Abandoned baby horse meets 4 ft teddy bear. Adorable pics.

[madfloridian]

Abandoned Foal Finds a Friend in the Most Adorable Way Possible

Hours after birth, this baby horse foal was found stumbling around by a farmer. The newborn foal was abandoned by his mother. We’re sure she had her reasons, but the story does get better. The foal was taken to the Mare and Foal Sanctuary where they instantly started caring for him. What happened next is both adorable and heartwarming.

They became inseparable.

[Boudica the Lyoness]

1. These pictures are absolutely lovely.

I love the way teddy is gazing down at his new charge.

They didn't have to call it a 'baby horse foal', lol. All horse babies are called foals. A girl one is called a filly and a boy one is called a colt.

Thanks for posting this.

[BlueJazz]

2. I can't stand it. It's way too cute.

Ted Baxter: I..I stayed with the Mommy horse all night helping her give birth and in the morning there were 6 little baby horsies.

[Blue Owl]

3. Some kind of wonderfoal!

n/t

[roguevalley]

4. Every baby needs love. This is wonderful. His poor mom.

[sabrina 1]

5. Aw, that is too cute! I'm glad the little foal found someone to make him feel secure!

[Uncle Joe]

6. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, madfloridian.

[KT2000]

7. Precious -

just so sweet -

[Rhiannon12866]

8. K&R, my favorite thread of the day...

[raptor_rider]

9. Awe

Found mama

[lovemydog]

10. Kudos to everyone who loves

& helps care for horses!

[DeSwiss]

11. I see you got your pony!!!

- K&R!

[madfloridian]

12. lol

[m-lekktor]

15. lol nt

[Enthusiast]

24. ...

[Liberal_in_LA]

34. lol

[WillyT]

39. LOL !!! - K & R To You, And The Entire Thread !!!

[Raine]

13. Aw so sweet, brought tears to my eyes. nt

[packman]

14. Reminded me of Harlow's study in the 50's

Studied this in college, why back when:

"In the late 1950s, Harlow raised infant rhesus monkeys with dolls as surrogate mothers. One surrogate was covered in cloth; the other was made of bare wire, but provided milk. Contrary to the psychoanalytic belief that the infants would become attached to those mothers who provided them with nourishment, the infant monkeys spent most of their time embracing the cloth mother. Harlow’s work attracted the interest of the psychiatric community for its relevance to understanding the normal development of emotions in humans and their pathological deviations. As most psychology textbooks present it now, Harlow’s work provided the experimental confirmation of psychiatrist John Bowlby’s and ethologist Konrad Lorenz’s views about the instinctual nature of the infant-mother dyad"

In other words, nourishment wasn't enough for a psueo-mother to give. The infants needed warmth and something to comfort them.

More at:
http://individual.utoronto.ca/vicedo/vicedoca/Publications_files/Vicedo_HofP.pdf

[tosh]

17. Yes, the famous Terry Cloth Mama!

[kiva]

16. Awwwwwww....

[xchrom]

18. du rec.

[riderinthestorm]

19. This is a Dartmoor Hill pony named Breeze, his bear is named Button (squee!)

This story is actually from last year and went the rounds in the "horse circles". I remembered the story so I just tried to look online for a follow up. No such luck.

A mare rejecting her foal is pretty uncommon but most horse breeders do usually keep colostrum on hand just in case....

Its great this little guy had such a terrific mare and foal rescue resource close by! Hope he's doing well...

[maddiemom]

21. Yep. A mare rejecting her foal is VERY uncommon. Some of the sweetest natured mares can get, at

at least at first foal, crazy protective. I too, would have liked to have heard a little more of the story

[CottonBear]

42. I have helped to birth foals.

It is an awesome. experience!

[FloriTexan]

20. OMG.

Too adorable!

[Quantess]

23. Poor kid! I feel bad for the little guy.

It looks cute in photos, but it's actually sad.

[MoonchildCA]

38. That was my reaction too.

As cute as a foal snuggling a teddy is, it's a poor excuse for a mother, and does nothing to nurture the little one.

I think it's kind of heartbreaking.

[MoonRiver]

40. But maybe he's getting some more loving from living beings.

I hope so!

[madfloridian]

47. I agree, there's a lonely look about it.

I found a little more that he found a Shetland pony for company a few months later.

[Enthusiast]

25. Kicked and recommended!

[TorchTheWitch]

26. I have that same big bear

Except mine is ginger haired. It's 4 feet tall when it's sitting (or my bear is bigger than "Buttons&quot .

