Hi everyone! This Blog will follow the comings and goings, the ups and downs, the hoop-la surrounding the one and only, Bastian the Wonder Dragon. Bastian is a 2004 Chestnut Thoroughbred gelding (Luftikus x Princess Eff) standing 16.2. I'm his person, Katie,(Adult Amateur and Para-Equestrian) the one who pays the bills and the one that positively adores the handsome boy. I hope you enjoy our journey. :)
Sunday, February 3, 2013
Unwillingly Waylaid
First off- almost 5000 page views! How cool! :) and I'm up to 16 followers *thumbs up* thanks guys for reading/following!!!
Due to being scheduled at work every night this week and the week before along with having a flat tire two days in a row I have missed out on A LOT of Bastian time, but in order to have that Bastian time I have to work or else I won’t have the income necessary to do what I want to do. I’ve got some projects in the works to get me through the this “off” season, although it not really an off season since I have a show in about 45 days…..which I should note is still not a definite, there has been a slight monkey-wrench thrown into my plans and I don’t know if I’ll be able to work it out but as soon as I know for sure one way or the other I’ll be sure to update. So here’s more of the Good News/ Bad News:
Bad News:
Fast forward to Saturday…I get off work, head to the barn all excited to finally get to ride. I decide to lunge him first so we didn’t have to worry about too much goofiness and he’s lame. Something was off with his right front. Cindy and I poked (mostly Cindy) and prodded him and couldn’t find anything other than a titch of a titch of heat inside of his cannon bone. *sigh* I iced, poulticed, wrapped and buted him. Today he was much better, he looked more stiff/soar rather than actually off, and not a severe stiff/soar, just a "I need to stretch and warm up kinda stiff" in his right front. I’m thinking he maybe slept funky? Can horses do that? Anyway, I rode him today at the walk for 50 minutes and worked on walky-things and halts. We trotted a few times on the long sides and he felt good-he wanted to go and was stepping evenly. So I’m thinking that he is better, but he did have bute with breakfast I want to take every precaution so I’m playing it safe. He was iced and pouticed and wrapped again and is getting bute through Monday night. I work tomorrow so another day off will be a good thing and then I’m keeping my fingers crossed that he’s ready to rock and roll on Tuesday.
Bastian isn't a fan of the poultice!
Good News:
My freestyle is complete! I worked with Cynthia Collins of Luna Tunes Freestyle and although my initial musical choice wasn’t a good fit I was able to find some great Celtic music and Cynthia did a fabulous job organizing it and splicing it together. The choreography is excellent too, I think it will really showcase Bastian’s and I’s strengths. I’m working on learning the choreography but will have to wait until I am in a full size arena before I can actually practice with the music. I’m looking forward to it, I’ve always wanted to be able to ride a freestyle. I even already have plans for music for our next one-I’m hoping by next year Bastian and I will be ready for a freestyle that involves some third level moves.
Another project I’ve got in the works is refinishing a tack trunk I picked up. It was a steal of a deal for just $35. Aside from a missing hinge, the box itself is really in excellent shape, it needs some sanding and I’m working on stripping the paint. My plan is to refinish it with a dark stain and I have Kim working on designing a plate or such to place on the lid that has our awesome logo on it. Once its finished it is going to look super super classy and between that and the rolling saddle/cart basket do-hickey that we recently acquired I should be able to transport everything I need other than hay, shavings, and grain to a show. The trunk is a little bigger than I really wanted but for that price I just couldn’t pass it up. And I will be able to fit things like his water/food buckets in there as well as my helmet, boots and some other larger items. Like I said, everything but hay, grain and sawdust! I’m an organizational freak and so I’m also excited that I was able to order some pretty awesome stuff from Thirty-One to help organize mine and Bastian’s things. I’ll be sure to post pictures as I get farther along in the process! So far I am having a blast working on it, I’m all about doing projects like this and I will appreciate it all the more because I did it. (cheesy, I know!)
Here it is on the day I picked it up (I took it apart-it was all in one piece when I got it!)
And from the side....
Not exactly horse related, but another project I’ve started is that I finally managed to enroll in Graduate classes. I am taking a full course load this semester in addition to everything else I’ve got going on. To quote Corey from Empire Records “There are 24 useable hours in every day!” I’m excited about taking the classes, if there was money in it, I would be a professional student, I really love taking classes and learning. If everything stays on track, then I will have my Masters by next spring.
I’m looking forward to getting out to the barn tonight and spending some time with the B-Monster. I’m sure he’ll be a bit of a fire-breathing dragon since he hasn’t been worked in forever and that’s the problem with having a super fit, young, healthy horse. I can lunge him for an hour tonight and then hop on him and ride for another hour and he would still be raring to go! And I’m not lazy when I ride, we go for 20-30 minutes before we take a legit walk break, like I said, he is super fit! But when he’s fit he ends up being more through and wow will he have some nice movement!
I’d like to encourage anyone out there who is currently looking for a new saddle whether it is a jumping or dressage saddle to visit www.hastilowusa.com The Hastilow Saddle Company custom fits their saddles to you and your horse and do an amazing job at it. Since switching to our Hastilow Concept Saddle, Bastian has been coming more through his back and lifting his shoulder more. His mediums have made major improvements and he is staying softer through his bridle because he has less reason to brace through his back. We’ve finally found a great balance of the right equipment, the right training and the right farrier that we are making huge strides in our training. Because all of the basics were there, now as I throw new things at him he takes them by storm. The difference in his way of going improved when I got the Concept Saddle and then improved again once I had the saddle fitter out to make a few minor adjustments to the flocking.
Until next time Bastian says “"In order to get from what was to what will be, you must go through what is." ;)
Labels:
Dressage,
equestrian,
eventing,
horse,
horses,
Jumping,
para equestrian,
Pony,
WEF,
WEG,
world equestrian games
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