Burnley horse rescue charity saves adorable pony named Wotsit and her newborn foal Cheeto
An adorable pony who was found abandoned has been given a new lease of life r newborn foal all thanks to an animal charity.
With the Horses and Ponies Protection Association’s (HAPPA) intervention pony Wotsit and her newborn foal have been given a brighter future at the Charity’s Shores Hey Farm in Burnley.
Three-year-old Wotsit was found feral and abandoned on common ground with no-one claiming ownership.
The RSPCA initially took her to safety, and a veterinary assessment revealed that she was three months into pregnancy. Shortly after she was transferred to HAPPA to complete her rehabilitation journey.
An initial assessment completed by the HAPPA Equine Care Team, earlier this year, revealed that Wotsit would need time and patience as she had not been handled by humans regularly in her short time on earth.
She was extremely nervous of human touch, even more so with the veterinarian and farrier.
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In the months leading to the foal’s arrival the team gave Wotsit the care and attention she needed, spending time with her every day, gently introducing new experiences and working through triggering situations such as farrier visits and veterinary appointments, to ensure when she needed them the most she trusted that their touch was a positive and safe experience.
Wotsit welcomed a beautiful filly foal in the early hours of Friday, May 9, however, during that afternoon on-duty Equine Care Supervisor, Nicole Simpson, noticed that something didn’t seem right.
Nicole said: “I knew that we needed to act fast to save Wotsit’s newborn foal. I called the vet and unfortunately after a blood test it was found that Wotsit had not expressed enough milk after giving birth, therefore not providing her foal with the much-needed nutrients found in colostrum (nature’s first milk).
“This was an emergency, if the little foal did not receive the nutrients needed in the next couple of hours, then things would deteriorate very quickly, possibly resulting in the foal’s death.
“The attending veterinarians from Aireworth Vets managed to source colostrum from a very kind donor, Ess Jay Arabians.
“This subsequently had to be fed to the foal through a tube directly into the stomach, to ensure, with every certainty, that the vital nutrients were absorbed into the little foal’s frail body and blood stream.”
Throughout the night Nicole and the Veterinarians worked relentlessly to give the chestnut filly foal, named Cheeto by the team, the best chance of survival.
A second blood test showed that quick thinking and veterinary intervention had saved the foals’ life, nutrients in the blood stream had improved, now only time would tell if little Cheeto would make a full recovery.
Cheeto continues to recover in the Charity’s care and HAPPA will continue to be a safety net for all horses in need, but to do so the Charity needs your support.
If you would like to donate towards the care of horses such as Wotsit and Cheeto please visit the website www.happa.org.uk.