‘She gave everything she could’: legacy of rescued mare lives on in foals
A mare who was found with open sores all over her body has sadly died following her rescue, but her two foals live on.
Piebald mare Maggie was discovered by a World Horse Welfare field officer in the summer dangerously underweight with skin peeling off her back and face.
She was also caring for her own seven month-old foal, Rosie, and orphan foal, Jim, whose mother had recently died.
The mare and foals were taken to World Horse Welfare’s Glenda Spooner Farm Rescue and Rehoming Centre in Somerset.
The team found Maggie’s wounds were much worse than expected and there were maggots living under the infected skin on her back.
“Maggie’s skin condition was probably the worst I’ve ever seen,” said World Horse Welfare Glenda Spooner Farm supervisor, Sara Jerman.
“The sores on her back and face were open and really red, her ribs and hip bones were clearly visible and despite all this she was still being an incredibly good mother by taking care of the two foals.”
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Once Maggie’s skin condition began to clear up,
staff were able to turn her out in the paddock with her two foals.
“Sadly, after a couple of months Maggie’s condition started to deteriorate with her quickly becoming very ill and it was apparent there was something else wrong with her,” said Ms Jerman.
“After two or three days of nursing, Maggie was still very poorly with
no signs of improvement so we had to make the heart wrenching decision to have her put to sleep.
“While we were all incredibly sad to lose this lovely mare, her legacy will live on in these two beautiful little foals.
“Maggie was an amazing mother, giving everything she could to both brave little foals and they are now thriving in our care.”
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Rachael joined Horse & Hound in 2014, initially as a digital sub editor then became part of the news team as a writer in 2015. The philosophy graduate studied journalism at the Press Association before working as a local reporter at the Brentwood Gazette. Rachael is now a mum of two and still loves all things equestrian, including hacking, dressage and jumping with her cob Bert. Rachael left the H&H staff to go freelance in June 2019, but still contributes to our magazine and website, as well as our sister magazine Country Life, among others.