Animals form strong bonds with their babies. They love them a lot, and they struggle if something happens to them.
That was the sad case with a horse mom in the Netherlands.
A photo has been circulating across social media, and it’s warming the hearts of hundreds of thousands of people.
A photo, that once you hear the backstory, will bring tears to your eyes.
“Two days ago, a group of people came together, working as a team… Saving a mare in labor but losing the foal… Today a group of people, working together, the same mare as two days ago, was introduced to a foal who had lost her mom…. This picture is taken an hour after the introduction…. It speaks for itself,” the Facebook caption reads.
The photo, taken by Dr. Patrick Brogan in the Netherlands, has been shared hundreds of thousands of times.
It’s hard not to become overwhelmed with emotion with just a glance at the mother’s eyes – a mixture of pain, grief, and love.
Just two days earlier, the mother horse, Zindita, had gone into labor. Dr. Brogan immediately ran to assist, but upon arriving, he knew something was wrong.
“I saw that she was struggling,” Brogan told CTV News. “There was no way the mare would be able to get (her foal) out.”
Tragically, the foal had passed away in utero and was stillborn. Zindita, who is normally such a happy and sweet horse, immediately fell into a depression.
Brogan recalls the beautiful horse being so sad and grief-stricken.
Two days after Zindita’s tragic loss, the vet received a call about a newborn foal that lost her mom due to complications during the birth.
Dr. Brogan’s immediate thought was to put the two of them together; however, he had his reservations because horses can become aggressive when introduced to foals that are not their own. Zindita’s depression was so apparent, he figured he should at least try.
“We were quite lucky in that this mare was so … in love and desperate to take her,” Brogan said. “From the second she was there, (Zindita) just fell in love with it.”
The baby foal, later named ‘Listen Good,’ was raised by Zindita until she was weaned around 5-7 months old.
The baby horse had a very difficult start to life and will most likely have a harder time getting used to what is going on.
However, the staff at Netherlands-based Equiception, is happy that Zindita is there for her.
Had Zindita not taken Listen Good in, she would have been raised by humans, which, of course, is not ideal.
Dr. Brogan says that human-raised horses tend to have more health and behavioral problems than those not raised by other horses.
Thankfully, there was a happy ending for this loving mother and baby foal.
We’re so glad Zindita and Listen Good were able to meet and form the bond they needed to begin to heal. What a wonderful ending.
Check out a video of Zindita and Listen Good below!
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