Losing an Equine Friend: Your Grief is Real
When someone loses a family member or friend often others rush in to see what they can do to lessen the pain. However when your loss involves a companion of the fourlegged variety sometimes the response you receive is less than sympathetic.
Kate lost her horse suddenly to colic after years of building a successful and satisfying relationship in the show ring and out. She recalls
The relationship I had with my horse had always confused some people in my life and the sudden change in my behaviour after losing him led to some insensitive comments and poorly worded questions about how I felt and the time I took away from my regular routine after losing him. I was often asked why I was so upset or what the big deal was. After all He was just a horse right?
When people are not permitted to openly grieve it can complicate the healing process. Psychologists have a name for this its called disenfranchised grief.
Find Your Support
Whenever you share your life with a being whether human or animal the loss can feel devastating. Because our horses are depending on us to meet their needs naturally they are tightly woven into the daily fabric of our lives. Feeding exercising caring training or just plain hanging out there are a lot of hours spent in each others company. So when that interaction is missing the empty hole can feel like a chasm.
Loss is one thing we humans cannot fix. We cannot prevent it or undo it. That lack of control is something we all have
