Thank you everyone. I am still a little confused and angry at the universe for several things...Tessa dying and my boy Rio getting cancer...but I know this is life, part of the cycle of all things. I work quite hard at being philosophical and accepting! I am grateful for so many things so it's quite wrong of me I think to dwell too much on those things I have no control over. In life we lose those we love in one way or another, or they lose us.
I think Tessa will miss her son in the great beyond. He's still here. He wasn't so much a momma's boy as he was her self appointed protector. Tessa was shy of the other horses, so he kept them all away from her. I am very glad to have been part of her life though, and to have helped heal her. Seeing her in the pasture with nothing on her leg but the material the universe provided for her was wonderful. And the day that I removed the last bandage and set her free without it, was a beautiful day.
It had been raining a lot, so there were large puddles in the pasture. When I found where Tess was in the pasture, there was a large area of standing water between us. I called to her and she nickered back. She was getting to the point where she would always greet me with a little low nicker - at least, I liked to think that nicker was for me. It could have been that she was telling her son that someone was coming to lead her away. I'm not sure. But she would see me, nicker, then just stand and wait for me to walk to her.
On this day, with all the water on the ground (and me without rubber boots), I stood at the edge of the wet area and looked left and right to see if there was a short way 'round. As I stood there, undecided about which way to walk, Tessa took it on herself to walk across the water to ME. That was a lovely gift! And we walked to the barn and I took the bandage off her, gave her some treats and then put her back on the pasture without rebandaging her.
It was a nice day.