I heard a lovely story over the weekend which came from a stables not far from where I live.

As well as having a number of horses at the stables, they also have a pet Newfoundland dog who seems to have struck up quite a friendship with one of the horses.

Whenever the groom starts to saddle up this particular horse the Newfoundland lies down nearby with his nose between his paws, watching what is going on.

As soon as the horse is ready, the dog jumps up and takes hold of the reins in his mouth, and leads the dog out of the yard to where the master is waiting who is going to ride the horse.

When the horse comes back after his ride the dog is given the reins and he leads the horse back into the stables. If the groom is not there then the dog barks constantly until the groom appears and is able to unsaddle the horse etc.

In his own way I think that dog is a little hero, at least to his friend, the horse.