2017 Goals

     I’m honestly not one for making goals with deadlines.  I don’t believe in New Year’s Resolutions because I try to make any changes that I want as I notice them.  I think it’s especially hard with horses because as soon as you make a goal they’ll get injured or just really struggle with a concept (in Mort's case it's always both).  With all those disclaimers—here are my 2017 goals!

Horse Related:

Show First Level

     Schooling show or recognized
Counter Canter
Simple Changes

Haunches-in

Attend a dressage clinic

     More than one would be great, but we’ll see how that budget goes. 

Train Mort to be quiet for clipping

     This mainly applies to ears.  He’s awful about them and I should work on that. 

Poles

     I want my horse to be able to w/t/c over a pole without falling apart. 

Massage

     I really want to get him checked out by a professional.  He’s so tense with the chiro that I think a massage might be better for him at this point.  I’m at least curious as to what she would have to say.  I conveniently have one who boards where I do, so I need to hit her up. 

Human Related:  

Run Half Marathon

     I ran my first one in October and while I finished I didn’t finish in my goal time so I need round two.

     Also continue running 3-5 days/week with at least one hard and one long. 

Become a better trainer

     More lessons—someone to watch me and keep me honest

     Get better about knowing when to push—just got to experiment and be bolder/more demanding

     Continue riding 4-6 days/week—only way to get better is to keep trying to get better

Start seriously saving for a house/property

     Our lease is up in April and we’re tired of renting.  I’m also for damn sure tired of moving. 

Keep the family life good 

     As with most horse-obsessed folks I need to make sure that not all of my time and our money goes toward the pony stuff.  Balance in life and crap.  Luckily Steven has his own hobbies too so we’re good about doing our own things (yay for not being dependent), but this is something I always need to keep in mind. 

I guess that’s it for now.  I think some will be more difficult than others (and some will be ongoing forever and ever), but overall I’ll definitely achieve some of them (right?).  I’m already regretting writing about his ear clipping and the poles because I am lazy, and I’m not sure about counter canter and the simple changes.  They honestly weren’t on the first draft because they seem far away, but when I think about where we were last December/January it seems more of a possibility. 

A Review of Last Year:  

     Just a short year ago we were working on recovering from an injury, his canter was a hot mess, and he had never been to a horse show.  By March we were showing intro and discovering how well he traveled.  The summer set in to working on his education both in the arena and on trails.  Fall continued with me working harder on my education and things starting to click for Mort.  As much as I know how far we have to go we are still miles ahead of where we were.  Every once in a while I get a feel of the horse that I’m working for--hopefully the trend continues.  Here’s to another year in the horse world (and I guess the regular world too)!