16 August 2024

Ruby's Recovery - Part Six

It's been a couple of weeks since Ruby's last update, and there’s lots to update you on about her life here at Redwings. If you haven’t read Ruby’s story so far, you can here.

Ruby and her foster-mum Cilla have recently moved to a different paddock at Redwings HQ, to allow them to now ‘live out’ as opposed to coming into stables overnight. In preparation for them to move into their new pad, discussions were had to find them the perfect paddock! The chosen one is surrounded by a tall hedge, for shelter and privacy, but close to our Horse Hospital for continued monitoring, and the fencing has been checked to make sure it’s foal-proof, even for an adventurous foal like Ruby!

Ruby and Cilla in their new paddock

As Ruby gets older, more of her nutrition comes from grazing too, so the bigger field allows for more munching! The pair are still under the watchful eye of our Hospital Yard team, but with Cilla continuing to ace her role as foster mum, we can let them live out happily, as any mare and foal would.

This week was seven weeks since Ruby’s arrival at Redwings, so she is now aged between 10 and 12 weeks old. This means we can begin the process of weaning her off the foal formula, and her milks feeds are being reduced gradually from the 9 feeds a day she received when she arrived.

In its place, Ruby is now given a special ‘balancer’, a horse feed specially formulated to have the vitamins and minerals needed to support a horse’s diet. In the case of a foal balancer, like Ruby is receiving, it also ensures good protein levels, meaning she will continue to grow big and strong!

Ruby has also been meeting Robbie, one of our farriers!

Ruby has also continued to thrive in her behaviour training with our Behaviour Team, and especially her trainer Catherine, working on understanding leading, and what pressure on the lead rope means, and also leg handling training. This week, she even had her first ‘meet-and-greet’ with one of our farriers. Cilla was due her routine hoof trim, so our Behaviour Team thought it was the perfect time to work on introducing Ruby to someone unfamiliar touching her and handling her legs. This will prove to be vital preparation for her hoof care in the future.

Click the photo below to see this training in progress!

With lots of reassuring scratches Ruby was happy to stand and let Robbie take a look at her hooves.

It’s a privilege watching Ruby continue to grow and thrive under the watchful eye of the army of folks here at Redwings, whose expert knowledge is coming together to ensure, after losing her mum so young, she still has the very best start in life.

This wouldn’t be possible without your kind support, thank you #RedwingsAngels