By Eugenia Lerner – eugelerner@gmail.com
One morning my dear friend Eve (who lives in Peuma Hue, a Tourist Ranch, on the shores of Lake Gutiérrez) calls me happily to announce:
– Mamba’s baby was born! She is a divine filly! I’m a little worried because it still won’t stop. We’ll see how it continues, the vet has already come.
A few days later I find out that despite all the efforts and care that was lavished on her, the filly perished. Eve told me, very moved, that the mare ran everywhere, whinnying desperately when the inert little body of her baby was removed.
His grief was somewhat mitigated when the vet assured him that Mamba would be fine in a few days, “as the mares quickly outgrow their losses.”
A month later another mare, Candie, gave birth to a foal very similar to Mamba’s. The resemblance was not accidental: they were both from the same father.
Candie, who had strayed from the herd during the delivery, returned to the gang a few days later with her young son, escorted by Diego, the Estancia’s dedicated horse keeper. When Mamba saw the foal, she suddenly pounced on him. He took him away from his mom, Candie, probably with the intention of adopting him. This sparked a violent fight between the mares, kicking and kicking hard. Touched, Eve told me: “We couldn’t separate them. The foal was kicked twice and I don’t know how they didn’t kill him. He flew six feet through the air and was miraculously saved. We had to place them in different pens, so that no blood would flow ”- When I listened to it, I thought that, apparently, mares do not forget their progeny so quickly.
The story did not end there. A few days ago I found out that Mamba escaped from her pen and went looking for Candie and her foal. This time not only did they not attack each other, they joined in caring for the baby. Yesterday Eve told me that she saw the two mares running happily across the field with the foal. What a thrill!
I’m not sure what led me to share this moving story. Perhaps it was that it aroused some reflections. How many times do we mistakenly assume what animals and people feel? How many times do we harm, without meaning to, those we love. And, also, how much we can heal when we connect with the wise current of Life.
