Fergus The fighter

Waking up to a phone call from Janelle is always heart stopping. It means something has happened. Majesty delivered her baby, Fergus, prematurely during the night. He was weak and unable to stand or nurse. Mares have an amazing sense for knowing. They abandon babies in the wild if they are unable to rise and move if the band senses danger. It’s a harsh reality of nature and we understand that, but at Skydog, we do everything we can to help them.

Janelle noticed Majesty and Precious were standing on a hill. As they came down for breakfast, she went up to take a look. She found wee Fergus in the soft dirt. He nickered to her as she drew near. Even with help, he couldn’t get on his feet, so she immediately called our excellent vets at Bend Equine. Koal scooped him up, put him in the truck, and they rushed him to the hospital for emergency intervention. At that point, it didn’t look promising and we didn’t know if he would survive the night.

They did blood work, ran a barrage of tests, gave him an enema, took his temperature and heart rate, did ultrasounds of his insides and x-ravs of his legs. They gave him colostrum, fluids, plasma, sugars, and got a feeding tube going. All of this saved his life. Four days later, he was standing on his own, drinking replacement milk from a bowl - which he loves - and taking his first wobbly steps. The vet was able to tape shoes with extensions on the hind feet to address the tendon laxity that was causing his fetlocks to drop and toe to flip up. He has weeks of intensive care ahead of him as we have to take things slow with a premature baby, but he’s bright, interactive, and everything is moving in the right direction.

Right after my first post about Fergus, so many of the horse organizations, rescues and advocates we follow were sending love and prayers, along with more than 1500 comments from our followers. I absolutely believe Fergus felt the love as the next day, he miraculously stood on his own. With his numbers improving, he was even chipper and bright. His name means "strong man" in Scottish, a good Celtic name to inspire him. If given the right care, even premature foals can be be Mustang Strong!

Due to blindness, wildness, and her deep bond with Precious, Majesty would have panicked it we’d tried to take her to the vet hospital. She is calm at Skydog with her devoted filly, while Fergus gets the care he needs.

We asked Priscilla to be his nurse mother as she was so incredible with Shasta. She gave her best effort, but Fergus kept banging her udder as he tried to figure out how to latch on. This was painful for her and when she started nipping at him and staff, we knew she was telling us she’d had enough. We completely respect her. As she waited for her ride home, Bend Equine put out a call for nurse mare.

A wonderful woman responded. She was getting ready to wean a yearling from her thoroughbred mare, Mouse, who was still in milk. They brought her to the clinic and wee Fergus knew what he was supposed to do. Something clicked. He latched on and started nursing, as Mouse gently nuzzled and guided him to the right spot. Her generous family has agreed to let her come to Skydog and raise him for eight months. We are so very grateful.

Once he had nursing down, Fergus got to go outside to soak up some sunshine and Vitamin D. His legs were not strong enough to walk that distance, so he enjoyed wheelbarrow rides back and forth. He wore special hospital boots to help with tendon laxity. It wasn’t long before he was able to walk there on his own and he spent his first Big Boy Night outside with Mouse. The time had come to bring them home to Skydog, where our team was so happy to take over his care.

I didn’t visit him at the hospital as he was premature, so all his systems were under-developed and vulnerable. It was important to keep germs from other horses out of the ICU, which is why the vet team was always scrubbing and in biosecurity wear. When was finally able to meet and touch him, I have to admit, there were tears.

Fergus is sweet, soft, playful, and affectionate. He has been through so much, but taken it all on the chin with a happy attitude. That fine thoroughbred milk from Mouse might have something to do with how active he is, running and kicking, sometimes with enough force to throw off his boots. He has no idea how different the beginning of his life has been, compared with that of most foals. This is just the norm for him. Lovely Mouse has accepted it all with grace and patience.

There is a possibility of introducing them to Majesty. We’d love to create a situation, where she and Precious can be part of his life. We’ll do our best, but will take our cues from the horses, who possess a depth of knowledge we can only imagine.  

#skydogfergus  #wheelbarrowfergus  #homesweethomefergus

American Mustangs and Burros Need Your Help

In addition to supporting our work by donating, becoming a patron on Patreon, or sponsoring a Skydog, there are several important pieces of legislation to protect American equines currently moving through Congress. It only takes a few minutes to contact your Rep and two Senators to urge them to support these bills. You can Contact Members of Congress by calling the Capitol Switchboard (202) 224-3121‬, submitting contact forms on their individual websites, or sending one email to all three simultaneously at www.democracy.io

Save America’s Forgotten Equines (SAFE) Act of 2025 (H.R.1661 in the House and S.775 in the Senate). This bill would amend the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, commonly known as the “Farm Bill”. There are several important provisions for animals in that omnibus federal law, including the Cat and Dog Meat Trade Prohibition Act. It is currently illegal to slaughter, transport, possess, purchase, sell, or donate dogs and cats, or their parts, for human consumption. The SAFE Act would extend the ban to equines and shut down the slaughter pipeline that sends some 20,000 American horses and donkeys to savagely monstrous deaths in foreign slaughterhouses every year.

The Wild Horse & Burro Protection Act of 2023 (H. R. 4356) The bill would eliminate the use of helicopters in rounding up wild horses and burros, and require a study into alternative methods for humanely gathering the animals.

Ejiao Act of 2025 (H.R. 5544). To ​​ban the sale or transportation of ejiao, a gelatin made from boiling donkey skins, or products containing ejiao in interstate or foreign commerce, which brutally kills millions of donkeys primarily for beauty products and Chinese medicine.

See our How to Help menu for other actions to ban zebra hunting at canned hunt ranches in Texas & Oklahoma, bringing an end to the BLM using Sale Authority to funnel wild equines into the slaughter pipeline, and stopping production of Premarin & other drugs made from pregnant mare urine.