Earlier this month, when a fire broke out in a barn in North Texas, a pony named Bella showed tremendous dedication in saving her young foal, Butterscotch, from serious burns -- even though that meant enduring them herself. By the time firefighters arrived to battle the inferno which killed several animals, they were amazed to discover the mother pony standing firm, protecting her two-week-old offspring from the brunt of blaze with her body.

"It's just that mother-daughter bond... it's an instinct. She was ready to die for her baby," Whitney Hanson, from the Humane Society of North Texas, where the horses are being treated.

"She actually kind of backed the baby into the corner and stood over her and shielded her from the fire and the debris that was falling."

Heroic pony saves her foal from barn fire