3 Weeks and Counting...

This Friday will mark the end of a three week period where Bastian has been back to full work. He is such a happy lil' dragon right now. He has even left his precious grass behind and walked down to meet me even though I had no treats to offer him (trust me, he got treats as soon as we made it to the barn, I wouldn't dare to not provide his glorious self with treats). I can add that to my list of things that I love about Bastian. He's pretty straightforward, as long as you listen to him ;)

Thanks to Emily B. for taking care of and riding Bastian while I was away visiting my brother and his family in North Carolina. They really get along great and as we all know, its hard to leave our ponies in just anyone's hands when we can't be there. Emily did a great job with him!

He's gotten his fitness back fairly quickly and now we're just working on rebuilding that lovely hind end that we were working on over the winter. His back has continued to feel good. Unfortunately for me, one of the screws in my dressage saddle was stripped and we were unable to switch out the gullet. So back to the Hastilow shop my saddle went where this totally happened:

Don't worry, they're professionals.....and yes my heart definitely stopped beating for a moment. No one wants to see the Dressage saddle that they know and love in the same photo with a hacksaw....however, all is well and a new screw/part/thingie (technical term) is on its way over from England. Bastian is enjoying his jump saddle, but I am missing my Dressage saddle...

Our lack of dressage saddle has not stopped us from working on dressage-y things. We're working on straight, forward transitions and lateral work. I'm starting to feel like performing lateral work well in a jump saddle should be a Girl Scout patch or something. We're not doing too bad, check out our totally decent shoulder in:

Bastian has really been enjoying his jump saddle because we started actually jumping yesterday. We haven't jumped in months...MONTHS. Granted its just a X-rail, but we owned that X-rail yesterday and today we had an actual jumping lesson and it was fabulous. I was not disappointed by my saddle-I felt very balanced and correct as we tackled the 18" of doom. I look forward to jumping bigger fences as the summer progresses (and by bigger I'm talking 2' to 2'3" -yeah, I'm that crazy ;) ). Bastian is absolutely adorable when he jumps, his ears perk up and you can just feel him get happier. All of our dressage work has definitely paid off, he was super adjustable up to the fence and listened brilliantly to my half halts. We were both quite pleased with ourselves after our lesson today.

This weekend we're headed to the Up & Over show at the Buckeye Horse Park, we're competing in the Flat class divisions and Hunter Hack. There's a Thoroughbred Only Division on Sunday, which I am totally looking forward to. Hopefully at the next show we can actually do the 2' division. I'm pretty much sure at this point that we won't be going to any recognized dressage shows this year, so we're just going to play Hunter Pony a few times and keep our muzzles to the grindstone in preparation for Wellington next year, where we will hopefully be competing in our Second CPED***.

Wish us luck at the show this weekend, we're flying solo! (He's gonna be a fancy hunter.....)

Spring Cleaning

Spring has finally arrived. For Bastian and I, March came in like a lamb and has gone out like a lion. We've been making some tremendous progress towards mastering 2nd Level. He's getting so much stronger, balancing back more and lifting those magnificent shoulders of his. Our turn on the haunches is getting cleaner and his barely-trot-lengthenings are actually becoming lengenthings and dare it say it, (dare! dare!) mediums. He has been loving his Neue Schule Tranze Lozenge Bit (which we got from my amazing sponsor Hastilow Competition Saddlery!!!) If you haven't checked out the info and research that has been done by the Neue Schule Bit Company, I highly recommend it. I just ordered the new bits for my double- they make a Weymouth just for Thoroughbreds!! Woot!

However, March was not without its difficulties. They were all linked together and has reminded me of how Bastian communicates. As long as I listen he'll remember to be the loveable dragon I've know for the past 10 years, although he maybe needs to simmer down a bit since his method of communication can be a bit, well, painful.

On a particularly windy and dismal day, Bastian and I had a rough time. Every know and again he gets a bit looky and his looky-ness is generally related to him not feeling 100%. I make it a regular habit to check is back for soreness and like all good horsewomen, check his legs and just generally make sure he's well. So I didn't find anything amiss before I got on. However, for whatever reason he decided to be a complete asshat that night. Everything was going great then he spooked at the wheelbarrows (which have been in the same corner for the past six months that we have been riding in the indoor). He did his classic duck and spin move, which I've gotten fairly good at riding, except for this time. He went left, I went right, my foot got hung up in the stirrup for about fifteen feet as he bolted until my leather slid off the stirrup bar (always ride with those down kiddos!) So I can now officially cross "having been dragged by a horse" off of my list. So I get back on, things are going pretty well-I'm not gonna lie, I was giving the wheelbarrows at the other end of the arena a wide berth- and I felt him starting to get tense again, we cantered by X on a circle and he pulled the move again and I completely gave up on him. I'm as much to blame for the second time as he was. So long story short (too late!) we had a glitch in the matrix moment, he went left and went right again. As in right into the dirt. I haven't been dumped more than once in one ride/day since I rode a lovely school horse at Wilson named Snoe-she had a penchant for dumping riders who got ahead over jumps and that was pretty much my cardinal jumping sin. I got on a third time, cantered (or loped, I was keeping him sooooooooo slow) one more circle to say that we did it and then I got off. Aside from a few sweet bruises and having to replace my helmet, no harm done.

Tawny was scheduled to ride him the next day and from the text I got afterwards, he was a complete BUTT. :( The next two days, he won't let me catch him in the pasture. He walks away from me and makes me chase him down through the muck and the mud. That right there is Bastian-speak for "something hurts and I don't feel good." I found a little bit of discomfort right over his hips, but only before we rode, after we rode he was completely fine through his back. So we did the lunging to warm up thing so that until he got his muscles loosened up I wouldn't be on his back making anything worse. Tawny rode him again and he was just being a butt again, so the decision was made to just lunge him until I could get some maintenance done.

So Bastian got his teeth done, and the dentist said they definitely needed it so that could have been causing him some discomfort and caused him to pull his shenanigans. I had also already started making plans to get his hocks done before all this craziness started, so Cleveland Equine came out and injected those puppies this past Monday. Bastian has been on stall rest since then (he finally gets to go back outside tomorrow!). Today was his first day back to riding, just 15 minutes walk and trot only. So perhaps against better judgment (and yes, there is a huge flow chart that goes into whether or not I get on my horse's back each time I ride) I took his new hocks for a test drive tonight. And I was rewarded by an amazing ride on the Dragon that I know and love. There wasn't anything particularly fantastic about his quality of movement-I didn't push him at all, we were going for calm- but he was unbelievably well behaved.

