Tilly

Tilly was an unexpected foal born in April 2003. We had bought her mother, Lizzie - a lovely coloured cob, as a happy hacker. Little did we know that she was expecting a foal. By December 2002 we were certain she was in foal and this was confirmed by our vet and we started looking forward to this unplanned but nonetheless happy event. Sadly Lizzie fell coming in from the field in March 2003 and a broken hip was diagnosed which meant 3 months box rest and an uncertain prognosis, complicated by the fact she was so heavily in foal. She seemed to be slowly improving and Tilly, a coloured filly, was born without too much trouble. Sadly 9 weeks after Tilly's birth, Lizzie's fracture broke down again and she was put to sleep. Being left with an orphan foal to hand rear was a daunting task and I straight away 'phoned Jane for advice. I had met Jane several years earlier and had used Simple System feeds for my other horses with success. Knowing Jane's experience in nutrition and in breeding horses - she was my obvious choice for help. She soon worked out a feeding plan for Tilly which included mare's milk replacer which could be made up and mixed into a large sloppy bucket of Simple System feed. At 7 and a half months Tilly had been slowly weaned off the mare's milk replacer and was just eating Simple System feed with a little soft hay. Now rising 3, Tilly is a happy, healthy cob very like her mother. Thank you Jane for all your advice, help and support.