This is Boo when he was a baby having fallen asleep on Mr. Big Bear...



I'm so happy that the little foul is comforted by his big bear.

[madfloridian]

28. That is so sweet.

Last edited Tue Jul 15, 2014, 01:35 PM - Edit history (1)

Thanks for sharing.

And I forgot to say beautiful dog. Yes, your bear is bigger I think.

[TorchTheWitch]

35. It's kind of hard to tell

I can't remember generally how big a newborn foal is. But I know mine is 4 ft. tall when he's sitting down since I'm a little over 5 ft. and we're a bit uncomfortably close in height. The bear took up so much room in my car that I couldn't get him all the way in even with his legs out the window, and I couldn't tie him to the roof since his legs covered the back window while his face was in my windshield. I ended up paying a bouncer with a giant SUV to drive it all the way back to my house. A customer gave me the bear for my birthday a little over a decade ago. It's not even the strangest gift I've gotten from a customer but definitely the most unwieldy. Mr. Big Bear is just about the sole occupant of my little back bedroom guarding all my paperback books.

This is the only dignified photo I could ever get of Boo even as an adult (he was never dignified)...



A million times I've tried to convince someone to adopt Mr. Big Bear, but after all these years I'd probably have to pay someone to take him away. I'd be more than happy to donate him to one of these places like the one that took in the foal to be used as a substitute mommy or buddy for some orphaned or depressed critter. They'd have to come get it though since even just stuffing him down the stairs would be a challenge.

[madfloridian]

44. Your bear is a LOT bigger.

And that is one glorious elegant dog!

[maddiemom]

30. Great! You should see the big stuffed bunny our one cat insists on finding and

dragging around the house every night....regardless of where we might hide him. The problem is that every time my daughter tries to catch a cell phone picture of "Hitchens," usually dragging the bunny by one ear, the cat runs off and hides immediately.

[TorchTheWitch]

37. oh, isn't that always the way!

My camera makes a little jingle tune when it gets turned on, so if Yoshi hears it he stops being funny and just stands there. I've caught him a few times on film as long as I go hide in a closet to turn the camera on so he doesn't realize I've got it.

Isn't it cool how some animals get ridiculously attached to a plush toy and refuse to give it up even when it's become nothing but a filthy smelly scrap of material? I always wondered how it is they pick out the just perfect plush BFF over the others or it takes years for you to finally get one they bond with.

[Arugula Latte]

31. I don't know how to tell you this, but ...

your dog is a plushie.

[OnyxCollie]

27. Gonna make me cry...

[MoonRiver]

29. Incredibly adorable!

Thanks for sharing!

[Arugula Latte]

32. That's sweet but I wish they would find him a real horsie friend!

[catbyte]

33. I know this is overused, but I can't help it:

SQUEE!

That little guy is just too adorable...

[madfloridian]

36. Follow-up in Aug last year....he had a pony companion.

The poor little foal was so traumatised he struggled to sleep, or rest for any length of time. That is, until we found him a giant cuddly toy called Buttons to snuggle up to. Breeze was finally on the mend.

You would think that was the end of this story…think again!

Before we knew what was happening our little Breeze had become a global sensation- appearing on news shows, in newspapers and on websites around the world. The story of the orphaned foal and his teddy bear had touched the hearts of thousands worldwide.

And Breeze? Well, he’s taken his new found stardom in his stride. Now two and a half months old and 8.2hh, our little foal is growing into a big, strong – and rather cheeky – boy. He loves nothing better than playing out in the field with his new pony companion Pippin, a miniature Shetland who also came to us as an orphan back in 2012.

To think of that tiny, weak foal we found on the moor, compared to the healthy, happy colt that Breeze is today…the difference is astounding.

http://www.mareandfoal.org/blog/2013/08/07/lifes-a-breeze/

[shenmue]

41. Warning: photos too cute

May violate the Federal Cute Act of 1979.

[joeybee12]

43. Adorable is not the word...you need some sort of alert...

So people know these are heart-melting!!! knr

[rpannier]

45. Teddy Bears Rock n/t

[Iwillnevergiveup]

46. Oh, baby!

Everything gonna be OK.

[maddiemom]

48. Many years ago we had a young Morgan mare drop her first foal much earlier than expected within

sight of our dining room picture window. I had gotten up early for high school classes and freaked out because I was thinking some strange, big dog was roaming around the paddock. It turned out the filly was just bebopping outside the stall on her own, while her first-time momma was calmly munching hay inside. While not the usual momma/foal reaction, "Margie" was just calm and absent-minded about her first baby