Today’s post is a story of an experience we had one morning with the Gila wild horse herd. This experience lasted for several hours and includes a lot of photos, so I will cover this experience over 2-3 posts.
While photographing the Gila wild horse herd, one of the photographers in our group came upon a newborn foal that had been born only about 30 minutes prior to coming upon it. As we watched (from a distance), the little guy tried very hard to stand up, but was having some difficulties:
In the last photo, you can see mom in the upper lefthand side of the photo, waiting for Junior to get up. After the little foal fell, the mare walked over and tried encouraging it:
About that time, another horse approached. The mare quickly ran over to the intruder and “encouraged” it not to get close to her baby:
With that, the mare chased the horse back to the rest of the herd, about 50 yards away. While the mare was chasing the horse away, another Gila horse stepped in and began to gently nudge the foal, trying to get it to stand up (we think this horse must be the foal’s dad, but not sure):
The little foal then responded by again attempting to stand up. But no matter how many times, or how much effort, the little guy just could not remain standing:
Worn out, the little foal looked our direction as he sat on the ground, resting:
Then, a Gila stallion swiftly ran into the scene, heading towards the little foal:
What happened next was a sight to behold! In the next post of the Gila wild horse experience, I will continue this story of the little foal.
