Extreme Knitting Redhead: Chevin Esther

Monday, August 13, 2007

Chevin Esther

I know I haven't finished my write-up about my course but I just had to show these photos of the new addition to our little family - Esther the beautiful Haflinger mare. She's 16.5 years young but with not too many miles on the clock as she has mostly been used as a brood mare and has bred 5 foals.

For many years she lived at Springmead Haflinger Stud then for the past 12 months she has lived with Liz and her daughter Evie where she has had great fun attending Pony Club Camp this past week. Evie is now ready to move onto horses and expand her training whereas I am mostly a 'happy hacker' these days so Esther and I are well suited.

Mike was busy DVDing her arrival and then our first hack together the next day. Here's the pair of us heading out to get her used to her new surroundings.

She was spooked by almost everything on her first outing which made for a lively ride! However, I'm confident that it's just a case of getting acclimatised to her new surroundings and we'll soon be having great adventures together.

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Mum's Story

In 1997 my mother, then aged 81, had a series of minor strokes. Shortly after that we started to notice behavioural changes notably memory loss and confusion over everyday items. We thought it was just old age finally catching up with her. Then she started wandering and had violent mood swings. Although she already lived with us it became obvious that she couldn't be left alone for long and so I left my job to care for her. The next few years saw a gradual decline into the blackness that is 'vascular dementia'. My normally placid mum became violent and aggressive. She had psychotic incidents where she would see imaginary people (children hiding in her wardrobe, Russians sitting on the stairs, women stealing her clothes) and she would shout at them and sometimes throw things too. She was so convincing that we used to go and check that there wasn't anyone there! When my sister died mum did not know who Judy was or that she was her daughter. There came a point when I suddenly realised she no longer knew that I was her daughter and this was a terrible time for me. In the last 2 years that she lived with us, life for us all became almost unbearable as she needed 24 hour care - she couldn't be left alone at all because she would either wander off or hurt herself, she never slept for more than 30 minutes at a time during the night, she became incontinent and incapable of doing anything for herself. Finally my husband and I realised that we could no longer provide her with the care that she needed and she went to live in a special care home where the team did a splendid job caring for her in the last few months of her life. There she lived a zombified existence unaware of who she was, what she was or where she was. It was heartbreaking. She died in March 2005, the day after her 89th birthday.

Thank you for taking the time to read mum's story and I hope you'll dig deep and sponsor me using the link below to help find a way of beating this destructive disease.