Target reached!
The extra funding would help support these foals all the way from rescue, through th...
Orphan Foals in Desperate Need of Rescue
Bodmin, Cornwall, United Kingdom
Aim
Welcome to The Hugs Foundation – we need to raise £11,000 to save the lives of a herd of orphan foals who are in desperate need of rescue.
Welcome to The Hugs Foundation – we need to raise £11,000 to save the lives of a herd of orphan foals. Please can you help them?
What we need
We need you to help save the life of not only the emergency 3 week old rescue foal in the photos below, but the lives of her friends. We need to raise at least £11,000 to enable us to rescue this little herd and secure their futures.
The foal below has already arrived at Hugs as an emergency rescue. She is just weeks old and absolutely tiny, smaller than our collie dog. Your kind donations are crucial to save her and to turn her short life around. This little foal was found curled up under bushes, thick in mud where the flies had begun to cover her in their eggs. Her fragile body was moments away from death. Her delicate skin was also covered in cuts and scabs, which were beginning to form infections. The ticks amongst her matted fur were the size of adult fingernails and were also draining her of the little reserves she had left.
Upon taking in this tiny little soul, the dedicated animal rescue team could see her heaving with every breath and could hear her struggle too. To see an animal so tiny and helpless in such need is truly devastating. Even though she is receiving around the clock care this foal is still in a perilous situation and every hour that passes is crucial. We promise to do everything we can to save her but the sad truth is that she is not alone.
Every year the Hugs team takes in rescued foals. These foals are orphaned and are often so young that they should still be on their mother's milk. The foals arrive with massive intestinal worm burdens, lice infestations and sometimes skin infections, which in many cases cover more then 50% of their bodies. These foals usually have very weakened immune systems as a consequence of the stress of being separated from their mothers and weather conditions that they have endured on their own. We see colic cases and gut infections because of their exhausted state.
The emergency rescue foal saw the equine vet within 24 hours of arriving at Hugs and the list of medication she needs to be able to survive and regain health is vast. Aswell as these initial needs we are supporting, the staff and vets have identified other major issues that will need medical intervention when her body is strong enough, such as her umbilical hernia. Her costs are going to run into the thousands, and she needs you.
We are currently looking at her being one of a number of foals desperately needing your help. These foals will all need their own individual health care plan devised for them by our knowledgeable team alongside our equine vets. We need to raise at least £11,000 to enable us to rescue this little herd and secure their futures. With the help of our supporters and raising this money, we will be able to take these babies in and give them the specialist diet and care they need to grow into healthy ponies and find their forever homes.
Why we need you
It costs between £700 and £1,100 to rescue each orphan foal. We need your kind donations so we can give them a fighting chance. With the help from your support and the Hugs team, orphaned foals will not face death this winter, but love, kindness and expertise from our team and a secure future. Will you work with us to change their lives?
Each foal will need:
- A specialist diet to ensure they get the nutrients and vitamins they need in absence of their mum's milk
- Expert staff to care for and rehabilitate them so they grow into happy, healthy ponies
- A passport and microchip
- Worm counts and wormer
- Vet visit and consult, including their vaccinations
- Farrier visit to check feet and trim as needed
- Strangles testing
- Castration for the colts (boys)
- Straw bedding
- Hay
If a horse/pony is in poor health (like the little foal above), these needs and the cost can rise to thousands more.
When they arrive at The Hugs Foundation, they will be put into isolation together so that tests can be carried out to ensure they don’t have any contagious diseases and they are safe to mix with other horses and ponies. During this time, in addition to our staff’s expert care, they will need regular visits from experts including farriers, vets and dentists. With loving care, we can give them a good start in life, with the hope of being rehomed and having a happy, full life.
With overwhelming pressure on animal rescues (many of which are full), our charity has the space for these foals but we need your support to secure the funds to rescue them.
This is the difference your donation and kindness make - meet our previous orphan foals…….
Herbie & Biscuit's Story
Herbie (bay/brown pony) and Biscuit (grey/dun pony) were two of five orphaned foals that Hugs were asked to save in 2019. Herbie was just 3 months old and had never had human contact.
They were only around 2 to 3 months old and would not have survived without their mums but with the help of Hugs, their futures were secured. Herbie and Biscuit were both in a terrible state on arrival, the stress of losing their mothers meant that their immune systems took a significant dive. They both had skin infections, intestinal worm burdens and were very underweight. In their first few weeks, they remained in our isolation unit getting special feeds every day. The stress and change in diet caused Herbie to colic and he received specialist vet care to help him.
Herbie and Biscuit had not had positive interactions with humans before they arrived so they needed a lot of time with Hugs staff, learning that we didn’t want to hurt or scare them. As they got calmer and more confident with their interactions with humans, we could do more to help them including necessary wormers and both Biscuit and Herbie had their coats clipped off fully so we could treat their infections and give them medical baths to treat the scabs that were covering their little bodies. They soon started putting on weight with specialist foal diet and after a few months Herbie went on to be fostered with one of the Hugs team to progress his education and continue caring for him with their own horses. Biscuit remained at Hugs with her other friends to continue her treatment.
Herbie grew in confidence every day being on a small livery yard and meeting lots of people and other ponies. He spent the winter with his new best friends and returned to Hugs to be castrated in the spring. Once he was healed, he returned to the livery yard and was joined for a short break by some of the other foals who had been castrated with him for a spring of additional grass and sunshine! Herbie showed them all the ropes in his home and his little friends returned to Hugs with a new confidence ready to find their new homes.
Herbie came home to Hugs after the staff member moved to Hugs HQ. He was around a year old by this time. He settled back into the daily routines and although he was his usual happy self – he kept going lame on a hind leg. He saw several vets, physio and chiropractor. The vets decided to do some x-rays to hopefully get to the bottom of it and finally we saw a huge hole in poor Herbie’s hoof bone! He had a large infection of the pedal bone, and it was being slowly being eaten away. He was rushed off for surgery at a horse hospital, where they cut open his hoof and scraped out all the dead and infected bone. He came home for a long healing process, it takes around 9 months to a year for a whole hoof to regrow! Herbie was very lucky and fully recovered. He has now passed his training to work on our youth well-being project so he can give back the kindness and love that has been given to him. He loves his sessions with the children and is a firm favourite! He will complete any obstacle course he’s asked to and knows a handful of tricks, including a bow! He also goes to lots of events to raise awareness of the work Hugs does and promote positive animal welfare.
Biscuit spent her first Summer at Hugs and blossomed into a beautiful little lady with a happy and relaxed nature. She found a wonderful home with a lovely family who all adore her.
To think that these ponies wouldn’t be here without Hugs and our incredible supporters is just heartbreaking. With overwhelming pressure on animal rescues (many of which are full), Hugs has the space but we need the funding to be able to rescue this little herd and save these lives.
Will you help the orphan foals this winter, by giving what you can to secure their futures? If you can help by donating and sharing our appeal these ponies' futures will be bright. Thank you from the team at Hugs.
This project successfully funded on 23rd October 2023