I was expected some fire breathing and just a general feeling of him being higher than a kite having been trapped in a 10X10 for four days. He was super lazy....I had to push him to get a nice swingy hunter trot and as soon as I started to half halt to transition he was walking. He didn't look at anything (I was looking at stuff, waiting for him to find an excuse to spook). So there you have it, Bastian-speak for "all is right in my body now." I know to listen to my boy, but I guess I needed to refine my listening skills. The only times he is every bad is when he is uncomfortable. Granted, he needs to maybe give me a bit more of a chance to translate the Bastian to human, its not like he comes with subtitles. ;)

So here we are. The last bit of spring cleaning we need to do is to get new shoes for the B-man. I'm hoping I can make it into the Lake Erie College Prix de Villes show at the end of April so we can get started on earning our Second Level scores. I want another week to make sure we've addressed all of his issues and then I'll send my entry in. Unfortunately, since its a team competition, teams get the first priority. If we don't make it in, our first show will be the Grand Haven Schooling show in May. Did I mention that I'm anxious to go to a show? He just feels so much more amazing than last year, I can't wait to get some judges perspective on him.

The final piece of good news is that towards the beginning of the month (on a really good day) Tawny was riding Bastian and she got a successful flying change each direction with him. He's got a super solid counter canter and very few people have been able to get a flying change on him, including a BNT-who was awesome enough to not push the issue and say he just wasn't ready for it. Which he wasn't, he wasn't strong enough or straight enough in the canter. So this gives me hope for getting to 3rd level this year and earning my last two scores towards our Bronze medal. I never thought I would get there on Bastian and I am humbled and excited that we're doing this together piece by piece.

Fingers crossed we get into the Lake Erie show!!

The Schedule

February was a short month, but I hadn't realized that I hadn't blogged since the end of January and now its March....

Its been a weird month weather-wise and unfortunately my work schedule has also been a bit non-cooperative, something that I hope changes this month. Something that will have to change this month. I've had Bastian in training with Tawny and he is getting much stronger and of course, much smarter. He's really such an amiable guy. His steadiness through the poll has increased exponentially and he's pushing off more strongly from the hind legs, not to mention that we've made some great progress (thanks again to Tawny) in our turn on the haunches. I'm anxious to get to a show and see how we score with all of our new skills ;) I had aspirations of going to the Chagrin Schooling Show today, but when I woke up to snow and sloppy roads, I was glad that I hadn't signed up and didn't have to go! The new plan is to start in April....

Which leads into my show schedule for the year....drumroll....

April:

13th: Chagrin Valley Farms-Schooling

May:

10th: Grand Haven Schooling Show

31st: BHP Hunter Show

June:

7-8: WPDA/Grand Haven Recognized-2 Shows

21-22: LEC Dressage Derby Recognized- 2 Shows

July:

6th: Grand Haven Schooling

19-20: NODA Recognized Show - 2 Days

August:

9-10: WPDA Summer Sizzler Recognized

24: Grand Haven Schooling

September:

7th BHP Hunter Pace

I have yet to find a Schooling event that fits into the schedule so I may have to forgo that this year and just stick with the odd hunter show (weather permitting!). With the crazy weather and my work schedule, I think my horse is a bit fitter than I am at the moment, he's getting more consistent work than I am!

Aside from hashing out my show schedule for the year I spent the day working on my art project: Ribbon Jars. I really like the idea and have wanted to try it for a while and so today I bought two "jars" and took care of Goldie's and Melvin's ribbons with fabulous results. Here they are:

This is Goldie's, the three other panels are completely open, I'm really happy with how it turned out!

And Melvin's:

I've got Bastian's ribbons sorted and ready to go, I just need to get jars for them, I'll be sure to post pictures when I get them done!

Finally, a Hastilow Competition Saddler will be in the area in March-contact them to set up an appointment whether you are looking to get a new saddle or just have your current saddle checked and reflocked, they are super knowledgeable and friendly to boot!

A brief update all in all, spring is almost here which means its almost show season! Bastian and I are really looking forward to this year and can't wait to show with Emily and her new horse, Padrick. While Emily was horse shopping, she was riding Bastian in lessons and they made a pretty good team.

Good Luck to both Emily and Norah at IEA Regionals next weekend!!!!

AETA Adventures!

Another "Snow Day" another blog post....

While I haven't been getting as much riding in due to the cold temperatures as I would like, Bastian and I are making slow and steady progress. We even did some jumping and once we got our head in the game and I sent him forward in front of my leg instead of closing my eyes and curling into a ball of ineffective nothing-ness it was amazing. He was definitely happy to pop over that crossrail. (yes, I was nervous about jumping a crossrail...I've got a lot of jumping baggage!).

On the dressage front, he's getting steadier through the poll, more in tune to my half-halts and I'm getting better at not going to my reins first. I'm not gonna lie, I've been a little unmotivated to go out when the weather is less than 10 degrees so I'm not getting in as much practice as I want, but the when its that cold both of us just never really get warmed up enough. So I've been trying to keep busy with other things. This past weekend I headed to Philadelphia for the AETA (American Equestrian Trade Association) Expo to hang out with Team Hastilow. AETA was awesome, I got to meet some amazing people and talk to them about the amazing products that they have developed for the Equestrian World.

Here are Bastian's top AETA picks. I'm not kidding, you NEED to check these products out!

#1 The Spine Free Saddle Pad developed and sold by Hastilow Competition Saddlery.

The design of this pad is really ingenious, it is created so that there is no pressure placed on the horse's spine when it is used. Hastilow did their research and put that data into practice to create this pad. Here is a link to their blog where they explain all about pressure on the horse's back: Hastilow Blog . Further, they wash and wear FANTASTIC. Because of the way that they are stitched, the pad doesn't shrink and pucker the way that many saddle pads do when they are washed. I'm never a happy camper when my saddle pads start to curl...they usually get tossed when that happens. Lastly, (and this is I think a huge selling point), the pad is only $55. Definitely affordable.

#2 The GoVelope developed and sold by Giddyup Gear

This innovative cell phone holder is definitely what the horse world needs. Cell phones have become just as important to equestrians, whether we're checking scores at a show or texting the member of our group who drew the short straw and had to go get everything that we forgot in the trailer and letting them know that they need to grab a few more things, we need our cell phones to be handy and convenient. Personally I've been searching for a cell phone holder that works with whatever I'm wearing and keeps my phone safe from dust, dirt, and moisture. Those lovely leather cases designed for business people could not hold up to the sitting trot or to Bastian's antics when he decided to throw in a buck or two. My phone would end up in the dirt. Those fun coloured neoprene ones are no longer large enough to fit my smartphone, so those aren't an option. The GoVelope is amazing, the industrial strength Velcro that attaches it to your belt loops is phenomenal, I don't think even a velociraptor could tear this thing off. The zipper works with just one hand, meaning I can keep a hand on my reins or lead rope or bucket of water, etc. and still manage to answer my phone. Its water resistant. So I can be out in the weather with it, or fall off in a puddle of mud and my phone is still safe and dry. It comes in fun colours, I got the grey (Pewter on the website!) but definitely plan on picking up a navy in the future. Not only does my huge Samsung Stratosphere with its protective cover fit in my GoVelope, but it was a convenient place to keep my cash as well.....the uses just keep piling on! They retail for about $55. You might be thinking, 'ah, hey, yeah, that's a bit pricey...' and all I can say is stop and think about it. This is meant to last forever, not a $15 case you have to buy year after year. The materials are awesome, not only is the fabric AND zipper water resistant, but there is this grippy stuff on the back that helps to keep it from sliding around. Futhermore, think of what you spent on your fancy Otterbox to keep your precious iPhone in. That was pricey and you probably didn't even think twice. So don't think twice here either. Get one. (just so you know, that's Bastian talking there. He has this weird idea that they would be better served for holding treats and sugar cubes...he's such a food junkie). Did you buy one yet? ;)

