F E AT U R E we could tell this foal would die without our help.
Ned the baby Brumby’s new beginning
So Peter and I set off to investigate, leaving the other staff and guests under a shady tree. As we got closer, it didn’t look good. The foal had been bitten on his neck and over his eye. The neck wound was festering, and we were afraid that he must already be blind in
It was in the early days of the last decade when her life was suddenly changed forever, writes LOUISE BLAMPIED.
M
the affected eye. Not only that, but he was a week old at the most, and very skinny. At the time I never doubted that he would make it, but looking back, I honestly can’t believe that he did. I was riding a grey Australian Stock Horse
y mum and I started riding
Cochran, the trekking company’s owner,
with Cochran Horse Treks
pointed out a lone Brumby foal on the
in the Snowy Mountains in
far side of the plain. He told us that there
2007, when I was only 14. We loved it so much that every year we would go back and work for our keep, and I can still remember the exact date – the 6th of January 2010 – when Ned came into our lives.
named Ash, and to both Peter’s and my surprise, the foal locked his sights on Ash, and followed us back to the group.
were multiple reasons for abandonment:
By the time we got back to where the
perhaps a new stallion had taken over
others were waiting for us, we could see
the mob, and was eliminating any of
the foal was tiring quickly, and he kept
the old stallion’s progeny; or maybe
wandering off. I wasn’t going to let that
the foal’s mother had died during birth
happen (nor was anyone else for that
or shortly after from any number of
matter), so we rounded him up and set
causes – prolapse, retained placenta or
him back on course to follow the other horses, helped by my horse Ash giving
We were on a New Year’s trek, riding out
perhaps there’d been a wild dog attack.
from Wares Yards campsite in Kosciuszko
It was even possible that the foal had
National Park. On the second last day of
been chased off by his own mother due
the trek we were skirting around a plain
to a still-suckling yearling foal, and the
The Snowy Mountains are legendary
on our way home from Harvey’s Hut, the
mare’s inability to feed both offspring.
for their afternoon summer storms, and
historic stockman’s shelter, when Peter
Whatever the reason, even at a distance,
what would this story be if we didn’t
him a few encouraging nips on the backside.
Brumby Rally, Bullocks Hill 2016 74 | H O R S E V I B E S M A R / A P R 2 0 2 0
