Tom's admiration for the well-mannered gentle giants of the equine world knew no bounds. He could enthuse over them for hours, and at times my brain rebelled on the amount of information he expected me to absorb. But one thing always stood out in my memory and kept recurring in my mind at the time of his death. He told me that you must never remove a dying foal from its mother, but allow her to see the foal die. This rule applied, he said, to all animals, not only mothers and their offspring, but also mates and friends who had a bond between them, like my donkeys, David and Derek, brothers who have never been parted. Even if, for medical reasons, you must remove the animal from its mate, mother or siblings and it subsequently dies, you must bring it back and leave them together for a few hours, so that the bereft animal can touch, smell and acquire an acceptance of the situation. Then, when they are ready, he or she will walk away. To prevent this process would be an act of cruelty causing the animal to pine for its mate believing it to be deserted.
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