#3 KBF99 Horse Health Revolution Brushes

I am very picky about my brushes. Its hard for me to buy new ones because I have to LOVE it in order to buy it and right now I love my brushes, but they are starting to show their age. I'm also not usually a fan of synthetic brushes (ie: I do not care for the Oster brushes) but after learning about these and hearing some first hand testinmonials, I'm 100% sold. The bristles actually kill germs, therefore helping to eliminate incidences of rainrot and other germ and fungus related problems. Science has never been my strong point so I'm just going to direct you to their webpage and read about it yourself: KBF99 Webpage. I've got a set on order for Bastian and can't wait until they arrive. Hastilow Competition Saddlery will be selling them soon, so when you contact them about saddle fitting or to buy your spine free pads, be sure to order a few KBF99 Brushes for your grooming kit.

#4 Stay-on Poultices

This product may be the best thing since sliced bread and peanut butter came together. I'm a poulticer, I poultice every night at horse shows and after hard workouts at home. Its a bit of necessary evil. I love the benefits of poulticing, but I hate the messiness. It gets everywhere, and my horse gets it all over himself, it will be around his eye, in his mane, through his tail....you get the picture. These, however, give all the benefits of poulticing without the mess. Amazing!! They offer three different 'formulas' to choose from. You want more you say? Okay, here you go. They stay moist longer than traditional poultice, which we all know is the key to an effective poultice. Once the mud dries, there ain't nothing happening. They can be put in hot or cold water depending on what it is you are trying to treat/accomplish. They can be laid across the horses back if your horse has a sore back (and if your horse is sore because of an ill fitting saddle, contact Hastilow!!). They make an awesome foot wrap-no more soaking for abscesses, this boot has got it going on. There are some great videos on their website as well. While I'll still use my traditional poultice on my horse on a regular basis since he is on field board (I poultice him and turn him out, no wraps), at horse shows this is what I'm using. No mess, no scrubbing mud off every morning...I can't wait! They retail for $15 for a four pack.

#5 The Lovely Range of Products from Equi-Spa

I bought several bottles of good stuff and got samples of everything else. These smell heavenly and are going to get a lot of use in my grooming caddy during show season. I'm super excited about the sample of the sheath cleaner I got as well as the sample of the Cooling Tea-Tree Gel. I used a bit of the Tea-Tree on my own knee last night (I slipped and twisted it on Christmas Eve and it is taking its own sweet time in healing) and It made a huge difference. I can't wait to use it on B, I know that he will love it. I also can't wait to use the Grapefruit Coat Refresh. I currently use Miracle Groom and while I like the results I am not a fan of the smell. I also like the idea of using it between classes at a horse show. There is always that accumulation of dust that you just can't get off between classes at a show. The spray on Cool Muscle Wash-awesome! I can really target specific muscles and again, I think Bastian is going to love it. He likes his grooming/spa time and I'm excited to be able to pamper him a bit more. Check out their website to order!

Well, those are Bastian's top five picks. There were a lot of great new products to be seen as well as subtle changes to beloved brand names (Getting to see the Kerrits fashion show was a personal highlight-I love Kerrits!). On top of all that I got to spend time with my amazing sponsor, Hastilow Competition Saddlery, and have the opportunity to learn even more about their great products. I have to say that despite my horse's difficult shape, I love the fact that when we go to horse shows, I am one of the few riders that has a saddle that fits my horse without having to use any special pads. My saddle fits my horse's entire back, not just the withers and I have the master fitters at Hastilow to thank for that. I was amazed at the improvement Bastian started making once we got a saddle that he was comfortable in and that fit him. It truly does make a world of difference, so if you want your equine partner to be comfortable and able to perform at their best, be sure to get in contact with them and set up a saddle fitting appointment.

Here's to warmer weather!

An Overdue Update

I haven't updated my Blog since October 7th. To those of you that follow, I'm so sorry, but I had some fairly good reasons for not updating before now. The biggest reason being that there was absolutely nothing to report. Bastian was still just "off" I was only getting out the barn about once a week and we were doing nothing..... No shows, no lessons, no training. But now that November is already half-way over we're finally back on track :)

I tried for a few weeks to get a Chiropractor out to check up on B, but to no avail. I think I was causing bad chiropractic luck, both of the chiros I called had to cancel due to having their own chiropractic emergencies and being unable to work on horses. So after week five I hopped on Bastian to see if he still felt a little funky and he felt FANTASTIC! So I opted to listen to what the powers that be were trying to tell me and decided not to attempt to reschedule for the time being. So far, so good, Bastian has continued to be amazing and he is back to engaging his hind end and using his back.

I also had my Hastilow Concept Saddle reflocked by the amazing saddle fitters at Hastilow Competition Saddlery. It had been a year since I had had it looked at and it was due for a bit of maintenance. The best part was that despite how absolutely wonky Bastian is in his hind end due to his bout with EPM as a three year-old, he actually still moves quite correctly and evenly under saddle.

(Check out this picture! He is standing square, that is how 'off' he is in his hind end, yet he still moves lovely, we usually score 7 or 8 on gaits!) The fitter told me that the flocking was even on both sides and it did not indicate that the saddle was unbalanced or that he was moving unevenly. I'd also like to take a moment to mention that I have seen Hastilow fit some odd shaped horses and that their saddle fitters are good. I've got some horror stories (don't we all!) about saddle fitters that are linked to other companies and in my experience I have yet to have a bad experience via Hastilow. So any saddle fitter that can make a saddle fit my wonky horse definitely has my respect! I just ordered a Neue Schule bit from Hastilow as well and am looking forward to trying it out, I'll be sure to give a full report once its here.

We haven't been doing any exciting work, just getting his muscling back and getting our groove back. Both of us are fighting a lack of fitness, but we're back up to 45 minutes of solid work and going strong.

(Bastian, while very glad to be back to work, is thinking that its a bit tiring....) We're focusing on building up those back muscles again and getting our balance up and back over the hocks, lots of transitions and building on our lateral work is doing the trick. I also think that I have figured out what I'm doing wrong when we halt. Bastian has a bad habit (induced by me!) of bringing his left hind leg up underneath of him and resting it when we halt. Tres annoying and I have been trying EVERYTHING to figure out how to get him to halt square (When Tawny rides him she gets a square halt pretty much every time so I know its me!). Finally I tried putting on an insane amount of right leg and despite him tracking sideways away from it, he halted square! So now I've just got to figure out how to keep him from going through my left leg....oy vey the joys of riding dressage, right??

