January Goals

Obviously I'm already a little ways into January but I'd like to do monthly goals again along with my larger yearly goals. Mainly because I think it will help me keep on track but also because I think it will help me motivate myself to get to the barn more often.

Ride More:

Speaking of getting to the barn more often, I'd like to make it a goal to ride 6 days a week during January. Between the snow and cold I know it's going to be tough but even if I go 4-5 times because I set this at 6 that will still be a win.

Focus on Forward:

While also working on getting the contact more consistent. I haven't ridden dressage long enough or ridden enough different horses to be able to speak to how things "usually" work. However, I know that for Katai, if I push her forward when she's got her head in the air and she's tense in front of the withers it does nothing more than make her more tight. When I do that she also moves her legs up and down instead of forward. That means that I need to use the reins to get her on the contact and taking it forward and down and then push her forward into it. 

This is tricky because when she's like this I can fall into the trap of riding too much with my hands which just makes the problem worse. I'm starting to get the timing right and to be able to fix the contact and then push her into it but it's fairly recent that I can do both at once. I want to make sure that this month while I'm getting her more consistent in the contact again and getting her to reach forward and down that I don't lose the forward at any point.

Groom Better:

I tend to be a bit sloppy when it comes to presenting myself and I'm pretty lazy about my appearance. I usually wear eye liner and some mascara and no other makeup but sometimes I can't even be bothered with that. Normally my hair is just back in a pony tail and I can't even count the number of times that I've gone to the bathroom at work and realized that I've got floofy bits of hair flying everywhere hours into the work day. 

I'm the same way with Katai 

No, pony mascara is not where this is going

I brush the gunk off and that's about it. I'm not good at keeping up with her green spots (thank goodness she's a neat princess pony and stays pretty clean) and one of the only things I enjoy about winter is that the constant blanket wearing means she stays pretty clean. 

It's been tough in the past because she didn't have the patience to stand still and she's still terrified of spray bottles which makes putting any sort of product on her that much tougher. Plus right now she's so hairy that it's easier to just brush her off, tack her up and go rather than trying to groom an extremely hairy pony when it's so, so cold out. However, I really need to up my grooming game asap. 

Her back legs are grimy, she's got dirt spots everywhere, her mane and neck (where the blanket doesn't cover her up) are so dirty and yellow that she almost looks like a buckskin, and her tail has gotten out of control. It's time for a spa day but I also want to make more consistent in depth grooming a thing for January.