Life is full of surprises. Especially when love is involved—and that applies both to animals and humans! Over the weekend, an equestrian school in a Sweden got a first-hand experience of this when staff members arrived at work on Sunday morning. They found a foal born to a horse that no one even knew was pregnant. But when they looked a little closer at the newborn, staffers discovered something even more surprising. This wasn’t your typical little foal… The foal’s mother, Ruth, arrived at the school last fall and somehow managed to keep her “forbidden love affair” secret. This is a story about love against all odds. And like all good love stories, it has a happy ending!
Lunds Civilian Equestrian Club of Sweden has been around for over 70 years, but the organization has never experienced anything like this before…
Last autumn, the riding school bought a horse named Ruth as the newest addition to its team of training horses. Then in the spring, Ruth seemed to enjoy her meals more than before and fattened up a bit, but no one suspected anything.
But this weekend, the staff realized why the mare had gained weight. To everyone’s surprise, Ruth suddenly gave birth to a healthy foal on Sunday night.
“She’s been a part of the organization. She’s evolved as well as she could, and she’s done everything we’ve asked of her. So we never suspected that she had a foal in her stomach,” said Markku Söderberg, operations manager of the riding club.
The surprise was even greater when employees realized that the father of the foal must have been a donkey! And indeed, the little one standing next to Ruth in the pasture was a mule!
“My first thought was ‘Oh, well. This is fine. What do we do now?’” Soderberg said.
Soderberg doesn’t think the person who sold Ruth to the school knew that the horse was pregnant. The horse must have hidden her love affair from her previous owner, too.
Although everyone was initially surprised by the unexpected addition to the stable, they’ve all fallen in love with the foal they describe as very affectionate.
Now mother and foal have been moved to a small paddock where they are enjoying some time to themselves. Ruth is now taking maternity leave and will return to classes in August.
Her foal hasn’t been named yet, but the club announced a naming competition for the little fellow on its website.
Exactly what will happen to the little angel is unclear, but the riding school is looking to keep the mule as a mascot.
I hope both mother and baby can stay together as long as possible. And wouldn’t it be sweet if someone could find out who the father is so he could join them, too?
Please share this surprising story with the animal lovers in your life!
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