On a much more awesome note, check out the sweet dragon that I managed to clip onto my horses booty:

Yup, I did that and it looks pretty cool. We're ready for some winter work, Third Level Approach-th ;)

And The Good News Is.....

Prepare for the Good News-Bad News-Good News Sandwich. ;)

Good News

We've hired two new people at work and I've been making it out the barn three or four times a week after school depending on my schedule, Bastian doesn't know what to do with seeing me so often.

Bad News

I scratched from Regionals. There were a lot of factors leading up to this decision, not the least of which involved the fact that Bastian was out of shape from the lack of work in September and he needed to be on top of the world to be competitive at Regionals. Like many other in this sport, I lack the disposable income to spend to just say "I went to that show!" If I'm spending my money on a show, I expect to do well. So long story short, I scratched and I was able to get my entry money back.

Good News

Not going to Regionals means we can focus on getting ready for Wellington in March and our Para Test. Bastian is in training and I'm getting to take a lesson every week. :)

The Rest of the Story

It was not an easy decision to make, I love competing and showing, its what keeps me focused when I ride, I am a person who likes to have a goal to work towards. This year was looking even cooler since it was the first year that National Championships are being offered too. I went back and forth, played out all sorts of different scenarios in my mind and decided to follow my gut. My gut said 'scratch.' I've ignored my gut before and regretted it, for the most part its 99% right. So its done and now we're focused on what needs to happen before March (I'm assuming March...they aren't exactly Speedy Gonzales on posting dates or prizelists for this Para-Dressage stuff). I've got my personal days saved so its all good on that front.

We're getting much better at our turn on the haunches and we've actually learned how to do half-passes so we've been practicing those as well. Bastian is thinking more collected, even though he can't maintain it for long. We're working on addressing his fitness and redeveloping his back muscles and his hind end. Its really pretty cool, because once I get his gaits where I want them, he has all his 'tricks.' In preparation for Wellington, we're focusing on his gaits and on all the small things-square halts (I have three per test and there is no reason I should not be scoring 8 or better on each one), riding my corners, accuracy, straigtness, etc. etc. Bastian is wonderful and I absolutely love him to death, he is talented and athletic, but a fancy dressage mover he is not. We can't afford to give away any points and we will be competing against fancy movers that have extensive dressage training. Bastian has an amazing Walk and a great Canter, his weakest gait is the trot, but even that is improving. I feel confident that by the time we go south we'll be ready. And I can't wait to see all my new friends too!

I've said it before and I'll say it again, Hastilow Competition Saddlery is the place to go if you are looking for a new saddle, whether it be a dressage or jumping saddle. They have many options to suit you and your horse, they can do custom options as well and have a selection of used saddles! Their saddles are made in England by master saddlers and are of an amazing quality! They also offer custom bridles, Neue Schule Bits and other high quality tack. I never realized how much my old dressage saddle was restricting Bastian until I got my Concept Elevation Saddle. Wow, what a difference it has made in how Bastian has been able to move through his back and be more comfortable. I also find it much more comfortable than my Wintec Isabella ever was! So I highly suggest that you head over to their website and check it out!

It will be time to clip the B-Monster soon, I'm hoping to replicate this awesome dragon on his adorable little behind:

This amazing dragon was done by a friend of mine on his butt two years ago. I'm not as handy with the clippers, but I'm going to give it my best shot!

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 ;)

Keeping Our Focus

“In the confrontation between the stream and the rock, the stream always wins- not through strength but by perseverance.” ~ H. Jackson Brown

This weekend Bastian and I were at the WPDA Summer Sizzler, the weather cooperated, which was nice compared with the drenching rains of previous shows. Bastian didn’t feel quite himself. He was tense through his back, super grabby on my left rein and we a few downright ugly moments during our schooling ride on Friday. I wasn’t able to get him to where I wanted him to be and he wasn’t giving me any help. By the end it was better, I finally had him softer through his mouth and back, but not soft enough. We took it though and I got him all tucked in for the night.

Bastian and his new friend Boomer playing Halter Tag(Boomer is for sale if anyone is looking for a cute kid's horse!!!)

On Saturday our first test was Second One. He felt much better as we started warming up and we scored a solid 64% for second place. Overall I was happy, it was a huge improvement from the 54% that I scored on Second One last fall in Kentucky…lol. Next was our Second Three test. I felt like it rode much better than our earlier test, but alas, the judge did not agree. We scored a 58%.  After reading my test and seeing the scores, I realized that while I was happy because he was a bit more through, he was stuck behind my leg and inconsistent through his poll. The judge gave us nice scores (7s!) on the things we did well and nailed us on the movements we didn’t do so well (4s!). It can be tough to take sometimes, but it pointed out our weaknesses and left us with some serious homework.

On Sunday we only had one test, Second Three again. This one actually did ride so much better than our Saturday test and we walked away with a 61%. The judge was fair, we got our 7’s on our strong points and this time scored 5s on our weaker points (turn on the haunches, medium trots). We have a lot of work to do to fix all of those little things. Regionals is just two months away.

I’m a little frustrated by our lack of progress and I gave it a lot of thought on the hour long drive to and from the show each day. My conclusion is that Bastian and I have made such immense progress in the past few months that we’ve temporarily plateaud. I had to take a moment and appreciate how much we’ve both learned. Our bad days are still pretty darn amazing. Second Level ain’t no walk in the park and developing the muscling needing to maintain the collected gaits while maintaining softness through the poll and being precise through all of our transitions takes a lot more than what we needed for our training level test. I have spent the past 20 odd years of my riding career at training level, so this is a huge move up for me and we’re still figuring things out. We have the perseverance to do it and Bastian is more than capable, so its onward and upward for us. Our next stop is USDF Regional Championships in Lexington, VA.

With that being said, it’s back to work. Our focus needs to be on developing the muscling to maintain the collected gaits, and I’ve got to make our mediums more noticeable. We have two months to work on everything. Next weekend was supposed to be a schooling show at Grand Haven. I've finally uncovered Bastian's "not quite rightness" though-he is muscle sore on the left over his hip area, he doesn't seem to want to swing through on that side. Its nothing serious, but I'm giving him a few days off and we'll do a few light rides to get him moving and stretching it out, I don't want to push him. I've also switched up his bit and the difference was amazing, he was so much softer so we'll see if it was just the "hey this is different" effect or if after two weeks in a different bit he is still as wonderful and soft as he was. We had the opportunity to go on a walking trail ride the other day (We figured that walking would be good to help stretch him out and get the muscles moving without causing strain) and he was fabulously happy. His little ears were perked and I think he was flashing back to last year year when we were schooling XC. It definitely freshened him and me from being in the ring and I'm looking forward to more trail rides before the weather turns and getting the chance to trot and canter up and down some lovely hills.

