Willow's Journey

Willow was born on April 29, 2003. That was the day our journey with Willow began. It was a chilly day and a diffiuclt delivery but in the end Willow arrived, soaking wet and ready to meet the new world. Life was difficult from the beginning. Standing for the first time on crooked legs required help from the humans in attendance. Walking was another challenge to be met. Then there was nursing that had to be done standing unsteadily using a neck that was too short and a mouth that was deformed. We watched and assisted and hugged and loved and in the back of our mind there was the reality that Willow was a dwarf. Outwardly we tried excuses...lots of babies are born with crooked legs. So what if she is undershot, she might outgrow it. But down deep inside we just knew and that reality was hard to accept.

The picture at the right is Frank helping Willow dry off minutes after she was born

Accepting the truth, Willow was a dwarf, ment facing challenges and decisions. So many breeders said dwarfs happen, just put her to sleep and move on. One suggested that we offer her for sale for lots of money as a rare tiny horse. Others, to their credit suggested I let Willow tell me what she wanted to do. Willow wanted to live in this world. She wanted to soak up the sunlight, enjoy her life with her mom and be a part of the Gemini Farm family. We agreed with Willow. We decided that Willow would tell us by her actions when it was time to send her to God. We would not make that decision just because she wasn't perfect. We loved her and decided that we would enjoy Willow for as long as possible.

The picture at the left is me bottle feeding Willow so she has enough strength to continue looking for mom's milk.

While giving Willow the gift of life was heartwarming, it did mean that we needed to monitor her for the constant threat of serious health problems related to dwarfism.. So Willow's veterinarian checked her out and gave us a prognosis. She explained that one problem with the dwarf was that her internal organs would grow but she wouldn't....hence the constant pot belly even though she was and is wormed regularly. Another problem went back to her little twisted legs. As she got older the joints would quickly develop arthritis and be painful. She explained that that is the main reason that many dwarfs are so docile....their legs hurt enough that they didn't want to run and buck and kick. Serious things to consider when making life and death decisions. Allow her to live and hope that the pain was minimal or put her to sleep and never allow her to enjoy her life. Willow wanted to live and explore her world.

In the picture at the right, Willow is all dried and ready to meet the world. Note how crooked her front legs are.

Above ... Willow's bad hair day

Willow's first year of life was spent with her mom to start with and then with her farm sisters Birdie and Hanna. We weaned them all together so they could take comfort in each other at the loss of their moms. Weaning time is the worst time for me...as it is for the moms and babies. But we always manage to get through it even though there are always tears on my part and sad moms and babies. Soon the moms are back to their normal selves and the babies are too busy playing and eating to worry about their absent moms. The first year was uneventful except that Willow grew the longest winter coat I have ever seen. She was adorable but I also felt that the long coat was an attempt by her body to compensate for her not so perfect health.. When summer came the following year she really didn't shed the coat...another sign that all was not right with Willow. A healthy horse quickly sheds their winter coat once the green grass works its magic.

Willow's veterinarian did blood work on her last fall and all was normal. A good sign we thought but we were still warned that she might not make it through the cold winter months of a northeast winter. Willow herself looked more like a Yak than a pony in her four inch long winter coat and visitors to the farm fell in love with our little fur ball. All winter long we watched her, made sure she had plenty of grain and hay and hoped we had made the right decisions. Spring came and Willow was still with us but moving a bit slower. She did shed her winter coat but instead of a healthy coat underneath there were bald patches and finally almost an entirely bald Willow. Once the old hair was gone we were thankful that a new and healthy coat appeared to take it's place.

Willow with her friend Hanna this summer in the pasture. Hanna is a yearling Miniature Horse. You can see that Willow, at two years old, is no bigger than one of this year's babies. Her tiny size is very obvious when standing next to Hanna. Her pot belly is also quite evident in this photo.

This summer has been a good one for Willow. She even runs occasionally and kicks up her heels and she clearly is happy to be a horse and happy to be with her family. When spring arrived we put all our mares in one pasture and Willow's mom, Rita, instantly recognized Willow and protected her from all the other horses in the pasture. It was a wonderful thing to watch, as it showed just how deep a mother's love can be and it brought tears to the eyes of those watching. So many times we think that animals cannot experience emotions such as love and devotion but every day on this farm shows me that they can and do. Because they feel these emotions they suffer greatly at the hands of unthinking people who have no understanding of the bonds that animals form with each other. We listen to the pitiful cries and calls of animal friends as they are separated yet we do not realize that their despair at loosing a friend is just as great as ours loosing a family member. That is one reason why Willow was never given to several people who wanted her and would have given her a good home. She has so many physical obstacles to overcome that we just could not force her to leave her equine family and break the bonds she developed here.

Willow's mom, Rita, has a new baby boy now...."TL". TL is sold to a pet home. He's a lovely little guy and many thought I should keep him as a stallion but I cannot justify allowing him to be used for breeding since his mom has already produced a dwarf. It seems there are no absolute answers as to how the dwarf gene or genes are inherited so using a stallion with a dwarf half sister is just not something I want to do. Mares are a different story. They are only capable of producing one baby a year and that inability to produce large numbers of offspring reduces her impact on the gene pool....especially if those babies are sold with the information about the dwarfs in the background passed on to 'responsible breeders.' A stallion has the potential to produce dozens of babies in a given year and hundreds of offspring in his breeding career so the potential to cause great harm to the gene pool is much more apparent and possible

In the photo at right you can clearly see her severely undershot jaw. We thought this might be a problem when grazing but she manages just fine. Her little crooked legs are also very evident in this photo.

As the years pass, I can't help but wonder what Willow's future holds for her and for us. She is doing ok right now but what will the winter bring? We will once again do blood tests to make sure none of her organs are failing and once again watch her for signs that life is just too much for her as the winter months bring the cold and the snow. Until then, we will love her and laugh at her and enjoy her journey through life. We have a very soft spot in our hearts for dwarfs and will always have room for a needy dwarf...be it one of our own or one that needs rescuing.

January 15, 2007: Today was Willow's last day with us. Her teeth were causing her great pain, her kidneys were quickly failing, she was severly dehydrated and there was no way to keep her hydrated and she had just about stopped eating. We miss her but we know her continuous discomfort is gone and she can romp with Sam in those wonderful fields in heaven. And I bet she can beat him now!!!

Tomorrow, my husband will bury Willow in a nice spot under the trees by the pond.