HGG Community Forums

WitchwaterAcres · Jun 9, 2025 12:48 PM

So I own a riding school with quite a few adult students. I teach all the riding and most of the horsemanship lessons, so I know our students pretty well.

I just got news late last night (on my way home from buying a beautiful new horse, so I was on a bit of a high which made this hit even harder) that one of my favorite students, a lady in her mid 40's who loved my gelding, loved dressage, and we bonded over purebred dogs, had just passed away in a horrible car accident on her way home from a fun road trip vacation. She had detoured to hit the Quarter Horse museum on her way home, got stuck in standstill traffic, and was hit from behind by a pickup truck going 75 mph.

A friend of hers messaged our business page on Facebook to tell us the news.

We had literally just been talking about how much she would love this new mare we had just bought 3 hours before.

I really am having kind of a hard time processing this, because I didn't really actually know her that well, I was just her riding instructor, but at the same time, I saw her every single week, we always had a fantastic time, and we planned our holiday party because she had no family in town and wasn't going to celebrate the holidays in any kind of real way. So we were friends. I just know she was supposed to come to her lesson tomorrow afternoon and it feels really bad to look at the calendar and not see her timeslot on there anymore, and it just really doesn't feel real that she's not here anymore.

annismyrph · Jun 9, 2025 1:09 PM

Don't beat yourself up.. Death takes time to process. Don't feel guilty you didnt know her "well", you knew her enough that she mattered and that's the Most Important thing. Consider holding a memorial at your barn with the others that knew her, or consider offering to help with her arrangements with her family. Letting other people know she mattered is important to the grieving process.

Visions · Jun 9, 2025 2:41 PM

I'm so very sorry for your loss.

CheshireFarms · Jun 9, 2025 3:02 PM

I'm so sorry for your loss, you were obviously more than "just her riding instructor". I think she would want you to know she considered you a friend, and you guys obviously shared a passion that you were able to talk about right before her passing. I'm positive if she could talk to you right now, she'd tell you to spoil your gelding and give him an extra good brushing just for her.

Lioness83 · Jun 9, 2025 5:20 PM

I am so sorry for your loss. Don’t beat yourself up. You knew her, not just kind of, you did. We all have many sides to ourselves and she showed you who she was just as you did for her. You weren’t “just” anything, you were friends. You created a bond. THAT is something. Go give your gelding extra hugs and cuddles. Remember the lessons and the laughs, the shared memories, the bond you all created together. It sucks losing a friend or anyone we care about, but someday, who knows when, it will start to suck a little less. Sending you so many hugs and then extra hugs on top of those.