Underwater Dressage

Things have been going great with Bastian! We went to the NODA Schooling show and ran through our Second Level 3 test on July 7th and he was fantastic. The weather was less than lovely and by the end of the day the humidity had returned with a vengance. We were both a little tired, but we pulled it off and scored a 63% and that was with missing our first simple change three times-it and we did it all with a front left shoe. Yup, the Wednesday before the show I showed up to ride and there he was being all cute and shoeless. Of course, it was a holiday week so finding a farrier proved to be impossible. He wasn't off so I figured I would go to the show and if he seemed footsore we just wouldn't show. Lucky for us, it all worked out and I got to run through my test before our recognized show.

We didn't finally get a shoes put on until Thursday July 18th :( and he managed to pull his other front shoe as well. With the weather being as wet as it was and him being due I wasn't overly surprised, but it did make schooling for the show difficult. We needed to practice, but I was worried about possibly causing soreness by asking for too much, so we did abbreviated schooling.

Anywho....despite the torrential downpours on Friday and Saturday at the NODA Recognized show and needing Floaties in order to survive our tests, Bastian was again a champ. I could not be happier with our performances (I mean, yes I could be happier if I had ridden better and been more correct, yada yada yada), but he was awesome. We rode our First 3 test first and it was going quite nicely until our second canter loopy, I half-halted and collected too much at X without enough leg to back it up and he did a beautiful trot transition. Complete rider error. We ended up with a 64% and our second qualifying score for Regionals. Yay!

On to our Second Level Test. He was awesome!!! We scored a 65% and got both of our simple changes to counter canter. We have some stuff to work on, just getting more flow in the test and more consistency in our collected gaits, but I am very proud of us. We took second in the class and it was our first qualifying score for championships. Woo-hoo!

Sunday at least was sunny! Our Para-Test was up first and while it rode better than it did in California (we got all of our leads!) I still managed to make some costly mistakes and we just are not there yet. We scored a 59%. It a tough test. In Bastian's and my own best interest I'm not planning on showing the test again until the schooling shows over the winter. I hate having to watch someone struggle through a test they aren't ready for-it makes everyone stressed-the rider, the horse, the judge, trainers, coaches, etc. So I'm going to avoid that road. I feel quite confident that by staying on the training schedule I'm on, we'll be ready by this winter and in time for Wellington in the Spring. But B is generally very relaxed and happy in the ring, so I don't want to jeopardize that by stressing about attempting to do stuff we just are not ready for. We are pretty comfortable at second level and I feel that our scores reflect the fact that we are showing where we should be showing.

Next up was our Second 3 test again. I thought it rode so much better than Saturday's test, it just flowed better and we were more consistent. We scored a 63%, our judge was a bit pickier today, all of her comments were spot on and are actually some simple stuff that I just need to focus on and our scores will start to go up rather quickly. So we got our second qualifying score and another second place. Best of all, our Saturday score earned us the Reserve Champ AA Second Level award. (Five year old moment-I got a big pretty ribbon!!! Woot!) Not too shabby for our big move up to Second :)

We're head to Championships in Lexington, VA in October. I like the facilities there and I'm hoping that I can get in touch with Bastian's breeder and she can come and watch our classes, I think that she would like to see her handsome baby all growed up and showing Second Level. And, we have our Second Level scores towards are Bronze Medal. Woot! I don't plan on showing Third Level until next spring. My original goal was to show this fall, but with having to concentrate on perfecting our Para-test, Third Level is going on the back burner (basically my flying changes are going on the back burner since everything else in the Para Test is Third Level) But if we can pull it off, we'll be showing Third next year and hopefully finishing up my Third Level Requirements for my Bronze Medal.

Next weekend is the WPDA Summer Sizzler at Grand Haven. We're doing strictly Second Level and since the pressure is off to get my qualifying scores I can have a bit more fun, we're doing Second One and Second Three. Here's hoping that it doesn't rain that weekend, it would be awesome to have to slop through the mud and slide through the corners....

Here is the video that Donna took of us from the NODA show: Thank you Donna!!!

What Would Brian Boitano Do?

Wow. What a crazy two weeks. I'm sorry I didn't manage to keep my blog more updated during the journey, but we managed to keep ourselves quite busy. We made it home safely on Tuesday night and spent pretty much all of Wednesday sleeping. Today has been spent doing laundry, mowing my jungle of a lawn and just getting back into the groove of EST and Pennsylvania. I'll try to cover all the important things here, but forgive me if I jump around a bit!

I mentioned before that during my international classification I was re-classified as a Grade IV from a Grade III para-equestrian. I've had a lot of people ask me "how could they do that??" Welllll.... how could they not? I needed be classified internationally, when they went through the same process that they went through three or four years ago when I was nationally classified, the only difference being that now I am stronger, I've found different ways to compensate for the muscles and bits that don't work, I've developed more core strength. Which of course leads to my mixed feelings, on one hand I'm very excited about being reclassified and knowing that I have improved physically. Of course, receiving this news the evening before you are about to compete and you've spent every penny you had and didn't have to get your horse across the country in your one shot at earning a qualifying score was NOT what I wanted to hear.

The grade IV test is more like a third level test. The differences from the Grade III test include: Extended trot, Extended Canter, Simple Changes, Walk Piorettes, trot half pass, canter half pass, canter-halt, and extended walk. Easy-peasy right? All I can say is that I have an amazing horse and an amazing trainer. We had never done over half of those things, I've played a bit with half-pass, but mostly a the walk in an effort to teach Bastian how to do our turns on the haunches..... Becaus Kristin has trained both Bastian and I correctly, we were able to do some semblence of the all those new movements, although not nearly as good as they should be and for a few, the first time I did them was in the show ring.....

So the theme of the weekend became "What would Brian Boitano do?" We all know of course, that he would make a plan and he'd follow through, that's what Brian Boitano do. So Team Bastian regrouped, I studied the Grade IV Test Team for Friday, watched a few youtube videos on walk piorettes and extended walks and got ready to give it my best shot. On Friday, we misse our qualifying score by 1/6 of a point. We scored a 59.4%, we needed a 60 :( The test itself went pretty well (my video camera is in a bag that was unpacked at the barn, I will post videos once I get it back!) I missed a lead in one of my simple changes, had we gotten that we might have eeked out our 60%.

Saturday was the Grade IV Individual Test, which was more technically difficult, it had more simple changes and the test was actually doing pretty well until we missed our right lead in a simple change at P, then missed it twice more and didn't get it until we were in the corner before K, obliterating any chance at a decent mark for either the simple change or the collected canter between P and K.... We end up with a 53% for that test, moving even farther away from the desired 60%. After we got Bastian put away, we sat down and started working on my Freestyle. I had a freestyle for Grade III, in order to ride it for Grade IV, I had to re-write the choreography, we had to include all those elements I mentioned above except for the walk-piorettes.

We tweeked it a bit, then I saddled B back up and we rode through it once in the practice arena. I switched to the double bridle, I figured it couldn't make it any worse! LOL, it was just what we needed, he rocked back, was more collected and our transitions became much better.

