March Goals

I’m not even going to attempt to recap any goals for this year since we basically haven’t accomplished anything in 2019 yet beyond lots of vacation time. However in continuing with the theme of trying to post more positive things, looking ahead to the rest of March, and what I hope to accomplish, feels good.

Blog More:

My hope is that even if the weather continues to be awful I can still do some more blogging. I’m sure I can find things to blog about even if they aren’t substantial riding updates.

I also want to start trying to get more media even if it’s the snow outside our apartment, Katai eating hay in her stall, or Katai being fluffy and rolling in the arena.

Fitness:

My bf (who has a lot of yoga experience) finally convinced me to go to my first yoga class last Saturday. Unfortunately for him this ended up being a way more difficult class than it should have which made me slightly frustrated and left me feeling a little defeated. I HATE group fitness classes of any sort with a passion and while I was really hopeful that yoga would feel different this one didn’t. We went to a Vinyasa 1 class that apparently was more like a difficult Vinyasa 2 class and the class was packed so the yoga teacher wasn’t able to spend much time with anyone.

At any rate my amazing bf persevered and has convinced me to go to a yoga fundamentals class next Thursday. I’m actually looking forward to this one! I do want to do yoga, I just want to gain some understanding of how to do things correctly and then do it on my own at home and maybe just occasionally join him for a class.

Along with yoga I’m hoping to spend more time in our apartment gym even if that’s just walking on the treadmill and doing core work outs. I really want to get more in shape as I’m increasing my ride frequency.

Bone collection, check
Nap, check

Plan for Shows?:

This one unfortunately is pretty up in the air. I don’t know how I’ll show this year. I’m not sure who I’d trailer with, which trailer I could borrow if any, how much budget I’ll have for showing, or where Katai and I will be riding wise. Right now I’m planning to take things as they come and take opportunities as I can.

I’m very much going to be working to make sure we can show a handful of times this year but if that’s schooling shows this fall that’s ok. For that reason I haven’t paid for any memberships yet but will be proceeding with that if needed. However, I would like to go through and mark some shows that I’m interested in and try to keep those weekends open/start talking with a couple of the people I board with to see if they’d want to join me.

Additional Lessons/Clinic:

I’ve been working with K to do a few weekly lessons (vs. bi-weekly). Unfortunately the weather has been totally derailing this but I’m hoping that the next couple of weeks in March will work for this.

I’ve also signed up for “clinic” with a local, upper level dressage trainer. This person is K’s trainer (KM) and actually the first person I ever took a dressage lesson with way back when. It was supposed to be this past Saturday but, continuing the theme, was canceled based on the weather and was rescheduled for 3/30. My hope is that by then I’ll have had some good rides, a couple lessons at least, and will be feeling more prepared. This person is one option for additional lessons once K moves and I already have tentatively also planned to ride with her on 4/20.

We (the bf, his sister and I) went to Two Cellos
and also got to see Jon McLaughlin who opened for them

Finalize plans for once K is gone:

It’s extremely sad that K is going to be gone the end of this month. I’m going to work hard this month to get as many lesson with her as possible and then finalize plans for once she’s gone. I’ve stepped out of one of my Sunday DnD groups as of last Sunday so I now have more weekend time available which may mean that I can more easily get lessons with K when she’s here. I’m hoping to finalize that within the next couple of weeks.

In addition I’m going to continue to figure out additional options including the following;

• KM may be coming out once per month through summer and will most likely be coming out once per month at least until summer. When I clinic with her at the end of the month I’m planning to talk through plans with her as well as far as when I could get lessons with her.
• The gold medalist instructor who’s lessons I audited this past month also offered a lesson or two on her lesson horses. I may make a plan to do so either this month or next to keep that door open. Of course I also think it would be good for my continuing dressage education to ride a more trained horse and take advantage of any and all lesson opportunities.
• I’m also going to continue to look at other options for moving Katai whether for later this year or in the future just because in continuing to have conversations about it with my support system I think that making sure we have a place to land if/when this place closes is pretty important at this point.

Here We Come 2019

This picture again because we're so cute :)

I realize that the start of the year is completely arbitrary for a new start but like many others I enjoy the perspective of looking ahead to the next year and making plans and goals. In fact, while it never was before New Years has become my favorite holiday for just that reason.

After spending the end of 2018 in potato recovery mode I'm feeling so refreshed (even with the cold) and ready to really knock 2019 out of the park. I'm going to do this similar to last year and share my big picture goals for the year and then each month I'll post smaller goals that are broken out of the big year goals. To leave myself a little wiggle room, if posting isn't happening as much as I'd like I may change that to quarterly goals.

So without further ado.

Pony/Riding Goals:

Blog more with more media:
I hadn't truly realized how much I've gained from blogging and being part of this community until I wasn't posting much this year. It's amazing how this connection to everyone, even those of you I haven't met yet, motivates me and how everyones comments keep me pushing forward sometimes. I've also truly appreciated the advice I've gotten throughout the years.

Regarding more media, I'm awful at remembering to take pictures and video while I'm at the barn and  typically haven't had anyone to help. I'm going to try to do more myself this year and remember to capture more, especially since I always have my phone with me, but also push myself to ask others to take pictures and video when I can.

