A couple near Beaumont are celebrating a special reunion this New Year.
Tracy and Jonathan Pasenko spent weeks trying to unite a mare they had bought with her foal, which had been sent to a meat plant.
The couple bought five horses, including Peaches, from an auction last month.
“When we got her home from the auction she started calling out over the fence and looking out towards the back of the property,” Tracy told CTV News.
Tracy called Peaches’ former owner and discovered the mere had been separated from her foal at the auction.
She said she had a pretty good idea who the meat buyer that had purchased the colt was and set out to track him down using social media.
Unfortunately she was told he had already shipped the horses away.
“I was pretty discouraged and I thought that’s that, no chance.”
However, friends encouraged her to try and get in touch with the owner of the plant.
“I was shocked that I was actually able to get him on the phone.
“He was very accommodating. I told him what had happened and he said, ‘Let me see what I can do’.”
The owner put her in touch with someone at a meat plant near Calgary.
That connection told her the task of finding the foal may not be so easy.
“He said there are 30,000 horses,” Tracy explained.
“It was amazing how it worked out actually.
“I was told by several people in the industry who know a lot about horse slaughter that it was impossible to get a horse back once they went in there.”
Within minutes, she said, she got a call that they had found the colt.
The couple made the trip to the plant to purchase the foal and bring him back to his mother.
“You could hear back and forth the calling out,” Jonathan said, describing the night they arrived home.
“Then we brought him in there and it was pretty neat just watching him run at her it was pretty special,” he said.
“It was so sweet to see them together,” Tracy added.
However, the couple says the foal is now quite sick.
“He has been under veterinary treatment for six weeks.
“She's given me every reason to believe that he will recover from this but it's been tough,” Tracy said.
The Pasenkos have set up a website to update people on the horse's condition and are also accepting donations to help pay for his care.
“Our target is about $2,500. Our bills are more than that but it would be amazing if we could get a little help with that,” she said.
“We’re not sure if he’s out of the woods yet.”
Because the colt’s condition is contagious he hasn’t been able to spend much time with his mom but Tracy says when the two do see each other it is very emotional.
“He really loves him mom. You can tell.”
With files from Amanda Anderson
