Video Shows Wild Foal Trapped in Watering Hole Rescued by Kindhearted Rancher

A feral foal in Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada has the Camille family to thank for its life. On Saturday, range rider Jordan Camille was checking fence lines when he encountered a herd of wild horses. Surprised by their boldness, he called his wife, Candice, over to snap a few photos.

"Usually they run away," Candice Camille told CFJC Today. "You can't really get close to them. They take off."

One mare in particular was acting aggressively, "coming at us a bit," Candice Camille said. Surveying the area, the couple soon pinpointed the cause of the mare's distress: Her foal was stuck in the mud at the bottom of a nearby gully. Charmed by her display of motherly love, Jordan Camille descended into the gully to attempt a rescue as his wife filmed.

"To find [a foal] like that, where the mom stays back and is that protective and strong, was a different experience in itself," Jordan Camille said.

In a voiceover, Candice Camille explains the foal's circumstances, informing viewers that it will die if they do not come to its aid. By the time the video begins, the foal, whose hind legs are hopelessly mired, is "weak, exhausted and covered in thick mud," according to captioning.

But the mare's presence complicates the rescue effort. Unaware that the Camilles are only trying to help, she charges at them repeatedly in an attempt to protect her offspring before the Camilles manage to drive her away.

With the mare out of the picture for the time being, Jordan Camille straddles the mud pit and scoops the foal out. However, the foal, who was trapped for an indeterminate amount of time, is in bad shape. It can barely stand. Realizing that it needs some rehabilitation, he carries it over to a nearby tree, where the Camilles and their sons feed it equine electrolytes and rub its limbs to increase circulation.

Eventually, the mare, regaining some courage, canters down to check out the situation. She reunites with the foal, but the foal soon becomes tangled in tree roots and collapses. When Jordan Camille heads over to extricate it for a second time, the mare chases him up the tree.

"Don't fall out of the tree," Candice Camille calls jokingly.

Finally, the foal recovers enough to be able to stand up and run off into the hills with its mother. The next day, the Camilles returned to the spot to confirm that the rescue had been successful.

"We walked a bit to see if it was there laying down," Candice Camille said. "We didn't see it, so we took that as a good sign."