THE STORY OF ZOLTAN, THE COLT NAMED ‘LIFE’

Zoltan was in all respects a surprise. The vet had said he was only due in December, but on 6 October he entered the world. His mom, Minke, was not well since she became pregnant and we just didn’t know what to do. She lost condition, was lethargic, her temperature spiked every now and then, but nothing really helped – antibiotics didn’t work, more food, nothing really made a difference. We weren’t at home, but Andre and Martie, who looked after the farm did a wonderful job looking after mom and baby. MArtie named him Zoltan, which in Hungarian, means life. How appropriate that name would be we only realised later. MArtie had to help Zoltan to find his mom’s teats and at first it didn’t look like she had a lot of milk, but after a few hours he was suckling strongly and looking well. A second disaster nearly struck when Barbara, the biggest mare on the farm, kicked Zoltan and knocked him unconcious for a few minutes. BUt he is a little fighter and he got stronger by the day. MInke wasn’t doing so well, even with all the care we couldl give her. SHe got supplements, we again put her on antibiotics, but her temperature continued to spike and she did not gain weight, no matter what we did. We dewormed her yet again, hoping to solve the problem that way and a large number of large round worms did come out. BUt still she didn’t thrive. I was worried sick. AT times she was panting and the only thing that helped was to hose her down. THe vet came out to test the stallions for CEM and examined her as well, but even he couldn’t find anything wrong. SHe ate well, but her coat was rough, and she was painfully thin.
Then, last week Friday, 23 Novvember, disaster struck. Minke died. WE’re not sure from what. SHe was found with grass still in her mouth, but she was extremely pale. ZOltan was distraught and so were we. He was only six weeks old. Dependent on his mom and now she was gone. He cried real tears when he was taken away from her dead body and so were Mel, Rox the grooms and Johan, who had to do it. NOw what? How do you raise a six week old foal? He couldn’t be alone, so we put him with Tanyica’s little pony, Maya. HE refused to suckle from a bottle, so we had to almost forcefeed him. We gave him electrolytes, he grazed well and drank water. His survival instinct kicked in and he did well. Some days he was sad and depressed, but Mel and Rox spent as much time as possible with him, cuddling him, caring for him, feeding him. It is now almost a week since he lost his mom. MY heart still breaks for him and I often sit there with tears in my eyes, thinking about his massive loss and how bravely he is trying to handle it and to thrive despite being an orphan. FOllow his story with us as we try to help him adapt to being without his mom. HE was aptly named. HE has a will to live …. our little Zoltan!!!!