Life in Aylmer Quebec

My Sweet North

North died this morning.  I’ll miss his beautiful face.  And, many, many, other things.

I am so very sad.

AKA what have I been up to lately.

First off, the Olympics.  Yep, watching things like Ice Dancing and Snowboarding, stuff  I normally don’t give a rat’s buttock about but now find I must stay up way past my bed time just to watch.  And the hockey!  The real hockey, the women’s hockey.  I think I want to play hockey.  I’m not a very good skater (okay, yes, I’m a pretty bad skater but I’m improving like crazy this year!!)  But hockey looks like so much fun!  (That’s the lost my mind part!)

My poor sweetheart North almost died this weekend.  He was having another lymphangitis attack, and his ‘attending’ vet recommended that we resume the medication routine that he was getting the last time he had an attack.  Turned out that he was having an allergic reaction to said medication and was going into anaphalatic shock, his body was basically shutting down, his heart was pumping like crazy trying to get oxygen to his brain with no result, and he probably would not have survived another day without medical intervention.  He is still in bad shape, not eating, listless, but at least his vitals are somewhere heading towards normal.  He is usually such a carrot junky, and I had to coax him to eat a bunch, just to try to get something into him.  I could tell he wasn’t really that interested in eating them, I think he was trying to humour me.  But at least he ate them.  He turned 21 on Saturday.  I forget sometimes that he is an old horse.  He convinces me most of the time that he is not.  I know he is not my horse, but I still love him as if he were.  You connect with them, when you work with them and spend a lot of time together, not just riding but other daily things.  And you fall in love with their silly quirks and their amazing personalities.  So please think good thoughts for my old boy.  Clap your hands if you believe, just like you did for Tinkerbell.

(Thinking of losing North is where I loose the cotton pickin’ part of my mind.)

So now this post has me crying, and I’ll have to put off the rest till later.  All else is good, though.  Just to rest your mind.

Is quitting smoking so fucking hard????

It’s the elephant in the room, you try your damnedest not to notice, but you really want to smoke that elephant!!  (What the hell am I saying!?) I’m not ‘quitting’ per say, but I’m going to smoke way less, and hopefully forget that I smoke at all.   And that damned elephant is going to become a trophy rug in front of my fireplace.  Because Bailey is not my horse until I quit.  And Emma’s New Year’s resolution is for me to quit.  Because she doesn’t want her mom to die.  What else can you say when your daughter tells you that?

And I won’t lie, I have had 3 4 5 cigs today, down from my usual 15 or so.  I have tried my old expired (in 2006) nicorette gum, (not sure if it worked or had really expired), also have a nicorette inhaler, but when you are sitting down, or watching the idiot box, Dog, you want to smoke.  It’s when you tell yourself you can’t do something, that you really want to do it.

So I’m saying right now Bailey and I will never make the jumpers; A shows or grand prix (as if) are completely unattainable.  Cause that is my secret goal.  Just don’t tell anyone,  cause it’s beyond not realistic.  Elephant….what can I say.

Okay, I’m so excited I can’t sit for long.  I need to dance…  I need to shout…  I need to sing…(Actually, I did that in the car all the way home from Kingston.)  I bought my horse today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I went to check out a two year thoroughbred bay gelding in Kingston today.  I fell in love.  I bought him.

I am now the proud owner of  ‘Crown The Moment’, aka Bailey, son of Crown Attorney (Queen’s Plate Nijinsky stakes winner), and an absolute doll, in your pocket, how ya doin’ pleased ta meetcha kinda boy.

I’d post pics, but my laptop is out of service, (an unfortunate incident involving Meg and a glass of water), but hopefully my genius husband will fix it, and when my new baby becomes an official Quebecer on Saturday, I’ll take tons more pics and post them.  I’m so thrilled.  So over the moon. I found him.  My bebe North.

Okay, she is actually a Hannoverian/Thoroughbred which would equal a German Englishwoman or an English German Woman, I guess.   She is gorgeous, a cute mover, wonderful personality, super easy going, and, oh,….did I mention she is a horse?  Anyhow, I had my heart set on her until an evil, cruel monster destroyed my dreams a nitpicky an honest but pricey vet gave me the results of some hoof x-rays.  The outcome was not good.  Todd  had promised to buy me a horse this fall, and I have been on the hunt for a while.  Jesse (the horse I was leasing) is going back sometime this month.  I’d decided he just wasn’t what I wanted.  This little mare that I’d found fit the bill perfectly, except for the little fact of possible navicular problems.  Damn, damn, and triple damn.  So long story short, if I am smart enough to listen to the nitpicky knowledgeable  vet that I hired for that very reason (to be nitpicky and point out any potential problems) then I am not going to buy her.  I just wish he had been wrong!

So let the hunt begin!

I know my horse is out there.  I just have to find her (or possibly him).

P.S. North is awfully glad that the little upstart is going home.  He figures he’ll get more carrots now.  Like I ever stopped giving my big sucky buddy carrots.  Maybe not quite as much attention as before Jesse came, but he always got his fair share of carrots.

The handsomest old boy at the barn - North

The last two Sundays I had the opportunity to goes to the Park (NNEP) to watch some of the biggest names in Canadian showjumping.

Wow.  It only comes to Ottawa once a year, thanks to Jay Hayes and his family (a great Canadian rider), who took over from whoever, when it was the Toshiba, then the Ottawa Classic, then….whatever it was.  All I know is thankfully we still have an ‘A’ show, with Grand Prix’ running.

Some of the riders that were in attendance included Ian Millar, Yann Candele, Beth Underhill, Jill Henselwood, Amy Millar, Jonathan Millar, Leslie Howard, just to name a few.  It was pretty sweet.

Amy Millar

Mac Cone

Captain Canada hisself (aka Ian Millar)

Jill Henselwood

Leslie Howard