On May 26 1999, my 31" high Miniature mare, Spirit  foaled right during
Newf-l chat! But, unfortunately, the tiny little filly had very weak
legs & needed help standing. So, for two nights, I stayed in the stall,
milking her Mum, & bottle feeding her. She appeared to be improving
until a sudden turn for the worse. We rushed her into the Vet's office
first thing & found that she had hypothermia & low blood sugar. A day on
IV in the kitchen fixed that right up. I sat by her side & was shocked
to see our Toy Poodle, Maxzi try to drag off one of her little hooves!
Lucy, our Landseer Newfoundland girl has made herself  foster Mum to the new baby.
We named the 15 1/2" high foal, Trinket. She has had some ups & downs, but
is getting stronger every day. She lives in the house as it has been
cold outside. I have finally stopped milking her Mum & now just feed her
milk replacer. She sleeps in an x-pen with her blankets & hotwater
bottle.
Lucy just adores Trinket. She brings her squeaky toys & then sits &
squeaks them for her. She likes to wash her face & licks her all over. I
have to keep a close watch however, as the little foal likes to crowhop
& play. Yesterday was her first trot across the livingroom. Lucy was
ecstatic! She lay down by her side & as the baby danced near her, a big
paw waved in the air! Eek! It almost knocked her across the room! So,
though Lucy adores the foal & tries to be very gentle, I still am ready
to grab that paw.
  At first, Lucy thought that Maxzi was a danger (She is 8" high) and
would lay between the filly & her. Now she allows supervised visits.
Trinket is not house broken so when she gets to walk around the living
room, she wears baby training pants & rubber pants. Lucy always moves to
lay across the hallway if she heads in the direction of the stairs. Then
as Trinket changes direction, there is Lucy blocking the way to the
slippery kitchen floor. She is truly a Newf nanny.
 

Update:

 Lucy's little
Trinket is doing great. She has grown to 19". Lucy still loves to wash her
face
& showed her how to squeak the Mickey Mouse toy she let her borrow. Lucy would
like it better if the baby wasn't kept in an x-pen though.

And, then Lucy wrote:

 I love puppies! I
have a puppy here in the kitchen. But she is a bit strange with hooves &
not paws. But I have taught her how to play with squeeky toys & to call
Mum with them. I also taught her how to lick me back on the nose. Her
tongue is funny. I think maybe she was a good Birthday present.
Bye for now.
  Have a good day!
        Love,
        Lucy

Trinket lived in the house until she was three months old. She is now three years old and hasn't quite accepted the fact that she is a horse, and not a Newfoundland dog! She can usually be seen with nose to the ground sniffing out bones in the yard. She never did care for them, but finds them all the same! She is still Lucy's special girl. I think that Lucy & Nash's daughter, Lizzie must know that she and Trinket are sisters. Every morning she takes a teddy bear outside & sits it next to Trinket's breakfast.
Trinket gets her face washed daily by Lucy and Lizzie. She comes for her hugs and licks my face just like a dog.
We get so much pleasure from them all.
Sadly, both Maxzi and Lucy are gone now. We miss them both. Trinket is adjusted to being a  healthy full grown Miniature Horse. She has several Newf-like traits which she learned from our beloved Lucy.
Sad update. We lost our beloved Trinket on April 16, 2009
There never could be a little horse missed more.

Trinket and Maxzi

Trinket and Lucy

A short story about our "Newf Nanny" has been published in a book of Newfoundland stories called
Ninety-Nine Newfies.

Henry Forever: The Gift Of Life
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