MARVEL
On the morning of September 10th 2019, our caretaker (Abhi) went into Tsavo and Savannah’s stable to start off the daily routine of turning out the horses. When he entered their stable however, instead of being greeted by the usual two horses, Abhi, saw a little third face staring back at him. And then proceeded to have a heart attack.
How this happened, we have no idea. In fact, we didn’t even know Savannah was pregnant, she never showed any signs of pregnancy. Maybe because of her age it was harder to tell, her stomach had barely distended (we associated the slight swell in the belly to the change in diet from oats to barley!) which coincidentally happened a couple months before she gave birth.
Anyhow, we put two and two together and the culprit here was Frodo, our unstoppable, broken footed stallion. How he escaped his paddock and managed to impregnate Savannah, all the while evading both Tsavo’s and our watchful eyes, is a mystery to us all. But there you have it.
Little Marvel came into the world, beautiful, healthy and perfect in every way.
The (very unexpected) product of a 25 year old mare and a broken footed stallion, Marvel is in every way a little miracle on his own. He is an absolute treasure to us now, given Savannah’s old age, we know she won’t be around forever. But little Marvel will carry on both his mothers and fathers legacy here at the sanctuary.
A true backwater born and bred baby, he is our first (and last!) homegrown child. Because he’s born to the two most unlikely of parents, both superheroes in their own regard, we couldn’t think of a more suitable name than Marvel.
For those new here, Tsavo and Savannah are inseparable. They’ve been paddocked and stabled together since the day Savannah arrived at the sanctuary. When little Marve came into the picture though, Sav (naturally) became a little protective of her colt. She’d lash out at Tsavo if he got too close. Over time though she realised there was nothing to protect him from. Tsavo, the hyper-intelligent, hyper-sensitive beauty that he is, knew exactly what was going on all along. He knew Marvel was a product of Sav and without hesitation, assumed his role as father and protector. Now Sav hardly responds to Marvels calls because she knows he’s perfectly safe here, with Tsavo by her side. Little Marvel in return absolutely adores Tsavo. He follows him around everywhere, mimicking everything he does and running straight to him when he’s nervous/scared. He’s made it very clear he wants to be just like Tsavo when he grows up (and who can blame him). It’s a story like no other and a bond too beautiful to put down in words.
UPDATE: June 2021
We are heartbroken to have to write this. Marvel was bitten by a snake and passed away shortly after. He knew nothing but love and happiness in his short but beautiful life. Words cannot express how much he will be missed.