Motivational quote board in our arena

No Excuses:
This could be a personal goal but more than anything it relates to my ability to consistently go to the barn. I'm an over thinker and in the past this has led to me trying to have a perfect plan rather than just a plan. I'll be thinking about going to the barn and my brain will start worrying about interrupting feeding schedule, the potential for bad weather, traffic, other people at the barn, the cold, etc. So far the last few months I've been working hard to not overanalyze and just go to the barn when I can without over thinking it. It's been great and a big part of why I've gotten out there as consistently as I have and haven't turned winter and an unheated barn into a Thing. I want to continue with this mind set into the new year.

Track my rides:
I have the Equilab app on my my phone and have had for awhile but I've used it maybe for one ride. While the data isn't going to be as good at the Equisense it's still data that I'd like to have and if nothing else it should be enlightening regarding things like trends in the amount of walk/trot/canter I'm doing each ride and how long my rides are. I already ride with my phone, all I need to do is remember to start the ap before I ride so that should be very reachable.

Continue with dressage lessons and maybe increase frequency:
I've loved having weekly lessons and right now bi-weekly is working for me but I'm also hoping to take advantage of clinics, outside instructors, and riding with my current instructor more. In addition I'm hoping to have K put at least a handful of rides on Katai this year to help us break through the 1st-2nd level barrier that we're struggling with currently.

Vary Our Work:
In the past I've often had something on here specifically about trail riding. The problem is that multiple people close to me have gotten into significant accidents/been significantly injured while trail riding. Plus current pony is hot and can be explosive so it just hasn't been my thing. This year instead of specifically calling out trail riding I just want to introduce more variety including trail walks and other things in the arena such as pole work. I've picked up Jec Ballou's most recent book and plan to post more about that soon!

Get Back In Shape:
This one could probably be in the personal goals but my main reason for increasing my fitness is to be able to ride better. At various points I've been significantly more fit than I am now and it's been so helpful from a riding perspective. I've felt more in control of my body parts, less anxious about pony shenanigans, and just less anxious in general.

Show!!:
I'm setting really easy goals with this one to make it reachable. Mainly I want to get back out there this year and do at least a show or two. Even traveling to a clinic would make me feel like this was a win.

Spend Less:
I'm already on the right track. Last year I reassessed costs for supplements and moved to making my own instead of doing SmartPak. I also moved to a less expensive barn instead of a more expensive one and I'm taking bi-weekly lessons instead of weekly. However, I'm still buying too many unnecessary things (like more saddle pads gah) and while I bought them all on huge sales they aren't necessary items. Things that will make this easy are that I have a great tack set up for saddle, bridle, girth, etc. and shouldn't NEED anything else. I also don't plan to change barns or instructors so that should help to keep my costs lower than in past.

Things that will make this difficult are that I really need to replace my winter boots, I still need a couple more pieces of cold weather gear now that I'm in an unheated barn, and that I'm still hoping to buy a trailer. Plus showing is expensive! Ultimately if I can spend less in unnecessary purchases I'm hoping that I'll net out to close to what I spent last year.

Personal Goals:

Continue to Budget Better:

My BF has been amazing with this and has really gently been guiding/teaching me how to better track my spending. He's got me using more auto pay and keeping track of where my money goes. In the past I would just white knuckle the bit yearly expense, now I'm saving for them ahead of time so that the money is there when I need it.

Pay Down Debt:

I've been working on this for the last couple of years and made a ton of progress when I was paying next to nothing for rent and living at my grandma's house. Last year my expenses went way up and then I ended up needing to pay two separate apartment deposits and moving costs associated which added to increasing the balance on my credit cards. My goal is to get at least one credit card paid off this year and hopefully two

Get a New Job:

I LOVE my current job but it's time for me to move on. I'm not in a hurry on this one because it's pretty bitter sweet to think about but at some point this year I plan to move to a new role/company.

Stretch Goals:

Showing stretch goals:
Ultimate goal is to ride at rated shows and get my 1st level Bronze Medal scores and maybe try out a second level test toward the end of the year even if it's at a schooling show.

Get a Trailer:
This one is going on the list AGAIN. It's definitely a stretch goal but at the very least it's a thing that I need to keep working towards. This certainly doesn't jive with the "Spend Less" goal but part of the spend less goal is to allow me to do something like this.

Lose Some Weight:

Awhile ago I posted about how much weight I had lost over the past 5-6 years or so. Unfortunately I've crept up a bit and while I'm nowhere near to my heaviest I have climbed up significantly further than I ever wanted to. Being in a relationship is just so good for gaining weight :) It's time to lose this again both to make it easier for Katai to carry me and just for my health. This is a stretch goal because just with my goal of getting more in shape I'll likely get back to where I had been stuck pretty easily and I now just want to move past that and lose the last 5 pounds or so this year.

October Goals Analysis

Winter's here!

Well it's almost the end of November and I never got this posted since I was waiting on more media. I'm going to go ahead and post this anyway and should be able to post the next one at a more appropriate time :)

Also, happy Thanksgiving!

My goals for October are to get back to more consistency. I don’t really care what I accomplish but I at least want to go through the motions with the following things.

-Get to the barn 4-5 times per week
               I did pretty well with this. There was a week where I made it out a solid 5 times but there were at least two weeks were I was at the barn 4 times. I didn’t ride as much as I hoped but the goal wasn’t to ride a certainly amount of time, rather it was to just go.

