Introducing: Saphira, born on January 16th, 2020 out of Alegria (Criollo) by Gritto (purebred Lusitano, owned by Arnaldo Bastos). We imprinted Saphira, and began handling her daily for the first 4 weeks of her life. By week 5, we had to start supplementing her with cow’s milk, because her dam wasn’t producing enough milk. We started with 200ml per day and built it up to 3 liters by the time she was 6.5 weeks old. By the time she was 7.5 weeks, she already needed 7 liters per day.

Keeping Saphira healthy requires a lot of our time and attention. We are currently giving her milk 6 times per day. We tried everything we could, to get her to accept a foster mare, but she wouldn’t nurse. Saphira is still feeding from a syringe, because we have not yet succeeded in getting her to drink from a bucket or bottle. Saphira started to eat Goiabas. She would bite into the fruit to get the juice out. The only way she will drink milk is by biting down on a syringe, while we squirt the milk into her mouth. Additionally, she has started to eat goiabas, a tropical fruit native to South America. She bites into the fruit to get the juice.

Saphira has already been a great blessing to a little girl from a local orphanage who was afraid of the bigger horses, but will happily interact with Saphira.

If you feel a connection to Saphira, you can support her through prayers or your donation. Visit our Sponsor a Horse page.