All kinds of tragedies can befall us in this cruel world. One of the most painful is definitely the loss of a loved one.
Then, our whole world collapses and the further path of life seems so difficult. However, a glimmer of light often appears in that darkness in the form of unconditional friendship that can heal even the most serious wounds.
Today’s story testifies to a friendly love that is so strong that it is able to restore life.
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Karla Swindle has never hidden her great love for animals. This prompted her at one point in her life to open S & K Quarter Horses Farm in Fayette, Alabama, where she would care for horses and other animals.
Through the years of working with animals, she has experienced many stories, both happy and sad ones. However, one remained especially engraved in her heart.
One day, in March, a 22-year-old mare gave birth to a foal. It should have been another in a series of happy stories of love between mother and child if only 7 days later, the mare did not get seriously ill and quickly die.
Everything smelled like a disaster considering that the foal was broken because of this loss and had no one to rely on early in his life.
However, the love and support he desperately needed came from a very unexpected direction.
Just after the mother died, Swindle made sure to spend a period of time with the foal in the barn to give her all the support she needed to overcome this crisis.
Unexpectedly, her dog, Zip, appeared with her that night. To her pleasant surprise, Zip didn’t want to leave. Instead, he wanted to stay and sleep with Tye, as they later called the foal.
“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.
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.