-Groom better
                I did pretty well with this one. I trimmed Katai’s mane, took better care of her tail, trimmed her bridle path, and a few weeks ago I got her partially clipped!

Time to start watching Christmas movies clearly :)

-Dress like we mean it (both me and Katai)
                Katai has been looking like a million dollars with matching polos, saddle pads, and browbands. I haven’t been looking as put together partially because I’m still figuring out the whole going straight to the barn from work thing. I’ve typically been trying to wear the same top throughout the day (thank goodness for not having a dress code at work) and then I just put on breeches at the end of the day. It does mean that I’m wearing my most work appropriate tops though which don’t always go well with my breeches but oh well.

-Take two lessons
                Nope but there were scheduling difficulties on both sides and I was really glad that my coach agreed with me on not trying to take a lesson when I knew that Katai’s ulcers were bothering her.

-Have barefoot trimmer friend check my hoof improvement work (third week in October)
                Done and I got some praise on how nice Katai’s feet were looking!

-Build up to Katai wearing the BoT sheet for longer periods
                Yep!

I haven't decorated our apartment yet
but the decorations where I work are very festive.

On to November:
For November I’m hoping to get pretty much back to where we were when I left Jane’s
-Get to the barn 5+ times per week
-Make sure at least 1-2 of those times are not riding and work on other necessary things such as ground work, trailer loading(?), etc.
-Take two more lessons
-Continue with grooming better as possible with fluffy pony

Updated Goals

My new coach made this adorable name plate for Katai's stall

I think it’s safe to say that I pretty much failed/will fail all of my 2018 goals. Rather than ignoring that and coasting for the rest of the year or feeling defeated by goals that are no longer appropriate I’m going to make some new goals.

October:
My goals for October are to get back to more consistency. I don’t really care what I accomplish but I at least want to go through the motions with the following things.

-Get to the barn 4-5 times per week
-Groom better
-Dress like we mean it (both me and Katai)
-Take two lessons
-Have barefoot trimmer friend check my hoof improvement work (third week in October)
-Build up to Katai wearing the BoT sheet for longer periods

November:
For November I’m hoping to get pretty much back to where we were when I left Jane’s
-Get to the barn 5+ times per week
-Make sure at least 1-2 of those times are not riding and work on other necessary things such as ground work, trailer loading(?), etc.
-Take two more lessons
-Continue with grooming better as possible with fluffy pony

December Goals:
For December I’m taking the pressure off both of us since I know it’s going to be tough to accomplish much while we adjust to the cold at a non-heated barn and with the holidays
-Step back a bit and have some fun including reducing to going to the barn 4-5 times per week
-Teach at least one “useful” trick such as targeting and/or stretching
-Focus on varying fitness with poles etc.
-Keep up on trimming Katai’s feet even with the cold
-Adjust to the cold in a non-heated barn
-Take at least one lesson

It's important to inspect inside one's nostrils 

Big picture goals for the rest of the year:
These are my bigger goals that I want to work on through the rest of the year
-Work on the following to strengthen the canter
                -Use square corners (at all gaits)
                -Straight rein backs, lots of them
                -Strengthen the walk to strengthen the canter. Focus more on walk and making sure that it’s mechanically strong and not just the gait that we do when we’re tired.
                -Canter/Walk/Canters -Get her stronger on the outside rein
-Re-address half halt (as a horse that has a tendency to rear my tendency has been to push her forward and rush her. In addition she’s a very forward horse. At this point though she needs to understand and listen to my half halts and halting aids and reply promptly)
-Start yoga on a consistent basis to gain strength and flexibility. My funds are short for the rest of the year so I’m going to follow in other bloggers’ footsteps and start following YouTube videos. Let me know if any of you have any suggestions for good ones!
-Lose some weight again. I swear there’s a thing with being in a relationship that’s as bad or worse than the freshman 15. I’ve put on a decent amount of weight and I’d like to lose it again. Luckily we live in an apartment that has an amazing, free gym!
-If the opportunity arises, ride in a clinic

All The Changes - New Barn

We are finally getting nice summer weather!

This is going to be one of a series of catch up posts that I’ve written already and will post over the next week or so. Previously I’d been working on multiple updates but by the time I got back to working on the drafts they were always out of date. This way that won’t happen!

Where to start. I think where I automatically want to start is by explaining why I’m moving again since I’m embarrassed by the number of barns I’ve been at. However, every move has been for a good reason and I haven’t burned any bridges or had issues at any of the barns, I’ve just had really good, really different reasons for leaving each time and most of those were because of non-horse life changes that caused a ripple effect.

As mentioned in my last post the main reasons for this move were cost and location. These wouldn’t have been factors if it hadn’t been for all of the other things I have going on in my life right now and, while some of them I maybe could have planned for better, for the most part it took me being at my current barn to decide that it wasn’t going to work out.