Sunday came and we tacked Bastian up one more time...our freestyle rode SURPISINGLY well given that we changed it to fit the music I had and be Grade IV compatible and that I had only ever ridden it through once. I only had to improvise one movement-we threw in an extra 10 meter circle in extended walk and believe it or not, we managed to get our 60%, just by the hairs of our chinny chin chins. During the awards ceremony, when the judge was handing me my ribbon, she complemented me on taking on the Grade IV test and dealing with the difficulties of the test without any preparation. So, long story short, we earned our Certificate of Capability and we are now eligible to be selected for the WEG team.

Its of course, much more complicated than that, but this step of the process is done. I have until Wellington next spring to work on the Grade IV test and actually learn how to do all those things I was doing...lol. The location of the Para-Nationals is still up in the air. Apparently show management thinks paras make things too difficult? I don't really know, but that is the blunt answer-I'm not one to mince words. If its someplace we can make it to, then we'll be there. Right now our show plans include the NODA shows at Grand Haven in July and the WPDA show in August. Then, Regionals in October and Wellington for a CPEDI*** in the spring.

I have to give a huge thank you to Team Bastian. They were amazing in keeping him happy. Between stall cleaning, 3 hand walks a day, icing, poulticing, grooming, bathing, and tack cleaning they more than earned their keep. Also, a huge thank you to my sponsor, Hastilow Competiton Saddles. I love love love my Hastilow Concept Saddle and obviously Bastian loves it too or else he would not be able to utilize his back and rock back onto his hocks as well as he does.

I also have to give super thanks for all of the words of encouragement from the other para-riders, the Classifiers, the Stewards and the USPEA representatives. It was a tough weekend for us, Bastian and I definitely gave it our all and well I of course would have loved to have done better, I feel that we did pretty damn good given the situation that we faced.

So. Take that Bembridge Scholars!

Right Place, Wrong Time

Things have been going well overall here in sunny California. We've been having a great time and Bastian has been behaving like the best lil' dragon in the world. He's been a bit tense and after some keen coaching advice from afar, Kristin got us thinking forward and through again.

Bastian likes the weather, its cool overnight (in the 50s) and the mornings are in the 60s (just cool enough you want long sleeves) and by the afternoon its in the 80s. No humidity, so its really quite nice. The B-man has been taking little siestas in the afternoon.

Today was the jog, I'm going to admit I was super nervous about this part, having never gone through it and not knowing how picky the judges were going to be I was scared that they would not pass him and I would have driven all this way for nadda, but he was looking fine and Samantha did a great job jogging him despite his lovely trip on his way back towards the judges. Yes, only my horse would trip. But he passed, greatest words I have heard in a while "Number 153, Accepted." Here is the video from the jog: They never announced the results for best dressed or best turnout, but I think Samantha and Bastian looked awesome.

Here is the tricky part, I was originally classified as a Grade III Para-Equestrian four-ish years ago. Since then I have gotten much stronger, especially in the last few months as I've been doing more core exercises and whatnot. I had to be internationally classified today (I only had my national classification before) and because I've become stronger, I was re-classified as a Grade IV Para-Equestrian. :-/

Don't get me wrong, overall, I'm actually quite excited about the change, there are a lot of fun things that I get to do in my dressage tests (more third-level-ly [is that a word??]}, but that is not what I wanted to hear today at the end of my classification. I am currently prepared to ride a Grade III test, I've practiced it and that is what we came to do, but in order for us to get our certificate of capability in order to be considered for selection, we need to ride the Grade IV test tomorrow. There are a few parts that might be sketchy, but we are going to give it a go, keep our mind on the task at hand and *hopefully* rise to the challenge. We ride at 8:40 in the morning (around 11:40 for all-y'all Pennsylvanians and Ohio-ans out there) and of course we are the first Grade IV ride so I don't get to even watch another rider go through the test (there is only one other Grade IV here).

So tomorrow I ride the team test, I feel good about most of it, it is what it is and hopefully, with luck, we'll manage to pull off a viable score. Its been great to meet the other para-riders, check out Lara Oles website.

I'll be sure to update after we ride our test tomorrow, if you want to creep on scores, you can go here:Fox Village Dressage Scores

Thank you again to everyone who has helped to support and sponsor me, especially Hastilow Competition Saddles my amazing family and friends. This would not be possible without all of you!! THANK YOU!!!

California Dreamin

Bastian has settled in quite nicely to his temporary home at the Mureita Equestrian Center. Aside from wondering why in the heck he is in solitary confinement, he seems right at home. I'm anxious for other horses to start arriving so he has somebody else to talk to being the social butterfly that he is. He is enjoying his spacious 10x13 stall and was pretty darn happy when we hung his fan up yesterday. He has been eating and drinking like its going out of style and with the high being 106 degrees yesterday, I had no problems filling up his waterbuckets multiple times. He even had 3 buckets of water overnight, of which he drank the majority of it. He looks as fat as ever and is very relaxed.

We spent yesterday getting my tack stall set up and finding a car to rent. My amazing dad was great in that regard and having an entire tack stall to myself is definitely spoiling me! I spent today feng shui-ing my tack stall and making minor adjustments. It was also nice getting all that done before the show-we didn't have to fight with a line of traffic, throw things unceremoniously off of the trailer and get out of the way.

After we got everything unloaded I lunged the B-man without side reins for about 15 minutes just to get him out of his stall and moving. He looked great, there was a bounce in his step, but he wasn't nearly as crazy as I was expecting having been cooped up in a stall of some sort for the past week. I'm sure the heat had something to do with it, but I was able to work him in one of the covered outdoor arenas so it wasn't too bad once you were in shade, but there wasn't much of a breeze to speak of. After his lunge, I gave him a bath because he looked downright chompy :-/

I dropped the second half of T-Squared off at the airport last night, so I had all morning to spend bonding with my handsome chestnut guy. After feng shui-ing my tack stall I saddled him up, lunged for about 10 minutes and then hopped on. He felt great, forward and steady in the contact. I just wanted him relaxed and forward today, we played a little with shoulder in and leg yield and did a few lengthens for 3-5 strides. The arena was huge and we had it all to ourselves, which was very nice. I was proud of his focus, it was getting pretty windy so there were some terrifying squeaky noises but he kept it together. I'm looking forward to riding him again tomorrow, we can focus a bit more on the elements of the test and I'll have Samantha (only 3 more hours until she is here!) there to video.

So far so good! I still can't believe that I've managed to pull this off so far, this has been a huge undertaking and we're moving into phase two (the show!) Thank you again to everyone who has contributed! Here is the link to where ride times and scores will be posted . As of right now, nothing is posted, but it should be up shortly.

Well, its time to go feed the B-man his supper then its off to the airport to pick up Samantha! I can't wait until she's here, I'm pretty excited that she was able to come out here, she's going to look amazing jogging Bastian on Thursday!

Lesson Learned :)

Have I ever mentioned what a wonderful instructor I have? If not, then let me say it now. Kristin Stein is amaze-za-zing. I had a great lesson this past Thursday. Bastian and I have always struggled with his wiggly-ness and my own weakness in my lower body, it is hard to keep him straight. This results in not only unwanted lateral movement but an unsteady poll. So it has been a huge focus of ours to get his little chestnut booty moving and to keep his poll quiet. He’s also a sensitive guy, so every little bobble on my part results in a bobble on his part, it’s a vicious circle.

