Gypsy gave birth to a little half Shetland/half miniature horse colt. My girls were enthralled with him.
We tried to keep them in the pasture with the herd, but the horses were overly curious as this was the first baby in our herd. The
little red foal was Gypsy’s first and she was over protective as most new mothers were. So we tied Gypsy in the back yard, just outside our back door. She was little and actually would trample more grass than she ate – so it was an easy fix until they could be adjusted safely into the herd. The girls loved this arrangement as they would go out and romp with the foal.
The girls would run and the foal would run, too – bucking and kicking his tiny feet into the air. Every time the foal would go out of Gypsy’s line of sight, she would whinny in panic and pace madly back and forth until the foal would return. The girls thought this was great fun, and it was obvious that the foal thought so too. Soon all four of them would be running all the way around the house, and the foal would deliberately play longer and longer out of her site. Running circles around the girls as they ran with him.
At the end of each romp session he would flop down by his mother and fall asleep, signaling to the girls that play time was over.
It took a few days, but eventually Gypsy didn’t break a sweat every time the foal stayed out of her view for longer than 2 seconds. Shortly after that they were integrated into the herd. The girls still played with the foal, but Gypsy was happier as she could constantly watch him as he played.
