Why Didn't Someone Tell Me I Owned a Horse?

The last time I blogged was August 17th. Since then school has started-both my full time teaching job (I'm back to teaching the classes I love at least instead of the 3 crazy new curriculums I had to learn and teach last year!) and on the same day my Graduate Courses started (3 classes this semester!) and we've been short staffed at my part-time job so all of us have gotten more hours than we want (which is usually a GREAT thing), and I have been left with pretty much no extra time. Since August 17th, I think I have ridden Bastian a total of 10 times and that is being generous in my counting. The biggest detriment to all this is that we've both lost a bit of that great fitness level we had at the end of the summer.

Mentally, Bastian is there. His balance has shifted and he's uphill more than he's downhill (even when I'm getting him to stretch down to get that back muscle going again!). We've found a lovely new bit and he's going quite well in it. I've got lessons lined up and training rides scheduled. We've got two and half weeks to get it together before Regionals, I'm wigging out a little-I feel like this is my chance for redemption from our not so successful Rancho Murietta *** show. I have 100% confidence in Bastian.

Our past month was not without some fun. A while back we had decided to go to a Hunter Show for fun and so on the 14th, Bastian and I went to the Buckeye Horse Park and we showed in the flat division- Hunter Under Saddle, Hunter Hack, and Hunter Pleasure. The pleasure involved having to perform an "extended trot" (like a hunter version extended trot...) and we rocked it! I think that is what won the class for us, we placed third in the Hack and Bastian jumped the two scary flower decorated fences like he had been schooling fences all summer and we came in second in the HUS, earning us Reserve Champion of the Flat division. Woot! I have never won a hunter class before, EVER.....so it was pretty cool and we had a lot of fun, hopefully I can hit up a few more shows next year and maybe even do the low adult hunters (2' division). We should have lead changes by then since we're going to start working on third level over the winter ;)

We got back to work last Thursday and Bastian and I have been working hard since then. We've hired some new people at my part-time job so I'm back to working just one or two weeknights, Graduate school is going well, knocking off assignments and papers one at a time and getting closer to getting to my Masters. And teaching is getting more under control (again, since I'm already familiar with the curriculums I'm teaching). Basically I get to be a horse owner again! Yay!

Not much of an update, but then again, not a lot has happened. At least the B-man is still incredibly handsome. Here he is rocking the disheveled look ;)