Willamina was born on May 4th, in a herd of wild Calico mares. Just days after her birth, it was noticed that Willamina was alone and abandoned. Sadly, this sometimes happens in the herd. For various reasons, a mare may not bond with her foal- sometimes due to stress or another dominant mare steals the foal and, not able to produce milk for the foal, they often die.
In order to survive, the little foal would need round the clock care. That is where Palomino Armstrong, at Chilly Pepper-Miracle Mustang, comes in. Palomino and CPMM — who specializes in caring for critical, neonatal, injured and/or orphaned foals — took this young foal into their facility for us and provided the care needed for her survival.
Willamina is a survivor and a fighter, her name means ‘determined protector’ – much like William DeMayo, Co-Founder of Return to Freedom who passed away on the same day Willamina was born. William DeMayo is her namesake and she lives up to it well. She battled and overcame severe colic, infections, and abandonment in her first weeks of life and stands watch over her best friend, Lil Bit.
While at CPMM, Willamina bonded with another young, orphaned foal named Lil Bit (now called Little Blue). When the time came that she was strong enough to come home to the sanctuary we could not make her say goodbye to her first and closest companion. So Lil Bit came too.
The two youngsters arrived at the sanctuary feisty and ready to begin their new lives with us. After their long drive down from Northern California, they ran and ran with tails in the air!