Champion Thoroughbred Fosters Orphaned Foal

Maybe it was an overwhelming maternal instinct. Or maybe it was that headstrong, competitive spirit. Brown Bess wanted another baby. Retired from life as a broodmare, the 22-year-old champion had the roam of a grassy pasture with other pensioned

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Maybe it was an overwhelming maternal instinct. Or maybe it was that headstrong, competitive spirit. Brown Bess wanted another baby. Retired from life as a broodmare, the 22-year-old champion had the roam of a grassy pasture with other pensioned mares and some cattle at John Harris’ River Ranch near Fresno, Calif. When a heifer unexpectedly gave birth, Brown Bess stole the newborn calf.






BrownBess
COURTESY OF HARRIS FARMS


Champion Brown Bess with Peaceful Road’s foal.


“She must have witnessed the birth and it set something off,” said Dr. Jeanne Bowers-Lepore, Harris Farms’ resident veterinarian. “It triggered some maternal response in Brown Bess. I don’t know if it was pheromones in the air or what. But it was very difficult to get her separated from the calf

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Written by:

Debbie Arrington is a northern California correspondent for The Blood-Horse/I>.

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