A New baby arrives at the shelter

I had little time to mourn the passing of dear old Cassie yesterday as I received an urgent call froma welsh pony stud farmer/breeder about a newborn foal whose mother had died shortly after giving birth.There was an immediate flurry of activity here in order to prepare for the new arrival and the day was spent making up bottles for him in between exercising the dogs and admitting new cats.It seemed also that everyone in the village heard about him( the speed in which news gets around in a small village is amazing!)and wanted to see him.
For the immediate future he will need feeding regularly day and night so Meirwen and I have workled out a rota so one person will not have to do the overnight stay in the stable EVERY night.If anyone local reads this and can offer to do a stint with the bottle feeding please contact me immediately.It will be less exhausting if we have a team on the case.
He seems a strong little fellow but the first few weeks are crucial. Fortunately he was able to drink from his mother shortly after birth so he has the necessary colostrum in his system.That is vital for his survival.How tragic that his mother died , I asked about her and the farmer seemed indifferent, he just stated that the ponies were all out on the mountains and he had no idea how old she was!!!! This appalling attitude of indifference makes me sick to the stomach, I wonder if she would have survived had she been in a caring home.I asked if he could stop off on the way to buy some milk(until |I could get the correct formula)for the foal, needless to say that suggestion was met by a snort of derision whcih I took to be a definite NO. A very kind couple who were visiting the shelter at the time of this incident went out and purchased 10 pints of milk at their own expense - two extreme attitudes from two very different types of people.
He is registered with the national foaling bank, an organisation which attempts to match up orphaned foals with surrogate mothers, so far no suitable mare has been found.Today I was able to aquire the correct formula for him and he seems to be doing well and thriving.
I will keep everybody informed as to his progress.Pictured is Mei giving him the first bottle, when this photo was taken, he was just 3 hours old.