Meet Annie
How they met. Jane's perspective on the birth of Annie
It was an unusually hot, steamy morning, 85 degrees at 6:30 AM, 33 years ago April 15, 1991. I drove over early to my barn in Rancho Santa Fe, CA. where I boarded my two beautiful horses, Princessa and Marguerita. I acquired them from a retired polo player a few years earlier when I started playing polo after having my first polo lessons at the Rancho Santa Fe Polo Club. My years of tennis and horseback riding in my youth had given me an advantage in the basics of polo.
When I arrived at my barn, Princessa and Marguerita were overly nervous and pacing in their stalls. I walked down the aisle way of the barn and found a mare lying down in her stall, dripping wet with sweat, clearly in distress. She was a horse that I had seen a “groom” (horse caregiver) riding frequently on the riding track along the river next to our polo field. I was told she was being exercised after being laid up in pasture for 1 year after an injury to her leg. Upon seeing the horse in such agony, I had my groom call the horse’s owner and vet. The vet arrived within an hour and upon checking her, he announced to our astonishment that she was going to give birth any time now. Within seconds it seemed, out popped a little copper penny colored foal, all skin and bones! The vet said she was born too early and was malnourished.
After giving birth, the mare tried to stand. She suddenly lurched towards her foal and me, almost crushing us, as I was sitting on the stall floor with the foal on my lap. She died instantly without any colostrum to nurse her baby. All of us there at the stall were just stunned and emotionally drained.
The vet then said he was going to put the foal down as the mare had no nursing milk. The owner told the vet to do what was best.
My friend, Lilian Heller, said, “Hell no! We will find a mare to nurse her!” Lilian was from a long family line of Tennessee horse people and told me not to worry. She was also a polo mentor to me since I started the game.
My groom helped us lift the foal into the back seat of my jeep wagoneer. Lilian hopped in and off we went in search of a ranch to save the little one. With the little foal sitting in the back seat with her head hanging out the window, she got many astonished driver’s eyes! After many stops, we found a quarter horse ranch across the river who said they had one mare who just weaned that might work out to nurse. We had to work fast as the foal was beginning to weaken and sweat profusely. The manager of the ranch quickly helped us pick the foal up and lay her down in a stall. She immediately started drying her off and putting the mare’s manure on the foal in hope the mare will accept the little one. Then she introduced the mare to the foal in the stall. With much caring effort, the mare began nursing the foal. The foal was so weak, two of us had to hold her up to nurse. We did it!!
Raising Annie
It was months of work to get the foal healthy and even more difficult 6 weeks later as the foal lost the nursing mare and the only mother she knew. “Lil Orphan Annie” as she was named, became frantic and desperate after losing another mother. For days and days Annie became very lost and depressed. But with good fortune, a little copper colored sorrel colt named Calvin coaxed Annie to approach his mother to nurse. She began to nurse them both. So when all the 25 mothers and foals that nursed every day in the big paddock, Annie finally was happy and so was Calvin as they would be inseparable for a long time. For another 2 years Calvin and Annie would run together throughout the hills of the ranch with their other quarterhorse pals. It was a wonderful life!
Annie started her polo training and skills after 3 years at the ranch. She was taken across the river to Rancho Santa Fe Polo Club and boarded there where she was born. She was exceptionally fast and took to the game quickly. It’s no wonder as her birth mother was US National Best Playing Polo Pony in NY prior to the last years of her life. Annie’s mother, “Cat”, as she was named for her amazing agility, was an Argentine polo pony brought to the US to play polo. Annie’s sire, as we found out, was a champion New Zealand Polo Pony who happened to somehow break into the laid up mare’s pasture and many months later arrived Annie!
Unfortunately with all her exceptional polo breeding, the effects of Annie’s premature birth affected her tendons in her legs which made her unable to withstand the rigors of polo. But that was “Just Fine With Me”, as she would be my trail horse!
Why We Need Help
Our goal is to cover her first year of feed & farrier, and the intake vet visit.
Did you know a horse can live as old as 40, but most don't survive past 25? Senior horses face the challenge of not being able to "earn their keep". We feel they've already earned it in the lifetime of the work they've already done! The feed, veterinary bills, and daily care requirements of a horse over 25 years old are a lot and many horses are euthanized simply because of the cost of care, even when they are in perfect health. What's worse is others are taken to auction and sold for meat.
This could become the path of little orphan Annie if we don't get your help! We've already exceeded our limit, and it breaks our heart every time we are asked to take another horse. With your help we'd like to take in Annie who needs a new home right now!
Most underestimate the costs and upkeep required to care for seven horses, but at Hills of Gold, we are very familiar with these responsibilities. The most significant expense is their diet, and our biggest struggle is making sure our hay barn stays full! A horse will eat on average 20 lbs of food every day, and that is a lot of hay. During the year we order about 100 bails of hay to feed our horses and about 540 bags of pellets, and feed them every day 3 times a day. Now obviously these add up, and we need help sustaining these purchases so not only our horses survive but so that we can also add to our herd, little orphan Annie.