Fred is a very special little horse, he has been dubbed with the nickname "Little Man". When only four months old, he lost his mom, Josephine. The cause of her death was never determined, but we suspect it was Endocarditis, our reason for this is one month later Little Fred was diagnosed with this very disease, we immediately called the vet and Fred was only given a 30% chance of survival. He was on Antibiotics for more than a month and lacked the strength to get up and stay up, so three times a day we would have to use a tractor and pick him up and hold him there for at least an hour. We did this for two weeks, when eventually he was able to stand by himself. We also gave him quite large amounts of protein to help him get stronger, this has resulted in some minor growth problems in his later life. If you would like to know more about this disease, here is a great and short description of what it is and what horses could be affected: http://www.provet.co.uk/equinecardiology/5a66646.htm  Having survived such an uncommon disease, to say that this little guy is super tough is an understatement. He has been visited by the vet many times through his life and has been given a clean bill of health!

Since we lost his dad, Little Man was feeling lonely and we made the tough decision to geld him. We thought long and hard about this, but he took the priority in this decision. Keeping him happy and able to socialize with some friends was the best decision for him.