My best friend, Yvonne, phoned to say that Guy, her horse, had been put down this morning.
We got our horses together. They came from a trekking centre, for the winter, many years ago. Of course we couldn't send them back, so we bought them. They were a huge part of our lives. Many years, and several stables, later, my horse, Pal, became ill and had to be put down.
To my surprise, I got a new horse, Peter. And then a second horse, June.
Horses were a big part of our lives for a long time. I've been horseless for many years now, and it's always seemed like a distant memory, something which happened to someone else.
Guy had been out on retirement loan for more than 8 years. He was 30, and full of life up to the last moment. Silly sod gave himself a heart attack, getting overly excited about getting into a new field and bucking around like a 6 year old.
Typical Guy. I can absolutely picture him doing it, and it makes me smile to think that he died with a smile on his face.
It really is the end of an era.
