When Easy the horse was born a month ago, she was anything but.
The little foal was born with a rare cognitive disorder and her owners at Meadow Brook Stables in Alton, N.S., weren’t sure she’d make it.
“Unfortunately during the (birthing) process, the mare stood up, and pulled Easy back in and she aspirated some fluid because of that,” said Kaila Watters, a co-owner of the stables.
“It became apparent very quickly that she was more than just an aspiration, that she actually had dummy foal syndrome or neonatal maladjustment syndrome.”
The rare disorder only occurs in about two per cent of newborn foals.
“Basically its like their brain isn’t turned on,” explained Watters.
“So she struggled with basic life skills like standing, she didn’t recognize the mare, she would get stuck in corners, bumping into the wall, she couldn’t see.”
But her owners didn’t want to give up on her, so they started giving the foal intensive treatments — including squeeze therapy — to stimulate her cognitive function.
She also needed to be sent to the veterinary neonatal unit in Prince Edward Island, which came with a hefty price tag. Watters says they never would have been able to afford it, if it weren’t for the $10,000 in donations.
“Horse breeding and horses are not all rainbows and butterflies. There are bad days, and we had a lot of them with Easy initially,” she said.
“But the GoFundMe has been absolutely amazing; it literally saved her life. We wouldn’t be able to have her here without the support of so many people.”
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