Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Life and Death, Take Two

Sleep deprivation isn't a pretty thing when you're over 40. And menopausal.

This morning, I got a call from the vet (that's what my caller ID said, anyway)--could it be bad news? Yes and no. Ruth, a vet tech, said that this weekend a mare lost her baby (foaled Friday, died Sunday). She said she'd get the mare, and if I could bring the orphaned foal, she would work with them to see if they would accept one another. She'd done this several times before, so I was eager to see if it would work. First, I want the baby to learn to be a horse, not a human; second, I NEED TO SLEEP! And third, how could I go to Rolex if the baby was still needing to eat every 2 hours?!

I took the baby to the mare this afternoon, and she was VERY eager to see him. He didn't quite smell right (and the baby decided that this big thing was weird--he wanted to be with people). But Ruth put a halter on her, and she let the baby suckle--his first "mare" meal ever! He ate enough so that he promptly fell asleep.

It'll be three days, she says, before they've bonded enough for them to be turned out together--but they're next door to one another right now, and seem very happy.

I am thrilled. The baby will learn to be a horse. He will have a nurse momma. I can have a blessed night of uninterrupted sleep. And I can go to Rolex without feeling guilty about leaving an orphaned baby in the hands of my good-intentioned but not horse-crazy family.

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