So many throw away foals ...
The other day I received an e-mail about 15 new foals who had just arrived at a sanctuary and were in desperate need of homes. Huh, says I – why so many? Where did they come from? Who is breeding these animals and not taking any responsibility for them? I am totally confused. So I started digging and this is what I found. Just when you think it is “safe to go back into the water” another atrocity strikes.
Known as “nurse mare foals,” these orphaned babies are the throw-away by product of a cynical industry that leases out lactating mares to nurse foals other than their own who are taken from them between one day and one week of age. Their own foals are dumped and often are either killed, sent to slaughter or rescued. They are also skinned and their hides used for high end leather products – soft like a baby’s skin.
Why does this evil practice even exist you ask.? Here is why: A mare who is prized as a race horse can immediately return to work as a show horse or racehorse after giving birth to her own foal. Her baby is nursed by the nursing mares who are leased out. A prized mare can also be bred again if she does not have to worry about nursing her own foal. She, of course, does not have a choice. It is all about money and elitism.
The only way to stop this evil is for the racing industry and others who engage in this practice to allow their mares to nurse and wean their own young for as long as it takes.
Here are some links on the issue and on the rescues who are helping the unwanted babies:
Nurse-Mare Farms: The Industry’s "Other" Dirty Little Secret
Dream Equine Therapy Center
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