‘Once in a million the first time’: two mares are each raising an orphan foal alongside their own

A small stud has experienced all the highs and lows of breeding this summer as two broodmares died – but both their foals have been taken on by other mares, alongside their own.

Family-run Cimbri Stud usually only has two foals a year but four were due in 2023 as it was the first year it had their own licensed stallion standing, alongside two others. All four were delivered without complications but two of Cimbri’s foundation mares died.

Tea Witchalls, who owns the stud with her husband Dan, told H&H they have barely slept for weeks.

“It’s an amazing story; it’s rare enough for one mare to adopt another foal [alongside her own] but we’ve had two,” she said.

“There seem to have been a lot of orphan foals this year but we’d never been in that situation before – and I hope we never are again. It’s been a very long foaling season but maybe there’s some good coming out of it now.”

Tea said the first foal due was to foundation mare Briarose, but in the end, the mare’s five-year-old daughter Donnabriar gave birth first, to a healthy filly. Then Briarose went into labour.

“Everything was fine; it was Briarose’s fourth foal and it was all good; they went out in the field,” Tea said. “Then about 37 hours after foaling, she had a uterine prolapse. The vet came and we did all we could to try to save her but there was nothing we could do. She left a foal orphaned at 37 hours old.”

The Witchalls posted online in search of a foster mare, and had a potential candidate lined up.

“But Briarose and Donnabriar and their foals had been out together the previous day, and the foal had walked over to Donnabriar and tried to drink from her, ‘Are you my mum?’” Tea said. “She was depressed as she’d lost her mum and we thought we’d try to put her out with Donnabriar – and she let her drink. We watched them every minute, we camped out next to them, because sometimes a mare will turn on a foal, but she was absolutely brilliant.

“The other foal was a bit ‘I don’t want a twin sister’ at first, but she was fine very quickly, and they’re now sisters and best friends.”

The third mare due was Smag&Behag Firfod (Smilla), who gave birth to a healthy colt, then foundation mare Didansa had her fourth foal, also a colt.

“That all went absolutely fine,” Tea said. “Six days, no problems. Then she colicked. The vet came out and there was nothing we could do, we couldn’t even get her to surgery. At 12pm she was fine, at 2pm we found her cast and by 5pm she was gone.”

The days-old foal was standing by his dam and Tea knew something had to be done.

“We’d had it once already and couldn’t hope another mare would take a foal,” she said. “We hoped for another foster mare but Smilla had lots of milk. Didansa’s foal was standing there, not wanting to leave her, but it was getting dark and we needed to get the foal away.

“We let the mares out and they all looked at the mare, and when they went back, the orphan foal went with them. They went into the barn for the night and the foal walked up to Smilla as he was hungry and she just stood there; ‘I’ve got something for you’. He has his depressed moments but he knows she’s Mum now.”

Tea said both mares can frequently be seen feeding both foals at once. She has consulted vets and nutritionists to ensure the mares are being fed appropriately to allow them to feed two foals each, and she and Dan have had weeks of monitoring all six horses round the clock.

“We’d just got to the stage of turning the camera off when it happened again,” she said. “People said it was once in a million the first time.”

Tea believes that part of the reason for the happy outcome is the way she keeps her horses; mares and foals in a herd and “looking after each other”.

Both pairs of “twin” foals are also related; Donnabriar’s surrogate daughter is also her half-sister, and the two colts are by the same stallion.

“Do they know they’re family?” Tea asked. “I don’t know. But it’s amazing, as if the mares have told us ‘This is what we’re going to do’. So it is a success story.”

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