The puppies playing/cuddling for T.
I'll have to do a whole post on them at some point :)

Cost and location are pretty clear reasons for a move, however, in addition there is also the fact that while moving to a barn that trailered to shows sounded ideal in practice it’s not necessarily working out for where Katai and I are right now. For one thing they only trailer to a very limited (3-4) number of rated shows per year. No schooling shows, and all of these are out of town, and require a full weekend and a hotel. That is not only costly but tough to make my current schedule align. Plus, right now I really need at least a few schooling shows to help Katai build confidence in being off property at that type of environment. I know, I know, beggars can’t be choosers but based on the shows they selected this year I haven’t been able to attend even one show and I’m concerned about my ability to next year as well. Since that was one of the primary reasons I moved here it was one of the things that caused me to re-evaluate.

When I did decide to re-evaluate I went back to the options I had listed prior to moving to this barn which were:

-Moving to an expensive show type barn that trailers to shows where I don’t need a trailer

-Moving to a cheaper, more bare bones barn that met my basic requirements where I could save some money and hopefully afford a trailer, and therefore more flexibility, in the future.

I tried the first and the only other options for barns like this would cost approx. $1000-$2600 per month (or even $3200 if I wanted them to groom and tack up Katai for me [which I very much do not just so we’re clear]) which is money I certainly don’t have. Plus, in those cases I’d likely be facing very similar problems to what I am right now except that they would be closer to my current location. 

The fairy princess looking like a princess

The second was tough mainly because the barns that I was looking at were very bare bones and were either just pasture board with no supplements fed which would be really tough, really far away which would be tough, or were so bare bones that they didn’t even have an indoor which basically would mean not riding for 4-5 months out of the year in MN.

I sat on this for a long time and had started contacting barns for tours since I knew that would help me make the decision. However, in the meantime I sent a completely unrelated message to a local dressage rider on Instagram commenting on a story she had posted about the gorgeous new rose gold OneK that I’ve been coveting. She actually responded and then I randomly asked her where she boarded since I didn’t recognize the location from the pictures. It turns out that she is the dressage trainer at a unadvertised local barn that met pretty much all of the requirements. Even better she sent me the contact info for the barn manager and when I wrote to the BM I found out that while they almost never have openings they happened to have a couple and were interviewing people that week. I managed to fit in an appointment and for the first time ever interviewed to get into a barn. 

and not looking quite as much like a fairy princess

It felt pretty intense especially since she gave me an idea of the “competition” I was up against but luckily it was determined that Katai and I would fit in well and so we got a spot for move in around mid-August.

This barn is much more in line with Jane’s on a sliding scale of small bare bones barns to fancy huge show barns which is perfect because Jane’s is still my favorite place I’ve boarded at. I may have even gone back to Jane’s except, something I never mentioned is that, it was for sale and sold shortly after I moved out. However, one big improvement is that this barn has two outdoor arenas and trails right on the property. Right down the road there are also additional trails and it’s pretty close to another dressage barn that also has a dressage instructor (because options are nice). There is a dressage instructor/trainer on site as well who I’m hoping to work with (the person I messaged) and I think that she and I will get along just based on following her Instagram for awhile J

Proof that sometimes we have a string of good days :)

There are other dressage people that board there who go to a decent number of local, rated shows and I know that the trainer is willing to haul so fingers crossed this will work out to be the best of both worlds. The indoor is quite small and not heated and the barn is also not heated which is going to be the worst part of the move but with how much closer it is and the other amenities I think it will balance out.

Overall I’d say I’m optimistic about the new barn. I’m not excited about it only because I’m dreading another move and the upheaval it causes and I’m wanting some stability in my life since I’m really over the gypsy lifestyle at this point. However, I’m already feeling motivated to work with Katai when I have a 25 minute drive vs. a 50 minute drive to the barn. I’m also excited about being able to work with another dressage instructor since I learn so much from each person I work with.

Not To Plan = New Lists

Nice peaceful barn

My plan was to get back from OH on Tuesday morning, go into to work for part of the day, and then head to the barn in the evening. Instead I ended up starting to get sick (stomach flu like symptoms) on the flight back. I was pretty miserable yesterday evening and it got even worse overnight. My fever stopped sometime in the morning when I was dozing but by that point I only ended up with about 2ish hours of sleep before my alarm went off. I called into work but still did a few things from home so that we didn't need to reschedule people.

That was miserable on so little sleep and I was so low on calories at that point that with both combined I was still chilled and feeling light headed. I napped a couple more times throughout the day and in the afternoon I managed to keep down some toast and ginger ale.

I was feeling enough comparatively better by evening, and knew that Katai was going to run out of supplements, that I decided to drive out to drop off supplements and check on Katai. I probably shouldn't have since I still felt like crap but I was successful in my mission but napped again as soon as I got back. Not sure if any of this even makes sense since I'm so sleep deprived still but updating lists was something I could get done.

First, to catch up with the last list.

Plans for moving week (Week of April 15th):
-move pony to the new barn - Done
-move stuff to the new barn - Sort of done, still need space for the rest of my stuff but it's living in my car for now
-confirm show plans for the summer/at least the next few months so that I can request PTO
-ride at least 3 times and make use of the move to practice for riding in a new space - Done!
-schedule lesson(s) with S2

She still remembered me

New Lists!

