Ruby sniffs a branch covered in different foods

25 November 2024

Ruby's Recovery - Part Seven

Life now for Ruby

Our (not-so) little Ruby has now been at Redwings for over four months!

Ruby’s story at Redwings began after we received a call to help a month-old semi-feral foal who had been found alone next to her mother, who had very sadly passed away. Caring for an orphan foal is a huge task, so we made lots of preparations for her arrival, and a team came together from across Redwings to manage her round-the-clock feeding schedule.

She was also introduced to foster-mum Cilla, and it’s safe to say the pair got along famously.

Life since then has been a very peaceful and settled affair for Ruby. Her regular sessions with our Behaviour Team continue, training Ruby in everything she may need to be a happy and healthy youngster. She has been trained to wear a headcollar and leadrope, and goes for little walks, as well as to be weighed regularly so we can make sure she continues to grow as she should!

A collage of two photos - a horse and a foal nuzzling a leadrope which is tied to a fence and has vegetables poked into it

Cilla and Ruby take a look at the twisted leadropes, full of tasty veggies!

Enrichment for Ruby

Her trainers Felicity and Catherine have been working on new enrichment activities to offer Ruby, and Cilla too. These activities often involve searching for or sniffing out food, and then working out how to get to it and eat it. They’re really valuable activities for mental enrichment and encourage the horses to search out and explore new things!

These activities include leadropes twisted tightly together with different food and forage poked through them. Ruby and Cilla then investigate these and can grab and nose at the food until they can work it out of the holes.

Felicity said: “Foals are naturally inquisitive, and for Ruby especially these activities are a valuable way she can encounter novel things at a young age, especially smells and tastes. This is then excellent preparation for when she has to have things like wormers, or if she needs any medications, which will obviously taste different to her normal food!”

Home-grown fun

Felicity and Catherine have also been preparing a branch for Ruby, covered with soft foods such as banana and pumpkin puree, for her to lick and investigate!

Ruby is an especially lucky girl, because a lot of the vegetables used in the enrichment toys have been home-grown by Felicity herself!

“I have an allotment, so we’ve been trying the activities with any of the veggies that I grow that are good for horses. Ruby and Cilla have tried cabbage, cauliflower, sprout peelings, plus thistles. We also offer them things like welly boots with hay in them – anything that can help keep their brain busy and offer them their food in a way that’s rewarding for them to find.”

A black foal investigates a branch and some thistles

Ruby investigates the branch, topped with tasty things for her try!

Plus, Ruby and Cilla have even been enjoying some enrichment treats courtesy of Silvermoor. Thank you Silvermoor for the kind donation, which has been enjoyed by Ruby, Cilla and lots of their friends.