Baby Horse Saved From Slaughter Gets A New Mom
By Chelsea Lacey-Mabe
WEST CHESTER, PA. (CBS) -- Meet Skye.
He's a baby horse whose mom, Ruby was saved from a kill pen while she was pregnant with him. They were taken to Thornbury Farm Stables in West Chester but Ruby has since rejected her foal and had even attacked the newborn.
Ranchers and volunteers at the farm are determined to give Skye the best chance at life. They communicate on Facebook to coordinate babysitting shifts and take turns bottle-feeding the foal expensive formula.
Skye eats best for volunteer Dave Manning, seen in the video above warming up a bottle for Skye. Manning and barn manager, Penny Parker have even taken turns sleeping overnight in the stable with the baby horse.
"I'm frozen. I'm stiff. I'm sore. Slept on the floor in the barn and woke up to baby at my feet," Parker said Sunday morning in a Facebook post. "Kind of all worth it. Life is precious."
Volunteer, Denny Waldman has been a tremendous support for both Parker and Skye.
"I love this sweet little horse," Waldman said on Facebook. "Funny thing is....every time [Penny] thanks me for helping with Skye, all I can think is how blessed I am to have been there with him for his first 3 days of life."
Since Skye missed out on important nutrients from nursing Ruby, Parker and other volunteers have been trying to raise money to bring in a replacement mare and fund Skye's other expenses.
Parker, who has been rescuing slaughter horses for two years now calls the response "overwhelming." In just two days they raised close to $4000 and are well on their way to meeting their GoFundMe goal.
Their hard work really started to pay off on Monday when Skye was introduced to his new mom Lucy who is on a 5-month lease from nearby Castle Rock Farm.
"They're getting there," said Parker, explaining how Lucy is just starting to produce milk for Skye. "She's now cleaning him. Their bond is growing."