Last Week in April:
-Ride/lunge/hand trail walk at least four days including Saturday
-Ride with M on Saturday morning!!
-Get my car (current tackroom) organized
-Walk Katai's warmer blankets (and get them out of my car!)
-Continue to treat Katai's thrush
-Schedule lessons with S2 (moving from above)
-Determine show plans (moving from above)

First Week in May:
-Try to ride/work Katai 5 days hopefully including some outdoor riding
-Hopefully have a lesson with S2 if I haven't already
-Make sure I get all my coggins and other show paperwork in order
-Register Katai with USEquestrian and NDPC (I already have my memberships but need to get these two done)

Second Week in May:
-Make sure my show clothes and other equipment are ready to go and that I'm not missing anything
-Ride 5 times
-Work on memorizing 1st level tests
-Register for show? (I think it will be this week and hopefully S2 will still think we're ready)
-Book hotel?
-Figure out method for transporting my show stuff
-Ride movements from tests
-Arrange someone to watch puppies

Third Week in May:
- Have another lesson with S2 potentially depending on availability
-Ride at least 5 times
-Ride through tests

Hopefully I'll feel well enough tomorrow even after work that I'll be able to get out to the barn and actually accomplish a bit. Now it's time for bed at 2 hours early.

Show Plans!!!

Dreaming of these days hard core right now

I am SO thrilled that I can actually make a plan about this for this year!

Tentative Plans:

Bara Trac I & I Too - May 26th and 27th

Dressage at Alpine I & II - June 9th and 10th

Or;

Dressage Lite I & II (I think, there are a couple of shows being talked about in this timeframe)

Can't believe that Katai might get to meet these two!

National Dressage Pony Cup - July 20th through the 22nd!!!!
- so, so, so thrilled that this is a thing for us this year! The timing for it to be so close is just perfect for us! Now we just need to make sure we're prepared to not make a fool of ourself.

Regionals (of course if we qualify) - September 6th through the 9th

There's at least one other show that we're planning to attend in July but I don't remember which one it was. I believe we'd then have August off and hopefully do regionals in September. We have several more available in this area but there were four plus the NDPC that the barn is planning to haul to. I'll update more once I'm/we're sure which shows we'll be attending this year!

Another Update

Crabby looking sleepy puppies.
Their answer to dealing with the blizzard we're having is to sleep and cuddle

I'd like to be able post things other than just update posts but after taking such big breaks between posts it seems like it makes sense. Updates first and then I'm hopefully going to spend some time today writing more posts so that I have some prepared content for the next couple of weeks.

Plans for this week are to;
-schedule travel to new barn for Katai Doneish, I've received confirmation that travel will happen this next week, just not exactly when...
-make sure the vet visit for shots and coggins gets scheduled for before we leave  Scheduled and completed as of Friday
-drop off extra tack at the local tack swap this Friday - did not do
-finish “pulling” her mane 
-trim her beard and ear hairs as well as cleaning up her feather  I didn't get her ear floof trimmed but that's less important to me than the other stuff.
-bring home all the extra stuff I have at the barn and get it cleaned and organized for the move 
-ride at least 3 times  Yay!!
-try to reschedule several lesson make ups (at this point I’m certainly not going to get all of these made up but having a few more lessons before I leave would be great!) 
-make sure I get a new drawer from Smartpak since I tossed the other one and the new barn uses them

Plans for next week are to;
-clean all my tack including Katai’s leather turnout halter - partially done ahead of schedule
-post an update on the farrier/feet situation
-re-subscribe to feedxl since there’s a new ration balancer at the new barn that I need to figure out
-ride at least 4 times
-make sure I get at least one lesson in
-try to wash Katai’s legs (which should have happened when it was warmer but oh well, at least this way she won’t go back out to mud since it’s all ice again)
-wash blankets and make sure that all of Katai’s clothes are clean and ready to be used (moving to a more heated barn so we’re going to need different blankets than we do now)

 Plans for moving week (Week of April 15th):
-move pony to the new barn
-move stuff to the new barn
-confirm show plans for the summer/at least the next few months so that I can request PTO
-ride at least 3 times and make use of the move to practice for riding in a new space
-schedule lesson(s) with S2

January Goals

Since I really liked the format of having both large yearly goals and smaller monthly goals last year I'm going to do the same thing again this year! However, This year I want to do a better job of linking at least one of my monthly goals with my larger yearly goals.

Also, sorry that it's just all been recap and goals posts recently but I keep forgetting to get media and haven't had many rides recently. I've got plans to fix both but for now these are posts that I can easily get up and that I feel are important to be able to look back on.

Puppy pictures as requested ;)

January Goals:

Get back into a regular riding routine - I was doing SO WELL last year with riding at least 4-5 times a week whenever possible. The travel and some other personal things made it difficult but for most of the year I really pushed through and made it happen. I'm proud of myself for that but not as proud with with my lack of consistency this past couple of months so it's time to get back to 5-6 rides per week! I'm already going to fail this first week since I'll only have 3 rides at the most but my goal is to make it the rest of the month!

Get back into a regular grooming habit - Last year one of my goals was to groom better and I was doing pretty well at least using a couple of brushes, picking feet, and keeping her mane and tail in order. In January though I want to get back to that and increase my work on this including, if we get some temps closer to 30, giving her a spot bath with our new warm water! She DESPERATELY needs it.

Carrots are delicious

Regain/increase fitness - Riding more will help but I also need to do more workouts, especially core focused workouts, so that I can be a more supportive rider for Katai. Especially as we increase the difficulty with sitting trot and cuing things with my seat I'm finding it tougher and tougher to not feel like I'm flopping all over the place.