Over the past few months I’ve gotten better with my upper body and better with my arms (I like to impersonate a chicken every now and then…). Now, we’ve started focusing on bringing my legs into the picture, keeping them on and keeping him tuned in there, using those elusive inner thigh muscles to keep him balanced. In my lesson on Thursday, we got it! If only for a stride or two, but we got it, I felt it, felt the difference it made in his gaits and it was awesome!

I love that Kristin was able to break it all down for us and to get us to this point. It is one of the things I truly look for in an instructor-if you can’t break it down and explain precisely what my leg/arm/hand/seat-bone should be doing I’m going to struggle with it. Another thing I really like about my lessons with Kristin are that even if what I want to be doing is some kind of fancy dressage second levelly thing or jumping over crazy fences (when we were jumping), she won’t allow me to do those things unless I’ve got the pre-requisites under control. A quality that I think is often lacking in many instructors-they do what the client wants instead of the client needs or is appropriate for the client.

The results are phenomenal. Because we have the pre-requisites mastered and in place, we can then do the cool stuff. So like today, because I made sure we were quiet, working off the seat rather than the hands and in front of the leg, Bastian gave his back and was soft and round and we had some crazy good canter-like a whole 20 meters worth of quality 2nd Level score of an 8 kinda canter.

What’s the point of this little story you ask? First off, always listen to your trainer (provided you have a smart one who knows what they are doing). Second, with horses, taking a few steps back will often times get you huge strides ahead. This lesson has been a bit slow sinking in for me-the first time Kristin really applied it with me was three days before Regionals. I wanted to be practicing the elements of my test and what Bastian really needed was a flexible rib cage and to go long and low and get through his back, so we spent the days before Regionals doing long and low work-like pre-training level work, I was freaked. But it paid off and it was what we needed, I could have put him through his first level tricks and he would have done them, but there would be no quality there.

As the rider, it is important to get on and realize where the horse is coming from on that day-it won’t always be where we want it to be. When it is not, realize that it is okay to take a step backward, even if it is right before a major competition. Pushing blindly forward without fixing the basic problem won’t end well for you or your horse. So yeah, today’s ride has now cemented this lesson in my mind. Bastian’s poll was so quiet you could have balanced a glass of water there…. He’s such a great guy and he is settling in nicely to his new home. We’ve also made our first offering to the shoe gods…. Oh well, he’ll be getting new feet soon and then problem solved!

We’re looking forward to an awesome April and a magnificent May (English teacher alliteration there). Just two months before he heads across the country to CA. I’m thinking I may need to start buying Pepto-Bismo by the case to deal with the stress!

Pack Your Bags!

So those of you that know me, know that I am a complete and utter geek, through and through. When I'm not doing the ga-zillion and one things that I have to do in order to make a living and prepare my horse for the show season, I can be found reading awesome literature, watching awesome TV shows and movies, and watching the best Japanese Anime around. (Total pop culture junky here) Two of those particular loves are watching (and reading) George R.R. Martin's Game of Thrones and watching Nickelodeon's Avatar the Last Airbender. So when HBO decided to put out a template to make your own coat of arms I couldn't resist combining these two ideas and creating a coat of arms and 'house words' for my fabu pony. House 'Luck Dragon' didn't sound right so I just stuck with "House Bastian" and then as I sat there trying to come up with some mind-blowing house words (We do not Tempi ~ala House Greyjoy) I started thinking about Uncle Iroh from Avatar, one of my favorite characters and how his nickname was "Dragon of the West," and well, long story short, I was like 'Hey, Bastian is the Dragon of the East.....' So the above is now my horse's coat of arms....I think its pretty sweet, the only thing that is missing is Bastian's personal logo, which I think I can eventually finagle onto there somehow....

Anyway, the main purpose of this blog is to give an update on our California plans. What I've got right now is some transportation! Woot. So, between borrowed trucks, trailers and a whole gaggle of air plane tickets, Bastian, myself and my slave, er, groom for the week will be making it to California. After the show I'll be making the drive back with him. Road Trip! I'm hoping we're in good enough spirits to get a few touristy pictures with Bastian like at the worlds biggest ball of yarn or something. (He's been telling me that he would really like to journey with the donkeys down into the Grand Canyon). But regardless of that. It looks like Game On. While there are still a ton of other details to work out, this was one of the major ones. If anyone has any frequent flyer miles they would like to donate let me know! LOL

That's all for now, just wanted to share his bodacious coat of arms and our happy progress news. Lesson tomorrow! Can't wait;)

Double the Fun

The ever so handsome B-Man has stayed sound for going on two weeks now...**knock on some serious wood here**! We lost about a month of muscle development in him from his time off, but we're quickly catching back up. That's the best part about having such solid training, he knows what is expected now, we just have to get those muscles responding again, so we have moments of collection and self carriage and its fabulous. (I've also been watching him on the lunge and there is some pretty nice trot in there, I just have to figure out how to find that gear when I'm on him!)

Our plan of attack the past two weeks has been long and slow, we've only just started getting back to doing bits and pieces of "collection." My focus has been on getting him through his back again and in front of my leg. The first week was tough, all he really wanted to do was have a 9 year old TB moment and go "KABOOM!" but he (for the most part) kept it together so the relaxed and forward wasn't happening to much until this past week. So as we re-adjust to each other there have been bobbles, but they are lessening every day and he is becoming quieter in his poll again.

We've also did our first ever ride in a double bridle. I've ridden with a double one other time in my life, but was pretty handy with gags and combination bits that utilized two reins back in my grand ol' eventing days so at least the two rein thing didn't freak me out. I'm pretty sure I could not hold anything else in my hands; two sets of reins and two whips is quite enough, thank you. My hands hurt after about 30 minutes since I'm not used to the curb rein yet. But mission successful, Bastian was quite accepting and when I managed to hit the sweet spot, it was heavenly. We're going to incorporate that into our regimen once a week. I'm also pretty sure that since we are now 'using' a double, he should automatically start passaging, piaffing, and piriouetting. He did none of those things so I think I want my money back.... lol

Funding is still going rather slow, but I'm hammering away at it. I have to give a HUGE thank you to the faculty and staff of Iroquois Elementary School in Erie, PA. They generously donated their casual Friday fund for February to Bastian and I to help us make it to California. Their generosity is much appreciated and gets us one step closer to our goal. I continue to cut out whatever I can and in April we will be moving to another local barn where Bastian will be field boarded for about a 1/3 of what I pay for board now. That extra money can be put into our California fund. It was not an easy decision to make, he's a happy camper and of course I can't foresee any problems but with horses you just never know! I think he will be okay, he was an outside bachelor when I first got him. I'll still be able to ride with Kristin when she comes out to my new barn and in the in-between times I'll be riding with Tawny Williamson. So fingers crossed that he'll like his new living situation!

