Sulphur-Ne-Ga-Ho-Story

This is Ne-Ga-Ho's story, a little Grullo colt that had such a strong will to live and survive the hardships after his birth. As I write this it is still hard not to feel the pain that I felt when we found him, his story is one that will be remembered by so many that called every day to give us hope for the future of this small and fragile colt.

If any that read this do not believe in miracles this story should confirm that there are angels that not only protect us but guide us to protect all living creatures.

When we adopted Dreamy we were informed that she and the mare that was with her both had foaled, but both foals were left with the previous adopters as they were not BLM property. ( Dreamy and the other mare were given back ???? to the BLM before the year was up ) To you that have read Dreamy's story know the terrible and tragic first year that she had. Now there were two foals still in that situation, a Truck Stop that had wild animals confined in small areas. Two small Sulphur foals were being kept in between a Bear and Bobcat, "Wild Horses of the Old West" was the sign above their pen. It was a heartache to us to know that our precious Dreamy's foal and another were surely doomed to a life fear, starvation and neglect.

My sister who lives next door to me is still good friends with her ex-Husband who is a long haul truck driver based in Nevada, they correspond quite frequently and I knew Gary well. Not long after we adopted Dreamy my sister was telling Gary of the situation Dreamy was kept in and how well she was doing. To my sisters surprise Gary said " I know that place,I have seen those mares and foals" . Well, my sister immediately called me and I got on the phone with Gary who informed me that the foals were still there but in really bad shape. Gary told me that he remembered Dreamy and her foal, same color as his Dam and Dreamy was so thin.

I asked Gary if he was going that way in the near future and if he was would he stop in to try to purchase the foals. Gary informed me that he was and would try his best to get the foals out of that situation. I got a call six days later, it was Gary and he said that one of the foals had died, Dreamy's foal was still there but did not believe he would last much longer. Gary purchased Ne-Ga-Ho for $50.00, purchased some straw from a local feed store and padded the back of his rig up for the 100 mile journey back home to his home.

Gary was furious, he immediately called his local vet when he arrived home and at that time the vet gave little hope of the foal surviving. Ne-Ga-Ho was sixteen months old and weighed in at 285 pounds, he was a walking skeleton and too weak to eat. Ne-Ga-Ho was immediately placed on intravenous fluids and tube fed by the vet for two days. By the third day he was starting to eat on his own, it seemed as Gary stated that he knew that his days of suffering were over.

Gary kept Ne-Ga-Ho for me for nine weeks, the colt was gaining weight but still had problems. I looked like his muzzle had been ripped open, a slash across between both nostrils. Also, a scar on the side of his mouth that went into his lower lip. From what Gary assumed is that since there was only a chain link fence dividing the foal from the Bobcat he stuck his nose in as a baby and got caught by the big cat. Because of this Ne-Ga-Ho had a hard time picking up grain with his lips, had to be hand fed daily.

We finally got Ne-Ga-Ho home in January of 2002, Gary transported him to Arkansas and we picked him up there.