Work consistently on the canter - I'm really bad about feeling like Katai is stiff or muscle tired and then not asking for much especially at the canter. This then leads to her always feeling stiff or muscle tired since she's never really building strength or building it really slowly. I really need to just buck up and expect more of her. She needs to get stronger and have a cleaner canter if I want to have any chance of debuting at 2nd this year.

More updates to come soon I promise!

2018 Goals

Sorry mare, there needs to be way more of this!

Buy a Trailer
Yep! It's back. I went back and forth about making this a goal because whether or not I get it, this time the other goals stand. However, it's a big deal and something I've been wanting for a long time so I decided to include it.

Bronze Medal Scores at First Level
Seeing as I had a bronze medal score for the opportunity class I did this past year I'm pretty comfortable with this goal. Not that it will be easy, but I'm confident that it's possible since even if they do score more critically for non-opportunity classes we won't be in the slop and we have already made significant improvement since last year :)

Debut at Second Level
I'm pretty confident that this can happen this year but we'll see. Right now I'm planning on this being an end of year at a schooling show sort of thing but who knows.

and more of this (so that there's less tension)

Attend at Least Five Clinics
Not to ride but some combination of riding and auditing. I was lucky enough to audit a couple of Janet Foy clinics this past year but I didn't do much else. Wether I ride or audit I'd really like to do better in 2018

Develop a Better Show Plan/Skills
I've been really disorganized for the past few shows and while I certainly got better as 2017 went on I still have a ways to go. I'd like to figure out how to organize me and Katai's stuff so that everything is smoother and way less messy. I'd also like to continue to develop grooming skills for myself and Katai so that we can continue to look more put together.

From back when I solo trailered Katai to the new boarding
place with a borrowed truck and trailer :)

Trailer Off Property More
Wether or not I end up getting a trailer I really want to get Katai off property more this year. It will be easy if I get a trailer (or easyish haha) but I do have a few friends with trailers and I hope to figure something out with them even if I don't get a trailer.

Way more of this needs to happen!

Go On Trail Ride(s)
Same as above. I really miss trail rides and it would be so good for Katai to get out of the arena. At some point I hope to end up in a boarding situation where there is riding on, or directly off, property but for now I need to figure out a way to trailer to some trails.

Do More Reading
I'm about 3/4 of the way through When Two Spines Align but got there awhile ago and haven't read since. I'd like to start over and really take my time to read and understand the concepts. I'd also like to pick up a couple of additional books to read!

More Blogging and More Media
This is on the list again too! I'm aiming to average 15 posts a month again which I'm completely confident I can make happen. I also want to take more pictures and videos and may be adding a nicer camera or video camera to my wish list as well.

Personal Goals:

Fitness
I've got another update coming on this soon that will help me achieve this but mostly I just really need to continue to increase my fitness.

Budget Better
This one was on the list last year too and I learned a ton and have been doing so much better than I was. However, I still want to continue to improve this and will really need to if I want to make this trailer thing happen.

2017 Goals Recap

We do have some talent for square halts

Review of Goals for 2017

Increase Blogging Again

I'd like to set the goal to post an average of 15 times per month. If I can do that I'll have at least 180 posts next year and that would feel good!

Nope but for the first part of the year I was doing pretty well. I also hit my 500th post which was awesome! I was averaging 15 posts per month through August and really up until I ended up stuck on the West Coast for two weeks. After that my progress and motivation took a real hit and I ended up averaging around 12 posts for month for the year.

We're also good at trotting sometimes

Buy a Trailer

Trailer EVERYWHERE

Nope! As previously mentioned buying a trailer in 2017 was taken off the list pretty early in the year (February I think) so unfortunately neither of these came true. I did do quite a bit of trailer loading practice in Jane's trailer though! We were also getting pretty close to having Katai self load. In addition, she was very decent to load and unload to and from the second two shows we did.

Getting better at center lines too

Ride in Another Dressage Clinic

No :(, I feel like this one is the most painful. I tried at least 4-5 times to get into a Susanne Winslade clinic but the one I could have attended and new about in advance ended up filling up and the other ones just happened to occur during times when I was traveling. There are other clinicians that I could ride with but Jane prefers that I ride with Susanne and we're making enough progress with Jane that I don't have a great reason to push to ride with a bunch of different clinicians. In the future (next few years) I'd really like to ride with Janet Foy when she's in town and potentially Jennifer Truett who is in town pretty often. I feel like I'd rather be a bit more confirmed at 2nd to ride with either one just to get the most out of the experience even though I know I could learn a lot from either person right now.

Very good at posing

2nd Level Goals

I have complete confidence that even if our progress hits a huge wall we'll be able to ride all of the 2nd level movements by the end of the year. Not sure that showing 2nd this year is a doable goal but I'd like to be completing all the movements at home even if they aren't all pretty.

Hmmm, pretty sure I took this one off the list at some point to but for the sake of argument, we are maybe 85% on this one at least in being able to do the movements. However, we aren't even close to being able to do them with 2nd level movement and true collection.

