Marat the horse got very sick after he was born. Veterinarians saved his life. But when he went back to his mother at the Minnesota Zoo, she rejected him.

Foals (baby horses) need their mothers to survive. Marat’s future looked grim.

Then he met Alice.

Marat is a Przewalski’s horse, a rare, wild breed from Asia. Alice is a domestic Pony of the Americas. Alice had a foal of her own. But her baby died. Alice took Marat in. She became his surrogate mom. (Surrogate means “substitute.”)

Zoo staffers picked the name Marat. It means “one who is brave.” It fits. Marat has had to be brave since he was born. Most foals stand within minutes of birth. They walk in just a few hours. But Marat struggled to stand up. Something wasn’t right with his legs.

Dr. Annie Rivas is the zoo’s director of animal health. “Because he was struggling to keep up with Mom in the herd, he was spending a lot of time lying down on the ground.” On the ground, he got a serious infection. “So he was very, very sick.”

It’s not unusual for a first-time horse mom like Marat’s to refuse to take back a sick baby.

The zoo staffers wondered, What are we going to do with this foal? Dr. Rivas says, “We could hand-rear him.” But she admits: Horses are better at teaching other horses than humans are. 

Good thing they found Alice. The mare was gentle. She immediately started nurturing Marat. She let him nurse. The two will probably stay together for a few more months.

“It was really kind of a perfect fairy-tale ending,” says Dr. Rivas. 

But challenges lie ahead. Marat will have to learn how to live in a wild herd.

Why? The world abounds in examples of grace—God’s loving provision for His creation. Marat’s surrogate mom is just one example. God never turns away from any of His children.