Equestrian Blog

                 I am excited to announce that the Judson College Equestrian Team now has three new members: Lindy Cowart, Meagan Bennett, and Megan Kingsmore.

                 It is not often that new members are added in the middle of the season, but if a position on the team opens up during the first semester, students who qualify for those positions may be offered a spot in January. Spots on the team open up when a rider "points out" of a class and the team no longer has someone riding in that class, or if it would be beneficial to have multiple riders in a class.

                 That is what happened this year. Our walk trot rider Sarah Dunn "pointed out" of class 11 beginner walk trot at our last show in the fall, so we would no longer have someone riding in that class. Lindy Cowart and Meagan Bennett both qualified for this class and, because it is a small class and riders are generally able to "point out" of it fairly quickly, it was beneficial to have both of them join the team as class 11 Beginner Walk- Trot riders. Meagan Kingsmore has joined the team as a class 12 B Intermediate Walk-Trot-Canter rider. Though Judson's equestrian team already had riders in this class, two of them are very close to pointing out and because it is good to have multiple riders in a class, it worked well to have Megan join the team.  

Starting now is good for all three of these girls because it gives them a head start towards qualifying for Regional's next year. There are not enough shows left in this season for them to accumulate enough points to qualify, but competing this year puts them that much closer next year, since the points that a rider gains carries over to the next show season. It is also beneficial for the team for them to join now because any points they earn still goes towards the team's total.

                It is great to have these girls on the team and I am looking forward to working with them in the coming shows!

Oops. So, I guess I lost track of time, because it has been awhile since I have written. I apologize.

So, school has started and everything is beginning to fall into a schedule. I was hoping that things would be relaxed and calm for a few weeks since it is the beginning of the semester. I mean, it is the end of the semester that is supposed to be busy, right? I guess not, because I must say that this seems to be the busiest I have ever been! I don't know if it is because we are still playing catch up from having two days off of school for bad weather, or if I am just THAT busy. Either way, I feel like I have been running for two weeks straight...

I am taking 17 hours this semester, which I didn't think would be much of a problem (I have been taking between 16 and 18 hours every semester of my college career). Something is obviously different from those other semesters. I have a feeling that it has something to do with art classes. I am considering adding art as a minor, and I thought taking a couple of classes in that area would be a good idea before making up my mind entirely.  I have learned, from my own experiences and others, that it is a good idea to sample classes in an area of study you are interested in before you jump in head first. The idea of taking one or two classes in a field of study helps make sure it is something you really want to do before you spend a lot of time and effort on a bazillion classes. If you were to just jump in, you could end up  with a number of classes you don't need  because you decided that you aren't really interested in that subject anymore. I probably should have taken this piece of my own advice a little more seriously, and rather then being an over-achiever , taken just one art class...

It is not because I don't like the classes, but because they are very work-heavy. It is suggested that for every hour a student spends in class, they should spend 2 to 3 hours outside of class studying or doing work for that class. With art, however, the proportions are not that nice. I have been spending, at the least, 3 to 4 per hour of class, probably much more.  Guess I should have done my research and figured out what I was getting myself into.

Oh, well. Things will hopefully slow down a bit or at least have the illusion of slowing down, as a little more of the semester goes by and I get more accustomed to life as an art student.

Only eight days into the New Year and already it has great potential to be an interesting one.

The first few days were nothing special: Packing and getting ready to head back to Judson, as well as, a few last visits with friends back home before we all head our separate ways. It was the normal end of the holidays stuff. I was feeling sad that I had to say goodbye to some really good friends again, but excited that I was headed back to Judson and would get to see my sisters that I hadn't seen in a month. 

Once back at school I had to undertake the only worse chore then packing - unpacking! I didn't want to be working on it for a week though so I forced my self to finish it that night and, though I hated doing it, it felt good when it was done.

The first day of class was a good day. The good thing about a small school like Judson is that it is pretty easy to find all your classes without having to worry about getting lost. My classes all seem interesting and I am really looking forward to my printmaking class. I have never taken an art class; well, not since 6^th grade. I have a feeling my other classes will all be good too, maybe not as much fun, but as far as classes go, not bad. It was a day of sorrow though, because  Jack Bauer my fish died...

I had had Jack for a little over a year, even though he had only spent the past fall semester at school with me. Most of that semester I spent trying to nurse him back to health. I never did know what was wrong with him, but it was evident that he was not well. Over the semester I did a lot of research and learned a lot about Beta fish, which allowed me to help Jack take an occasional turn for the better but it was never long before he relapsed. After  only a couple of hours back at school his condition deteriorated  worse then it had ever been and I knew that it was the end. Jack would sink to the bottom of his bowl upside down and seemed to be struggling with himself to swim. I knew at this point that he would probably not make it till morning. He did survive through the night, but just barely, the only sign of life the next day was occasional convulsions. He died later that day while I was in class...

A memorial service and funeral was held for him that afternoon and was attended by myself, my roommate Jennifer and a dear friend, Heaven.

On a happier note, Jennifer and I are proud to announce the arrival of a new pet to our room. After Jack Bauer's death Jennifer purchased a goldfish. Her name is Trinket.

I also plan on getting another fish - with any luck, this weekend.

During the first week of Christmas, I stayed at school with around 20 or 25 other Judson girls for Restoration, a local missions project.

The project came to be because of a Judson student. Over the summer she was inspired to do work to help our community. After much thought and prayer, she started looking in to putting the idea into action.  It took a lot of work and a lot of help, but it was a success!

During the week, we had three different work sites. The first was at the elementary school in Marion. A group of the girls that stayed for the week went with Susan Jones - Judson's Faith-Based Service Learning Director - to work with some of the students. The girls read to the children and helped make Christmas sweat shirts.

The rest of us did work on two of the self-help homes that are being built in Marion.

Day one we went out to the first house.  Upon arrival at the house there was one small set back: How to get to the house! You see the whole yard was mud, not just muddy, but mud. We had to figure out how to build a bridge across the front yard to the front door. We were expecting to get dirty, as in paint, drywall dust, and maybe a little dirt, but shoes being caked in red mud was not something most of us were prepared for. It wasn't too long before the bridge was constructed and we were on our way into the house.

From there we installed insulation inside the house and painted the outside trim. Before we made it into the house though, there was an unknown job that they asked for volunteers to do. Four of us, ready for work, jumped at the opportunity. We may have been a little more hesitant if we had known where that job would take us.

(to be continued)