the foal to get familiar with the territory of his mother and discover her udder. For the next twenty minutes the foal circled his parents, licking and mouthing at different sections of their bodies, instinctively knowing he would be rewarded at some point. When the colt's tiny muzzle finally connected with Bella's teats, Kevin and I cheered and clapped, astounded and delighted by the amazing ways of natural horse-keeping.

When Hardy learned of these events, he was flabbergasted, and relayed that he's never had experience with any Sorraia stallion that sired offspring before the age of four. He also stated that Altamiro's maternal assistance is something highly unusual. We certainly have never heard nor read of such tender ministrations of a stallion to his foal.

Altamiro seems to be the kind of horse that will be setting new records all his life. He is the first purebred Sorraia to come to live in Canada and now has sired the first half-bred Sorraia in Canada and that at a far younger age than his counterparts in Portugal, Germany and the U.S. And let's applaud Bella too... just shy of her fourth year and so excellent as a first time mother.

From the moment he slid onto the snowy landscape here at Ravenseyrie, using his head to butt an exit hole out of his birthing sack, Altamiro and Bella's foal showed determination and liveliness. We have named this colt, Animado, which means "lively" in Portuguese.

Are we expecting any more foals this spring? Yes, we are... it's a definite possibility.

Article and Photos by Lynne Gerard, Web page by MyHorse.ca