However, I started setting monthly goals this year and I really liked it! I plan to do the same for 2018 to help break down my yearly goals into more manageable chunks and to help monitor my progress or lack thereof. Some of those goals went really well overall and I figured I'd list them here since I'm really a glass half full sort of person.

Also good at fancy prancing

More Trailer Loading Practice: We've got a long way to go but we did make a lot of progress and had a much better experience at the second two shows we did this year than we'd had previously.
Practice Other Show Skills: I feel like we looked way more put together at our last show this year than we have previously. I even managed to put in braids that stayed in for the full show (now I just need to learn to get them out better)!
Practice Lateral Work: I'm getting so much better at this and better at practicing things that are ugly in general. Our Leg Yield has gotten considerably better and our SI has also improved a TON. We can sort of do HI as well but it's not as consistent and I struggle to maintain the bend especially going to the right.
Ride Longer: YES! We're finally getting more rides at 30+ minutes rather than 15+ minutes haha. I started using a timer to help and I'm still using that timer to keep me honest since my internal clock thinks we're done around 20-25 minutes in. I've even done quite a few rides recently that are closer to 45 minutes.
Practice Sitting Trot: YES! I'm far from nailing this consistently but I can get a good sitting trot for the majority of my rides even for my lesson. Before I was really lacking the skill and feel but now, recently, I'm lacking more the strength both from not riding as consistently and not working out as consistently

Good at moving like a bigger dressage horse
despite her diminutive 13.2 hand stature

So, while it looks like we pretty much failed at all of my big 2017 goals I feel like we had a decent year. Overall 2017 felt really tough to me and like I was constantly struggling to swim upstream. Mostly this had to do with things in my personal life such as work, relationships, budget, etc. but it wasn't all smooth sailing with Katai either. She's had much more attitude these past few months and, while I'm so happy with our show results, I was really hoping for more shows, clinics, trailering opportunities etc. so it was tough to STILL feel stuck with those things.

Good at giggling with an Oh Shit face while we
splash through/around puddles

Regarding our show results, while they were never a goal I was still SOOO impressed that we won three classes at two rated shows at both training and first level. Going into the show season this year I NEVER thought that we'd accomplish that so that alone makes this year feel like a HUGE success along with all of the other progress we made. Now, I just need to learn how to set better goals for next year ;)

August Goals Recap and September Goals

Wow, I really can't believe we're at this point of the year already, it seemed like just yesterday that it was May.

August Goals Recap:

Continue to Ride Longer: Mostly yes, with my weird travel schedule and needing to bring her back to work and then show prepping it was less about pushing forward this month and more about picking things back up and then maintaining. I would say this is still improved though!

Continue to Practice the Tough Things: Yep! I have a much better trainer mindset with all of the work. If a transition is crap I go back and do it again rather than just accepting it. I've also been doing a lot more of the things we're struggling with which means we aren't struggling with them as much. Funny how that works ;)

Have a Successful Show: Yep! For still not feeling completely ready to show at 1st level (despite everything feeling pretty easy at home) and for having pretty soupy conditions which was a first for both Katai and myself this show went fantastic and was easily our "win" of the month.

Position so improved, beyond that darn right toe

September Goals:

Continue to Ride Outside: I've been doing a bit better this summer but need to keep pushing for more. September is the last month for us where we can assume we'll have pretty decent weather. I want to take advantage of that and make sure we're getting out there as much as possible.

Start 2nd Level Work: I know this is where Jane's going to take us so, while I have a vague idea of what we'll be working on, I'm going to keep this pretty vague since I don't have enough knowledge of what we'll work on day to day. I know that part of this will address the BTV stuff though which is good.

Continue to Ride Longer/Building Strength: This is still a big one for us and for me to continue to help Katai (and myself) build the strength we need I need to make sure that I'm tackling this as/when appropriate. Still working to make 45 minute(ish) rides our normal while still utilizing shorter rides just as appropriate. It's also working her over trot poles and doing other exercises that push her to build muscle.

July Goals Recap and August Goals

More Katai pictures soon but for now Lake Union will have to do

I wanted to share a bit about how amazingly wonderful it is to be back but I'm not sure it's enough for it's own post at this point so I decided to add it here. I got back Friday evening after the most horrible plane ride I've had. We got stuck on the runway on the way to Minneapolis and for about 20 minutes the child directly in front of me SCREAMED as loud as it could. The parents were doing everything they could but it just wasn't helping. I was already anxious and really stressed out for some reason and was getting a stress migraine so the screaming put me over the edge.

Somehow I made it through the flight and the very slow Uber ride home in Friday rush hour traffic but pretty much just made it to the couch and crashed, sort of wishing I could die, for the rest of the evening.

Morning rowing practice

Luckily I feel completely better today and was able to wake up early, drive the 3 hour round trip to pick up Veggie from my parents and then make it the 1 hour round trip to the barn to ride. Funnily enough that means I spent more time in the car today than I did driving from Seattle to Portland.

Katai was great, if full of energy and VERY wiggly to ride, and I feel like my body sort of remembers what to do after two weeks off.

I do think the vacation was really good for Katai who was calm and happy the entire time and really tried to be a good girl despite having extra energy early on and then wanting to quite after about 20 minutes haha. I ADORE this pony (if you can't tell) and she's so perfect for me. After two weeks without any rides and a major drop in the temperature (it was in the 60s when I rode today) she was foot perfect, stood quietly in the cross ties, and was basically just a perfect princess pony.

