Page 15 - February 2009 The Game

Canada’s Thoroughbred Racing Newspaper The Game, February 2009 15 Orphans, adoption and amistad: the Other Side of the Nurse Story By Kelsey Riley
With the birth of every Thoroughbred there is hope. Hope that the new foal taking its rst breaths will parlay centuries of impeccable ancestry into the desire and durability of a champion. Hope that this foal will be ‘that horse’; the realization of its owner’s greatest dream.
a “proactive approach” to foster many successful racehorses.
raised in groups, living in small elds once adapted to their routine.
For farm managers and foaling attendants, another kind of hope owns the moment: hope that the new arrival before them will overcome the multitude of challenges facing a newborn equine.
“The nurse mares (at Wind elds) are maintained on the same nutritional program as the Thoroughbred mares,” McCormack said. “The foal gets all the same support (as the Thoroughbred foals). Not just nutritionally, but emotionally.”
“A lot of the times the staff at Wind elds wanted the foals or they were sold to people we knew that looked after the horses well,” McCormack said. “We weren’t left with a bunch of unwanted horses. We were left with a bunch of horses we had plans for.”
While the age-old cliché says most mares foal uneventfully on their own, any experienced foaling attendant knows a myriad of problems may arise that can render a foal
Once weaned, the nurse mare foals at Wind elds start a bucket feeding program, graduating from milk replacers and milk pellets to solid food. They are
One such horse is Amistad, a bucket baby who is a testament to the success nurse mare foals are capable
McCormack emphasizes the importance of having a plan for the nurse mare and her foal from the time of birth.
When it comes time to nd homes for the displaced nurse mare foals, Wind elds has a plan for this, too.
of.
Continued Page 18 - See Amistad
BOLD N’ FLASHY
Bold Ruckus - Flashy Chestnut, by Briartic
IS NOW STANDING AT HIS NEW HOME
Second Leading Sire in Canada in 2007 (with limited new crops)
56 winners with progeny earnings of $2.2 million
More than $12.5 million Progeny Earnings
$61,474 Average Earnings/Starter
One of the Top 35 Stallions in the World (Apex A Runner Indexes of 2.00+) Apex Index 2.34
Top Progeny Include:
Graded Multiple Stakes Winner, Marco Be Good ($530,579) Multiple Stakes Winners: Miss Crissy ($576,280); Devastating ($520,806); Bold N’ Fancy ($513,472); Sports Flashy ($498,475) Plus the Talented Flashy Anna ($334,100)
2009 Fee: $3,500 live foal
T.C. Westmeath Stud Farm ~ John Carey
R.R. 4 Shelburne, Ontario, Canada, L0N 1S8 519-925-1445 ~ Fax 519-925-1594
motherless. This is where the nurse mare comes
in. A nurse mare is a lactating mare paired with an orphaned foal to raise through to weaning. She provides the foal with nutritional needs as well as socialization and emotional support.
“There are any number
of reasons to use a nurse mare,” said Bernard McCormack, owner of Cara Bloodstock and former sales and marketing director at Wind elds Farm. “The mare may die, she may
not be able to produce enough milk or she may
be aggressive toward her foal.” Likewise, the foal may become ill or injured, making it necessary to separate it from its dam.
While a nurse mare undoubtedly gives an endangered foal a chance for survival, a common question still arises: what happens to the biological foal a nurse mare gives up to care for another foal? These foals, often called “bucket babies” for the manner in which they are raised, are considered by some to be a by-product of the Thoroughbred industry, their well being sacri ced for the care of a more expensive foal. Properly managed, however, bucket babies are given the chance to thrive.
“If it’s done right, like the way Wind elds does it, the foal that is displaced is put in a good, caring program,” McCormack said.
Wind elds, one of Canada’s premier breeding operations prior to its commercial closure in November 2008, kept
ve to six nurse mares
of its own, using what McCormack describes as
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