Pippi

Pippi and Asha have settled in well to their foster home for the winter. Their foster family reports that they are both the incredibly social, happy, and well-behaved horses that we expected they would be. Pippi has matured quite a bit over the last month and has gone from being a nosy baby testing mom’s boundaries to a calm and loving 3 month old filly.

Mom and baby both got a visit last week from our farrier, Daphne. Daphne was able to trim all 4 of Pippi’s feet with no restraint and without fuss. Such a good little baby! With sweet Asha as her mom, it’s no surprise that Pippi is turning out to have such a pleasant demeanor. And look at the beautiful color she’s turning!

Check out miss Pippi! Apparently she is NOT going to be a light colored chestnut pinto…her winter coat is coming in dark! It leaves her looking a little comical.

Pippi and Asha will be spending the next several months at a lovely nearby foster home, where they can enjoy a sizeable pasture and great care. We’ll miss having them here at Safe Harbor Stables, but we’ll be visiting them a lot and sending updates. And we have two more foals on the way…

If you missed it, please check out our Foal to Four page. It details the costs involved in raising a foal an age where it can be ridden and enjoyed. The numbers might surprise you! Babies are expensive, which is why we recommend looking at an older horse who is ready to go, like the many horses available for adoption at SAFE.

We did have a few people ask if we’d consider adopting out Asha and Pippi together, especially since the cost of raising Pippi to adulthood is so high. There are a few reasons why we’re reluctant to doing that, unless the absolutely perfect opportunity came along:

Number one, we are wary of placing any of our horses into homes before they have been started under saddle. In the past, we have adopted out unstarted horses, to people who promised that when the time came, they would make certain that the horse received good training to develop it as a riding horse. Why is this important? It’s important because for the most part, rescues like SAFE don’t end up taking in very many well-broke, well behaved horses. We get the horses who have never received a day of training in their lives, the ones who don’t understand concepts like “personal space” or “making good choices.” Horses who cannot be ridden or who have terrible manners on the ground are more likely to end up in a rescue than the ones who get a solid education. So it’s important to us to ensure that every horse who leaves SAFE is leaving with an education, and is ready to be an enjoyable partner to their adopter. We’ve adopted out babies in the past whose new owners did right by them and provided training and good handling. We’ve also had horses returned to us, much older than when they left, still knowing next to nothing about how to be a good horse. As a result, we are very cautious when it comes to adopting out babies, unless we are completely confident that the adopter will follow through.

And number two, we have big plans for Asha too, and they don’t include being a baby mommy again. Once Pippi is weaned, Asha will return to our Horsemanship program and continue the work we started before we found out how pregnant she was. We envision a future for her in which she’s valued for her personality, her athleticism, and her spirit. Not her uterus. Again, a perfect opportunity might come along for us to consider, but unless that happens, we want to write a new story for Asha, one that doesn’t include the word “broodmare.”

So, that’s the reason. Always glad to answer questions and hear suggestions from our supporters!

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It’s hard to believe how quickly time flies when we look at our little Pippi! It seems like just yesterday she was a wobbly little bundle of legs, gangling awkwardly around the foaling stall. She appears to be growing before our eyes and is exploring her world like a big girl, imitating mom by trying to nibble hay and drink from the water trough.

Pippi has blossomed into an outgoing little girl and has quite the inquisitive nature. She isn’t afraid of much, and she lets us handle her without fuss. She quickly learned that a brush feels really good, and when Asha gets groomed she nuzzles right up to take her turn. She recently had her first interaction with our barefoot farrier, Daphne. Pippi was enthralled by watching her mom get trimmed, and she let Daphne rasp her little feet without even having a halter on or anyone holding her.

Asha has been a wonderful mom. From the moment she laid eyes on her baby, she knew exactly what to do to best take care of her. She graciously lets us handle Pippi whenever we need to. She gives Pippi the freedom to explore, but always keeps an eye on her to make sure she stays safe. Asha has handled this whole baby situation like a pro, which makes us think that she may have done it before. Either that, or she has incredibly strong instincts.

Our vets have given both Pippi and Asha a clean bill of health. Our next step is to begin the halter training process. Once she’s had some time gaining a basic understanding of being led, she and Asha will go to a foster home where Pippi will be able to have space and freedom to learn about being a horse. We’ll bring them both back when it is time to wean her at about 6 months of age. It will be hard to say “Goodbye for now,” but she’ll be nearby and we will be able to see her regularly and manage her growing process from just a few miles away.