Cookie & Harper

A big happy ending for two little horses — minis Cookie and Harper have been adopted! Since early April, these two mares were in holding with us for Island County Animal Control at our dear friend and foster Sarah’s place, where they got back on their feet, so to speak. When they finally became ‘ours’ officially, following the closure of their case, they were more than ready to meet their forever homes, thanks to the great care shown to them at their foster. But we didn’t get as far as even posting a single ad for them. Shellie, who fostered Sundae and went on to adopt Daisy, reached out to us. She sadly had to say goodbye to her older gelding Laurence, and wanted to make sure that Daisy would have friends in his absence.

So Shellie went to Sarah’s to meet these two sweet ladies, and fell in love. Thanks to friend and trailer-driver extraordinaire Melinda, we were able to get them to Shellie’s sooner rather than later, where they could meet Daisy and settle in before the time came to lay Laurence to rest.

Cookie and Harper were right at home with one another, and were as happy to meet Daisy as she was to meet them. Their story may have begun with them in unfortunate circumstances, but they could not have found a better home! We are so thankful for the friendship we have made with Shellie through fostering and adopting, and for the many individuals who helped Cookie and Harper in their journeys over the past months!

Horses that come to us by way of Animal Control are often times kept quiet as the case moves through the legal system and all that that entails. Harper and Cookie are two such cases — these mares received shelter at SAFE months ago, but we have only been cleared to share their story now that their ownership has been officially transferred to us.

There are actually three minis involved in this particular story (technically even more in the greater case, but for the sake of this article, we’ll focus on these littles: Harper, Cookie, and Pippin). Their previous situation was quite dire, as is standard with Animal Control seizures, and they arrived at SAFE in poor condition. Well, a technicality — they went to a SAFE foster, as SAFE Harbor Stables was full up at the time when they needed our help. Luckily, we have a tremendous community, members of which were able to step in and help while maintaining our high standard of care.

Harper and Cookie were both assumed to be pregnant on intake. Harper was still nursing her filly, Pippin, but we were told that babies were to be expected within the next few months. We got to work setting up care appointments to ensure that the mares had all the necessary vaccines to help ensure healthy little foals. In addition, the mares were in need of some very basic care — apart from routine vet care, their feet were overlong and due for a trim, and their coats were scraggly and unhealthy. They had previously had such a severe case of rain rot that they were prescribed a course of SMZs to help combat it, and while the worst of it was gone when they arrived at foster, they still required frequent grooming to help them shed out their battered old coats.

Thanks to the care and attention of our amazing foster, and routine vet appointments to help get them up to standard on their health, Cookie and Harper made improvements by the day. We waited patiently for their signs of foaling.

But time was passing, and things weren’t really progressing the way that we might expect if there were babies coming. We consulted with some vets who told us that the urine pregnancy tests, that which had been used on these two mares, are not always the most reliable. And in a case like Harper’s, who was still around Pippin, the test could potentially even show a false positive. So we decided to test further.

Here’s the plot twist you may or may not have been expecting: neither Cookie nor Harper was actually pregnant! While this meant no cute little mini babies in our future, it also meant no risk of complications from foaling, or all of the hullabaloo associated with having foals. A bit of a relief, to be sure. It also meant that, now healthy (and very well vaccinated!), Cookie and Harper could start their search for their forever homes. So while their story isn’t over, we have arrived at a lovely little mid-point for the two of them.