The Near Demise of "Horsey"

Horsey was given to Cadell when he was born by his Nana Carol. At first he never took much of a shine to Horsey, who is actually a Donkey.  He was dummy obsessed, but by two months old he only ever had a dummy at night time to get to sleep, and occasionally would wake crying because he'd lost it.  By 6 months he started losing interest in his dummy and looking at Horsey a lot.  By 8 months, we'd put him in his cot, give give him "Horsey" and he'd make this funny little "oooooh!" noise as he snuggled into him.  The dummy was a goner - thank goodness!

Cadell soon found Horsey's tail.  The tail replaced the dummy.  And poo-ey did it get stinky!  Horsey became rank pretty quickly, and made frequent hurried trips to the washing machine between sleeps.  I always washed him in a lingerie bag in case he got decapitated during the spin cycle.

Horsey is in mint condition here in the early days.

At about 18 months Horsey tail went into his mouth much less often.  But at nearly three years old, Horsey is still his greatest comfort.  If he's sad or tired you'll find him in his room desperate to get up on to his bed to grab Horsey.  When his eczema is really scratchy or sore or he hurts himself, a little press of Horsey's tail on the sore spot will fix it!  Even when I'm sore I get offered Horsey's tail as a remedy. 

Cadell ended up with a gastro bug on our final flight home from being away for four weeks and ended up in hospital for several nights, but Horsey was there to watch the drip go in and everything.  He now goes to sleep flicking Horsey's tail between his fingers.
 
Horsey traveled with us earlier this year to Dubai, Switzerland, Germany, France and Kuala Lumpur.  He didn't get to see many sites, because he wasn't allowed to leave the house or hotel room we stayed in for fear of losing him!

Horsey was close by on our flight home from KL to Melbourne

A few nights ago, I went out to a meeting not realising I had Cadell's day care bag in my car with Horsey!!!  He managed to get to sleep with his dog "Kuri" and Eeyore "Donkey".  When I got home I put Horsey near his face, and he reached out in his sleep to grab him, like a sleeping dog smelling a bone!

Several weeks ago, I lay Cadell on his bed to put a nappy on and get into his PJs.  He was cuddling Horsey, nothing new there. I picked him up to put him under the blankets, he's still clutching Horsey tightly.  I look back on the bed where he was lying and there......  is.....

The be-headed "Horsey"

HORSEY's HEAD!!!!

Cadell was none the wiser and I hid my trauma and Horsey's head from him as he happily cuddled Horsey's headless body (of course his tail was stilll attached) and went to sleep.  I carried the decapitated head out to Craig with a mix of surprise and devestation which erupted into laughter as Craig saw this head sitting in my hand like a trophy piece!

When I knew Cadell was asleep, I prized Horsey's from his grip and sutured his head back onto his body.  Now he's as good as new, and still carrying out his comforting duties.

It was like the death of a dear friend but I also couldn't stop laughing at the whole situation either!

So the moral of my story is this:  When you email me desperate to have a soft toy delivered to you as fast as humanly possible because your little one has lost their treasured friend, I don't think you are crazy, I FULLY UNDERSTAND! 

And when you order several of the same soft toy, I also don't think you're crazy.   

IN FACT you are more sane, clever and onto it than we ever were with Horsey.  Horsey's friends are extinct now, even 10 months after we got him Nana and I have never been able to buy a replacement.  The funny thing is his cousin one year older, has the same toy in pink, adores it, and it is just as smelly!

MY ADVICE:  Always buy two of these little guys!  It may go missing, kicked out of the buggy, or get into a complete state of disrepair.

Probably 75% of our soft toy sales in the last three months have been a call of desperation looking for a replacement.  From as far as the UK and the USA.

Long Live Horsey!