I remember being in 8th grade and one boy who was a bit rude to me at times took a day off of school because his husky was getting pts. The other kids laughed at him when he came back the next day and they asked the reason he was absent. It made me really mad and I remember standing up for him.

That being said, I think the very best thing for me to do when Deacon died was get right back to work. Was my head in it fully? No. A couple of kids got mediocre at best lessons, but everyone understood why I was so distracted. He was my baby and I lived right at the barn so I walked by his stall and said hi to him multiple times a day, every single day. Right away my boss put another one of her horses in his stall, which at first seemed weird but I think it was actually for the best.