Animals, just like humans, experience a range of emotions. And horses are no different when it comes to the special bond they share with their offspring. But sadly, complications during childbirth can happen in animals as well. When an animal’s child dies at birth, they experience grief, sadness, and emptiness – similar to what humans feel in comparable situations.
If you witnessed how a mother horse grieved for her lost foal, it would break your heart. The mothers try to search for their young ones and seem depressed when they realize the severity of their loss.
In The Netherlands, a Friesian horse named Queen Uniek was expecting her first kid. And as soon as she went into labor, she knew something was wrong. She exhibited signs of worry by burning her lips and strutting in circles in her stall.
Yvonne, Uniek’s owner, stood beside her trying to calm her down. She knew that this would be difficult for Uniek.
Uniek gave birth an hour later and the veterinarians who assisted pulled out a foal. It was no longer breathing. They did their best to revive it, but nothing could be done. The foal didn’t make it and Uniek would realize this shortly.
As everyone left, Yvonne stayed to comfort Uniek.
The mare kept licking her foal, trying to revive him, but that still didn’t work. They took thefoal out of her stable while Yvonne was still trying to comfort the grieving mother horse. Even with no words, she knew Uniek was in a lot of pain.
As if out of pity for the inconsolable mother horse Yvonne, and in sympathy with the rest of the Friesian Horses team, wonderful news arrived.
Yvonne received a call from her friend, who informed her that they had an abandoned foal in their care. Yvonne wasn’t sure how Uniek would react to another horse’s foal after losing her own, but she felt it might be beneficial for the maimed animal to have another companion.
So, they loaded the foal in a van and took it to their farm. Yvonne hoped that Uniek would take care of the foal as if it were her own. The barn was waiting, and everyone had high hopes.
With great care, Yvonne inched the foal closer to Uniek…
Uniek and the foal were slowly introduced to each other. In the beginning, their interactions were very uncertain. Uniek sniffed the foal, and then the foal did likewise. However, after she did a little dance everyone could tell that she was pleased to see him again.
Yvonne said, “It was a very special moment. I never thought this would happen. We knew instantly that Queen Uniek accepted Rising Star.”
Queen Uniek has been inseparable from Rising Star since they first met. The next day, they found Uniek and the foal inside their stable – a promising sign that the mother is finally adopting this foal.
Uniek affectionately looked after her newly adopted foal. She would follow him everywhere he went. Rising Star reciprocated these feelings towards his new mother; thankfully, the two of them found each other. Uniek became a mother to Rising Star who lost his birth mother, and in turn, RisingStar became a son to Uniek who had lost her baby.
