Year to Date: 450,013
Summary of Events:
Chapter 29:
Heleighna got called by Jacquelinne while Christmas shopping with Granville and Jacques-Henri — whom she introduced to Jacquelinne — before getting homesick again. Étienne rode Sauvage some more and talked with Chérie.
Chapter 30:
Heleighna opened her Christmas presents early in the morning and was called by her family for Christmas. Étienne visited Dr. Charron for one more set of x-rays on Sauvage and was cleared to go back to full workouts — although he'd still miss the first competition of the new year.
Excerpt of the Day:
"Maman nodded. "Who else do you know there?"
"Most everyone, there's Mme. LaBrecuqe — Chérie's mother — and Mlle. Corbeil who's actually the aunt of my friend Granville, and a lot of other teachers and students," Heleighna replied. "I don't know all of them. I don't even know all of the horses."
"Which horses do you know?" Maman asked.
"Résolu is the gelding I've been doing a little work with," Heleighna replied.
"Riding?" Maman asked.
"No," Heleighna replied. "Not for a long time. I wanted to learn how to train a horse, so I'm practising things with Résolu — although he knows all of the things I'm learning already — M. Amyotte wants to find me an untrained horse to train all by myself."
"Oh my," Maman said. "What other horses do you know?"
"M. Étienne's three horses," Heleighna replied. "Excellent Depart, known as Ex for short, he's a rather short gelding; Couronne de Patience, or Couronne, who was M. Étienne's first dressage horse, his mother sold her without telling him, but he managed to buy her back — except he wasn't very nice and sold his mother's expensive jewelry to do so, and ran off to his grandparents too."
"Oh my," Maman said.
"M. Étienne's other horse is the stallion Sauvage Vent d'Espange; he was bred in Switzerland and bought by M. Étienne's father when he — Sauvage — was five," Heleighna added. "Sauvage is the horse M. Étienne competes on now, and he looks magnificent and terrifying at the same time."
"That's very interesting," Maman said.
"Teghanne's horse is named Grace," Heleighna said. "And M. Étienne's training a young stallion to ride for M. Amyotte known as Tempête Proche; he was bred in Manitoba and is part Selle Français, he seems scary, but he's nicer when he's not held by ropes; M. Étienne even let me work him once, without help, and it was amazing."
"Oh my goodness," Maman said. "Does that mean you finally know what you want?"
"What do you mean?" Heleighna asked.
"Yzabelle knew she wanted to be in medicine when she was ten," Maman replied. "But you never seemed to have found where you want to be yet."
Heleighna was silent for a moment. "Yes Maman," she replied. "I think I do know what I want. I want to be someone who can work with horses without ropes, someone who can do magnificent, amazing things with horses like that. I want to be a person horses are confident around, someone horses can trust."
"That is wonderful Heleighna," Maman said. "I'm so proud of you. And to think you would've never known if you wouldn't have gone to Canada."
Heleighna startled at the thought. It was true. She wouldn't ever have known anything about horses other than what they looked like if she wouldn't have come to Canada; she might well have taken years to find out what she wanted to do if she wouldn't have come to Canada."
Corbeil: cohrb'aye
Proche: prohche
Selle Français: sell frahnsay
And, if you recall from earlier this month, I was participating in Camp NaNoWriMo and have successfully become a
once again. I will be participating in the next Camp NaNoWriMo in July, and of course NaNoWriMo in November as well.
I will be posting again in preparation for my next novel on May 2; see you then.
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