My tack trunk is almost finished I just need to put the finish on it and thanks to some great advice from my TSC co-workers I got this awesome finish that is the same thing they put on bars to keep them from getting banged up and destroyed by inebriated patrons, so if we have a rough day at a horse show we can just belly up to my tack trunk and have a few....dual purpose equipment is always the best!

Those are the high lights for the moment. A final note: Hooray for March Madness! May the best Gator/Buckeye win ;)

Crunching the Numbers

No, it’s not some super yummy new breakfast cereal, although that would be nice wouldn’t it…. Nope, I’ve started to do the math that is California and frankly its downright frightening, but between sheer determination and a little bit of luck, Bastian and I will be making this trip. Here is the initial fiscal breakdown:

Hotel for 10 days: $800

Plane Ticket Roundtrip: $500

Rental Car + fuel: $500

Food for 10 days: $500

Show Fees: $1000

Additional Stabling: $300

Hauling: $???? (I haven’t heard back from any shippers yet….)

Sooooo…..that means that not including hauling I’m looking at $3600. :^O

Damn! So between now and then I’m going to have to do some massive fundraising. I’ve cut out everything I could possibly cut out of my everyday life that costs me extra money (good bye TV!) .

I’m still selling Polo Shirts and Saddle Pads and would love to put on a schooling CT in May to help raise funds. Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated! And anyone who wants to plan and organize something I would really appreciate that! This isn’t a cop-out, I will do whatever it takes, but between two jobs and full time grad school and trying to ride and train it gets a bit overwhelming…. But I am definitely all ears and I need help-I can’t do it on my own.

On the Bastian front, there is still something a little wonky going on and its back and forth between his LH and RF. The vet wants us to do a round of Tildren in March and then to have his hocks done in May. Its looking like the Kentucky show is going to be nixed from the schedule-it’s just too much between extra vet money and the trip to CA. Viriginia in July is the same way. It looks like it will be CA in June, NODA in July and WPDA in August then (hopefully) onto the USDF Festival of Champions (Para-Nationals) in October followed by Regional Championships.

I’ve got a very light work week this week so I’m looking forward to spending lots of time with the hairy chestnut monster ;)

Suggestions on how to make this all happen are welcome!!!! Be sure to check out our website for the most up to date news: www.luckdragondressage.vpweb.com

Bastian enjoying the spring mud-he's very into exfoliating his skin....

Plan B

So much has happened since last time I posted and I needed some time to get my thoughts in order, so bear with me as I try to explain everything....

Everything that I have been working for has had to shift. Of the many ways I occupy my time, one of them is my full time job as a high school English teacher. Due to the nature of the job, we do not get vacation days and we only receive a limited number of personal days (3) that we are permitted to use throughout the year. I used my personal days for Regional Championships because at that time none of this was really in the works and there weren't any shows on the schedule. As the schedule was decided, there were only two opportunities for me to choose from in order to show and attempt to achieve my qualifying score. Both options involve a good deal of travel. Option one and the most economically feasible was Wellington Florida in March. In November I approached my immediate supervisor about this issue wanting to know what my options were concerning days off beyond my personal days. I explained the situation and what I was working to accomplish. They made it sound like getting the days off would not be an issue-I could take unpaid leave. Fast forward to 3 weeks ago. I am happily making my plans and when I try to confirm exactly what they were willing to allow me to take I am told that my request cannot be accommodated because it would set a precedent (my para-phrasing here)and they would have to approve unpaid leave for whenever people wanted to travel.

If you are scratching your head, as I did saying "huh, don't you understand what it is I am trying to do here? This is so much more than just travelling...." then thank you. And I do understand the districts point of view, but I was requesting at a minimum two days-Thursday and Friday and offered to teach summer school (something that I have done for the past two years) for free (flex time)-I usually earn close to $800 in order to have just those two days off. Basically I was told that (paraphrasing again!) "its nice to have goals and you have a great story, but we don't want to support you." I am not impressed and the only thing I can respond with is this. Game. On.

This leads me to the two options I have left:

Option One Give up. I don't even feel the need to elaborate here-its self explanatory, being that there are so few opportunities for Para riders here in the United States, I give up live a satisfactory but unfilled life as a 2nd level dressage rider.

Option 2

Go to Sacramento, California and attend the only other CPDI*** Dressage Show offered this year. More expenses, and another 11 hours of travel. So....guesss who's going to California! This girl! Admittedly, the whole idea of travelling that far is overwhelming, the logistics of how I'll manage to get Bastian there as well as myself is a bit much to think about. I will happily take suggestions on shippers, overnight locations and if anyone else wants to go....I here the horse show is really nice....lol

35 hours. 35-friggin-hours. I have it mapped out in the event that I am driving/hauling B and it works out to just over two weeks with travel time, recovery time, showing, then driving back. Instead of the 4-7 days that Florida would have meant. Now I am faced with more hotel fees, more gas money, more pet-sitting money for my sweet little Lucky dog and Doodle.....okay I'm getting whiny here, I'll stop. Like I said; Game on. I will be going to California and I cannot wait. Bastian and I will get our chance to show in an international ring against the best of the best.

So to continue on the bad news front, Bastian has had some hind end wonkiness, so I had the vet out today thinking maybe its just his hocks-he is 9 years old this year and we have never done anything joint wise. Alas, it was not hocks. We actually have an awesome mix of things going on....He has a splint on his left hind leg. Solution was an injection (can't remember off the top of my head), then he was off mildly on his right front, we blocked his foot and his ankle before he was sound. Then a-gazillion x-rays later and we have (insert big fancy word here) changes. (I don't have the vet report in front of me-its still sitting in my tack locker at the barn...) So injection there of stuff (different stuff than his splint injection), followed by 5 days of hand walking (hooray!) two weeks of bute and back to normal work in 7 days. If he's still off when we go back to normal work then I call back and we re-evaluate. I need to give a huge thank you to Dr. Berthold from The Cleveland Equine Clinic, he was so easy to talk to and he knows his stuff. I feel very lucky that I have such a wonderful vet clinic so nearby-they have always taken excellent care of me and my Chestnut Nugget of Joy. As long as he's sound we have a few more steps to complete over the next few months, but Bastian should be 100% in time for CA. Unfortunately my stress level has skyrocketed. I bought a box of little debbie cakes on the way home and well...they are almost gone.....

Here is our updated schedule:

KDA Spring Show, KY (May)

CPDI*** Rancho Murieta, CA (and because I am travelling I will again miss the June WPDA/Grand Haven Show :( )

Lexington, VA (July-still only a maybe, depends on if anyone else is going!)

NODA + Encore (July)

WPDA Summer Sizzler (August)

Para-Nationals, KY (October)-providing I Qualify at CA!

Regionals-Lexington, VA -October

It also looks like there is a training session with Robert Dover at some point for Para-riders, keeping my fingers crossed that I can A) be selected, B)its a reasonable distance and C)it doesn't interfere with my silly school

The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men Gang aft agley, -Robert Burns (1785)

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." ;)