Thomases give orphaned colt second chance

Janice and Skip Thomas never planned to have their hearts stolen by a tiny, orphaned colt with health problems. They were instead looking for a companion for their rescued draft horse, Ted, who had been without the companionship of another horse for months.

The couple had gone to look at two draft horses that had been part of a rescue from the kill pen.
“Two other horses were with them as part of the rescue from the kill pen,” Skip Thomas said. “They were like a little herd: these two draft horses, a mustang. And then this little, bloated, deformed looking baby that lost its mother was hanging with them, looking to the mustang as its surrogate mother.”
In the end the couple brought back three horses: the draft mare, the mustang, and the little foal. They judged that the male draft horse was too feeble for the trip.

The draft mare was named Pearl. The mustang gained the name Mitayuke Oyasin, a Lakota phrase meaning “we are all related.” And the little foal was named Chickadee.

When veterinarian Josie Irvin, Skip’s niece, came to see the foal, she judged that Chickadee had a ventricular septal defect. In addition to that, he had worms, and an infection in his back leg.
Janice, a veteran of equine rescue with years of experience under her belt, knew his condition was serious. Dr. Irvin had little hope to offer. “She said, this is going to be hard for both the baby horse, and for you guys. I would suggest you go ahead and put him down.” Skip says.

That evening, Skip went out to visit the foal, and took along his guitar to play and sing to Chickadee. “It was actually rubbing its nose on the guitar,” he says. Looking into Chickadee’s eyes, Skip says he could see how much spirit the foal had. The couple decided they had to give Chickadee a chance.

For days, they used a bedsheet to gently lift Chickadee, because he couldn’t get up on his legs by himself. He was able to move around when he had his legs under him. But, when he had to lie down, he couldn’t get up again.

“We went through that for about 10 days,” Janice says. “But all along, he was perky.” She said Chickadee appeared to be hungry, and his every time they would approach him he would lift his head and his ears would go up.

In the meantime, other problems needed to be addressed. Chick needed to start foal food, because at the rescue he had been fed with the rest of the horses, vying with larger horses for adult food, which was not what he needed. He needed to be treated for worms, and for the infection in his leg. Janice addressed both of those things, and the swelling began to go down in Chick’s distended belly. His leg also started to get better.

And then one day came the moment they had been hoping for. “We were down there, and he’s laying down, and he’s doing like this with his legs,” Janice says, making a motion with her arms that mimics the scrabbling of the baby horse’s legs. “And all of a sudden, he’s standing, and I lost it.”

The joy that the couple felt was captured on video by Skip Thomas, who is a talented videographer and video editor who has been documenting the journey of the horses the couple has rescued.
The Thomases are committed not only to adopting horses themselves, but to getting the message out about rescue through Skip’s photos and videos. They also envision beginning an organization that would allow people to visit horses and find a connection with nature and with other creatures. That connection is something they are grateful for, and something they hope can be shared by others.

“It is a tremendous blessing to be chosen to help those who have no voice,” Janice says. “What they give back to you is more than you have given. Their little eyes, their little spirit, it just connects with you, and it actually gives you life.”