The Newfoundland Pony is an endangered species that's kept going by a small group of dedicated people. This special pony was known as the "work engine" of rural Newfoundland as its horsepower was used to haul wood for building houses and working in the fishery. Once in the thousands, there are now less than 500 animals remaining. Many are gelded or aged mares.

This week, tragedy struck a small hobby farm in Western Newfoundland called Driftwood Acres where a rare Newfoundland pony named Little Cataline died after being fed too many apples by passersby. Her owner, Jessica Boyd, stayed with her through the night with another vet, but the damage was done. Little Catalina's death from colic could have been prevented, as signs were posted on the pasture fence asking people NOT to feed the ponies. It's a devastating loss for Jessica as this pony was the youngest of her mares and of breeding age.

As part of her plans, Jessica wanted to trailer her 4 stallions to the University of PEI to have their semen collected for breeding/artificial insemination under their Theriogenology service. There are considerable costs for transporting the stallions (ferry and trailer) from Newfoundland to PEI and for the fees charged by the veterinary college, along with boarding. She works as a small animal vet full time and takes on the pony work as a labour of love and at considerable personal expense. She can also use some of the funds to reinforce her fencing so another tragedy can be avoided.

This is to help Jessica with the tragic loss of her mare and to help her effort to preserve the Newfoundland pony. We want to turn this into something positive in memory of beautiful Little Catalina, NPS Registration #945.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/newfoundland-pony-dies-after-being-overfed-by-visitors-1.6523390

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/newfoundland-pony-dies-being-overfed-113836572.html