In this cruel world, many troubles can come to us. Without a doubt, one of the most painful things is losing a loved one. Then our whole world comes crashing down and the rest of our lives seem so difficult. But in the darkness, a ray of light often emerges in the form of unconditional friendship that can heal even the most painful wounds. Today’s story is a testament to the love that is strong enough to restore life.
huge loss
barn dirt
Carla Swindle has never hidden her great love for animals. At one point in his life, he opened S & K Quarter Horses Farm in Fayette, Alabama, where he cared for horses and other livestock.
Over the years of working with animals, he has been through many happy and sad events. One of them especially stuck in his mind.
One day in March, a 22-year-old mare gave birth to a foal. It would have been another series of happy stories about the love between mother and child, if the mare had not fallen seriously ill and died suddenly after seven days.
Most of all, it smelled like disaster. The colt suffered from this loss as he had no one to rely on for the first part of his life. But the love and support she so desperately needed came unexpectedly.
An unexpected shoulder to cry on
dog and foal
Right after his mother died, Swindle tried to spend time with the colt in the barn to give him all the support he needed to get through this crisis. That evening, her dog Zip suddenly appeared. Surprisingly, Zip didn’t want to leave. Instead, she wanted to spend the night with Ty, as she later named the cub.
“He was whining,” Swindle said. “You could tell that Zip knew something was wrong that night.”
Zip definitely felt that Tye was grieving the loss of his mom, so he wanted to do everything he could to comfort him and make it easier for him.
When Karla saw this, she was so moved that she started to cry herself, so crying and whining were the only sounds that night in the barn. It was a unique composition of tears of joy and tears of mourning.
But, not everything stopped that evening full of emotions. On the contrary, for the next six weeks, Zip wouldn’t let Tye out of his sight, and that was even more amazing.
“Every time I would take off to the barn, Zip would run to the stall, and stand in front of the stall and wait for me to get there,” Swindle said. “He would beat me to the barn every time.”
“As soon as I opened the door, he would about knock me down before I could get in there,” she added. “If the foal was laying down, he would go over there and lay his head on him.”
And, truly, when Zip was around, Tye was relaxed and happy. Zip was a balm for his wounded heart.
Growing Into A Beautiful, Healthy Horse
After a few months, Tye gained weight, grew into a beautiful, healthy horse, and overcame all the pains that befell him in the early period of his life.
Of course, all this was watched with pride by Zip – his adoptive dad who was the most responsible one for Tye’s thriving.
Their paths naturally diverged a bit as Tye now spends most of his time with his older sister, learning how to behave like a real horse.
However, Zip understood this very well and was happy at the very fact that his favorite foal was on the right track.
Although they didn’t spend as much time together, both of them still had a big part of their hearts beating for each other.
Word quickly spread in Fayette about this touching story of friendship, but it didn’t stop there. After Karla posted a video of these two on her Facebook Profile, she quickly melted thousands of hearts across the U.S. and around the world.
This dog and horse, regardless of their differences, showed the whole world the power of true love and friendship.