This AirBnB was adorably decorated with a travel theme.
Bonus points if you can id the movie ;)

She did gain a bit of padding but nowhere as bad as I thought it might be. We just did lots of nice forward trot, some canter (which really felt good), a bit of leg yield, a very small amount of sitting trot, and much to her dismay lots of work at the medium walk.

It was so good to see her and I missed both her and Veggie so much!

Little tough to tell with the tinted glass but you can sort of
see the space needle from the office I borrowed for the week
plus the blurry skyline from the smoke

July Goals:

Ride Longer: Yep! Unless I had a really good reason I rode at least 30 minutes each ride with many rides being 40+ minutes. So much better than the 20-25 minute rides I was doing.

Continue Outdoor Rides: Yep! So much better than I've ever done with her in the past and our outdoor rides have been fun :) Jane even commented on the last outdoor ride I had (the week before I left for Seattle) how relaxed and happy Katai looked.

Practice, Practice, Practice (or Sitting Trot): Yep! Still struggling but it's getting better and I "get" it at least some of the time each ride. Those moments are still few and far between and I lose it quickly but it's getting there.

So hot for Seattle! I was there for both of the really hot days
but it was the smoke piece that was new to me

August Goals:

Continue to Ride Longer: I feel like this one will continue to be important. I'm not looking to necessarily increase the time for most of my rides just to do at least 45 minutes more often or tack a trail ride onto the end of a shorter arena ride to lengthen it but still provide some variety.

Continue to Practice the Tough Things: More sitting trot and anything/everything I struggle with or that Katai struggles with. It's always been tough for me not to take these things personally/emotionally but after watching the video below (for some reason) I've been able to practice something without drilling but still enforce correct vs. just accepting what's not and moving on. Scott Brash is just so relaxed, calm, and no nonsense about trying it again with his horse in this video that I feel like I understand how simple it can be. It's obviously important that Katai know what the right answer is so this is a big one this month especially with transitions and picking up the contact at the walk.

Have a Successful Show: Successful for me will mean that Katai is more relaxed and rideable at this show than she was at the last. I'd like for her not to have any meltdowns but mostly I just want to finish feeling like I rode to the best of my ability. We've got all the movements down for each test (although the 15 meter canter circles are still not as correct as they should be) so I really just want it to be fun and hopefully get decent scores because that's always a good goal :)

June Goals Recap and July Goals

June Goals Recap:

Practice More Lateral Work: Meh, we did start working on shoulder in again and I have been making sure to do lateral work each ride. The problem is that I'll do something like leg yield a couple of times to the right and then because I'm struggling I just switch to the other side. I need to do more (not drill but more) and just keep practicing or I'll never get how to do it.

Continue With Trailer Loading Practice: Meh again. I did some work, then we had horrible heat, then horrible bugs, and then (very unfortunately) Jane's young horse needed veterinary attention and stayed at the clinic for a few days which mean that the trailer stayed there with her. Bugs and heat are excuses but not bad ones and it's been tough to be motivated when I knew it would be over two months until I'm going to show again.

Practice Other Show Skills: We did a bit better here. I've been working with Katai and the wash stall/hose as you've seen. I've also been more consistently working with her with bug lotion, the spray bottle and other gunk. I need to do more work with the bridle number and I need to try a different way of braiding but mostly it's still been tough to be really motivated to do much work with this stuff since I have so much time.

July Goals:

Ride Longer: As I mentioned in my new and improved 2017 goals, I discovered that I've been averaging around 20-25 minute rides including warmup and cool down. Now that I'm riding more often (4-5 days a week at a minimum up from the 2-3 I was doing) it's time to increase the duration. To accomplish this I'm going to start riding with a timer. I don't need to absolutely hold myself to the time on the timer for every ride (If Katai does really difficult work or does something fantastic I'll end earlier) but at least I'll have more awareness of how often I'm cutting rides short. Both Jane and I want the majority of my rides to be 45ish minutes including warm up and cool down. Of course I'm not just going to start riding her 45 minutes each ride for 4-5 rides per week but we are going to start working our way up there.

Continue Outdoor Rides: Recently I've really been enjoying riding in the grassy area outside the barn since, in part, makes Katai enough more forward that it's easier to work on her canter rather than in the arena where she'd rather quit. I want to continue to ride out there and also start to take her down the road. I may also see if I can ride in the neighbor's arena again as well. I have a good stretch goal for the show in August so I need to put in the work to get there and getting Katai comfortable outside is one big step :)

Practice, Practice, Practice (or Sitting Trot): This goal is about not avoiding what's hard, instead I just need to do more hours of practice so that it becomes easy! Primarily right now that's the lateral work and the sitting trot but of course it could be anything else haha. Sitting trot is harder for me than posting right now and I feel like I'm going to hurt Katai's back so I don't do it. Instead, Jane want's me to do it for 5-10 minutes per ride so that I have plenty of chances to work on it but don't over do it. So far since my last lesson I have practiced it for that amount of time every ride and now I just need to keep it up through the month. If I do that, by August I'll be so much better! Of course this could also include doing more rides outside, trailer loading, lateral work, and practicing our medium gaits.