Baby Wild Horse Loses Mom in Drought, Rescuers Introduce Her to Mother That Just Lost Baby
It’s a sad fact that life can be filled with loss and tragedy. But it’s also important to remember that guardian angels can take many forms.
That’s equally true for humans, and every other creature on earth. Just ask Mila.
Mila is a little curly-haired wild mustang. She was originally found on the Navajo Reservation in Gray Mountain, Arizona.
But the circumstances surrounding Mila’s discovery were absolutely heartbreaking. She’d lost her mother and her entire herd during severe drought conditions in 2018.
“The summer of 2018 was the worst drought Arizona had had for 10 years,” Jennifer Brumbaugh told The Dodo in a video posted to Facebook and YouTube. Brumbaugh is executive director at Healing Hearts Animal Rescue in Cave Creek, Arizona.
“Over 200 horses had died from the drought, and that’s where these little ones were found,” Brumbaugh said. So Healing Hearts immediately took in Mila, who was originally called Coco.
“She was just a bag of bones when she came,” Brumbaugh recalled. “It’s truly a miracle she even survived.”
Brumbaugh said that she instantly recognized Mila would need a nurturing mother figure in her life.
So Healing Hearts paired Mila with another horse named Mystery who had just lost her own baby. The two bonded almost straightaway.
“They were both in a time of recovery, and a time of rehabilitation,” Brumbaugh explained. “They just found each other, and I really think it saved them both.”
On Mila’s first day outside, she surprised everyone by galloping exuberantly across the pasture. “Her personality just got bigger and bigger from there,” Brumbaugh said.
Then, as this courageous little steed continued to regain self-confidence, 24-year-old Macy Zylstra made her acquaintance. From the moment of their very first meeting, Zylstra was utterly smitten.
“She was so friendly and so sweet,” Zylstra recalled. “I just knew immediately that we were going to be best friends for life.”
So after some supportive nuzzles from her adoptive mom, Mila cantered off to live on Zylstra’s ranch. And clearly, that mothering influence made a tremendous difference.
Fox-owned KSAZ in Phoenix reports that Mila is now having a ball learning new tricks, and communicating in her own adorable way. “She’s very vocal — she loves to whinny, nicker or squeal,” Zylstra said.
Apparently, this feisty little foal also loves prancing and jumping. “She will jump over anything,” Zylstra told KSAZ. “She also knows how to lay down on command.”
And amazingly, on Mila’s first day meeting the bigger horses, a brilliant double rainbow even appeared in the sky following a rainstorm. Zylstra suspects that wasn’t a coincidence in the slightest.
These days, Mila has her very own Instagram account which attracts followers from all over the world. It’s the perfect happy ending for a fearless young mustang whose name is short for “milagro.” That word means “miracle” in Spanish.
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