A Dingo Stole My Baby!

Ella Riva dropped her head into the grain bucket and began to greedily gobble the contents of the bucket before her. Just as she filled her mouth with the fourth large bite, she remembered that she had forgotten something. She chewed noisily and ground the grain back and forth. It made a gnashing sound as her large oval teeth pulverized the pellets.

Suddenly without warning, the heady feeling of eating the rich grain cleared and she jerked her head upwards. Ella was a dark bay mare- tall for a Quarter Horse with the look and physique of a sleeker animal. She came from a mixed heritage, part Quarter Horse and part Thoroughbred. With her head high in an alerted pose, the image slammed into her brain chasing away the warmth and comfort of dinner. Her foal was gone.

She had given birth to Quincy several months before. She was an experienced mother by now and quickly settled into the familiar routine of motherhood. Long days in the sun eating rich grass meant that she would produce thick heavy milk for her chestnut son. She tended to him absently, watching over his playful antics with the other foals in the large paddock. He was independent and social and often visited the corners, the wooded area, and explored his new world.

She could not quite remember the details but recalled that she obediently walked out of their stall in the afternoon and stepped onto the black horse trailer tethered to the red farm truck. The door at the rear of the trailer closed and she missed the familiar lean of Quincy at her flank. He was not at her side. She whinnied but only thought she heard his faint cries as the truck crunched the gravel beneath its tires leaving the driveway.

In just a few minutes, the assemblage stopped at the other farm. She was familiar with this place. She walked beside her handler but craned her head and neck high hoping to spot the place she had left her foal. As the afternoon wore into evening, Ella became frantic. The foal was no where in sight and her udder was becoming uncomfortable. She wanted him to nurse. She tried to remember his chestnut face but it was already fading.

She spent the next day walking the paddock with the other mares. Ella nibbled at the green grass and noticed the bright sun. She asked each mare if they had seen her foal but none responded. They were too interested in gobbling mouthfuls to make idle conversation. She walked 20 miles or more from one end of the paddock to the next but soon found that she was forgetting what she was looking for. And then the humans brought her into the barn for dinner.

As she stopped eating and remembered her foal and the events of the last day, Ella felt a faint stirring within her womb. A soft look filled her eye and she dropped her head back to grab another mouthful of grain. She forgot the she was worried about something. She felt like a mother again as the tiny horse inside her kicked and stretched its legs. And Ella finished her dinner.