There are some animals that everyone is ready to give up on, and it takes a special person to come along and make a break through.

Sometimes all it takes is some patience and love to really make a difference in an animal’s life, and they’ll remember it forever.

That’s what one viral true story shows—the story of the beautiful bond between a man and a horse that lasted til the very end.

The story comes from Janna Grapperhaus, a midwife from West Virginia, who recalled how her father brought home a “young and vicious stallion” named Major.

Major was still wild, as his previous owners were unable to break him—though they tried to with harsh techniques, including beatings and leaving him tied to a post without food or water for four weeks.

“When dad brought him home, he barreled through five strands of fence within minutes of arriving and he’d bite and strike at anyone within distance,” Janna wrote.

But Janna’s father refused to “break” Major, instead taking the time to earn the horse’s trust. It was a method that others doubted—Janna says her mother thought the horse was “gonna kill him” and nicknamed the horse “Major Deal.”

Still, the father was dedicated to the horse: “My dad never broke him…. he earned his heart,” Janna wrote. “Every single day, for hours and hours dad worked to earn that abused horse’s trust.”

It took two years of hard work, but finally it paid off: Major finally trusted his owner enough to let him ride.

Against all odds, the wild horse was finally tamed. But it was more than that: there was a real love between the man and his horse.

“When dad would go out, Major would kiss him on the head over and over,” Janna wrote. “They had a bond that only horse people could ever understand.”

Sadly, Janna’s father recently passed away. And as his family and friends gathered to mourn at his funeral, so too did his beloved horse. “It seemed only fitting to let Major say goodbye,” Janna wrote.

And in a beautiful moment, Major approached the casket and said goodbye with a “last kiss.”

The beautiful story has since gone viral on social media, with over 166,000 shares on Facebook.

It’s a story that shows the power of love and patience, and how we can form real loving bonds with animals: “Love won out in the end,” Janna writes.

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