Our Horses – Canela and Cilantro
Our newest addition to the farm, is Yasmin’s horse “Canela”, which was a gift from Mary at Rainsong Wildlife Sanctuary.
Canela is pregnant, and we’re looking forward to seeing her baby sometime between June and August… we’re not exactly sure when but hopefully after Deanne the veterinarian visits us in a couple of days, we’ll have a good idea of when we can be expecting.
Canela’s Tragic Story
Canela is a small size for a horse, and her previous owners and caregivers think she was taken away from her mom too early, which has stunted her growth.
She has already had one foal, but it was killed by hunters in Cabuya where she first lived. Hunters sometimes search for deer by shining a flashlight and looking for reflecting eyes in the night. When they see them, they’ll shoot anything they see. Hunting, by the way, is illegal but is still done in the area by some.
So her foal was killed and she was very sad for a long time. She was moved to a small farm in Los Mangos by Cobano, where she was until we got her.
The “breaking” of Canela
She was five years old when Mary decided to give her to us, and she had never been ridden before! So we paid Luis, her caretaker, to “break” her, which sounds very sad but that’s what it’s called. Luis is a very nice man who loves horses and breaks them very gently. He said that Canela was one of the sweetest and easiest horses to train, and two weeks later, she was already very willing to be ridden and easily managed by the reins.
Canela’s Poop
We are very happy to have Canela, not just as a new friend on the farm, but her poop can be used for our adobe-making project. We plan to use it as the “cement”, mixed with our red clay, sand, and grass/hay, to make adobe bricks, which will be dried and used to make a pizza oven and some simple structures on the farm.
Welcome Cilantro! Our first baby horse!
Cilantro was a big surprise when she was born! Two horse experts had examined her and declared that she was definitely not pregnant. However, Mary, who had donated her to us, assured us that she was pregnant and that one day we’d wake up and there she would be! And, that’s exactly what happened. Where there was once only a single horse on the farm, suddenly there were two!
We are SO happy to have Cilantro with us. She’s very skittish and always hides behind her mommy. And mommy is nervous too, especially about Billy Bob, the male goat. She occasionally kicks out at him, and once almost kicked Yasmin by accident! Now, after a few months, Cilantro is much bigger and Calena is much less nervous.
