One thing that I learnt quickly was that grief is unique to the individual. You will be the only one who had the relationship with your horse that you had. You will be the only one who has particular guilt like the what if, why didn’t I and should I have? Because of these things, no one else is going to feel exactly the same way about the loss of your horse as you do. Some may be able to understand and empathise and many will not. It can make you angry and frustrated, it sure did me. At some point, I came to realise that it wasn’t nastiness, it was just often a different point of view, a longing from those close to me that they just want to ‘fix things’ ’make me happy again’ or that others felt uncomfortable around my grief so I chose to express it more on forums and groups. It was there that I found tremendous support and the feeling that others understood and I was not alone. That is not to say however, that I didn’t have support from my family and friends, I am fortunate to have a kind and loving husband who although he couldn’t feel my grief, accepted in time that I had to express it.