Motivation

I think that motivation is a really interesting thing. We used to talk about it more as inspiration when I was growing up as a musician in a family of musicians but it's pretty much the same thing in this case.

As I was growing up I had constantly changing interests, like most kids I'm sure, and from one day to the next the thing that I was motivated to do could really change. I had a bunch of different hobbies and interests, had different pets, learned different things like sculpture and basically would be really, really into something for a few weeks to a few years off and on before moving on to something else. The only thing that really stuck around through all of that was horses but I never really got to do all of the things that I wanted to until recently and I think I filled in some of that want with other hobbies.

Over the last few years it's been all about horses, Katai in particular. I haven't taken on any new hobbies and have really focused on dressage and Katai as well as other important things in my life like being vegan (food, recipes, learning to make new things like brewing Kombucha etc), blogging,  spending time with friends, getting more fit, doing stuff with Veggie, focusing on my new job etc. It's been nice! It's nice to focus on one thing, its nice to not be spending money on picking up, and then dropping, a whole bunch of new things and it's all I really wanted.

So far my motivation hasn't really gone down. I've had small peaks and valleys and times where I'm just less motivated to ride but mainly it seems to be more about just laziness than anything else. However recently I just haven't been as motivated as I was and knew that something was nothing me but wasn't quite sure what it was. It's been a couple of months since I was motivated but at first I thought that the break when I was in WA for a week might help, then when I got back and got so sick of course I wasn't going to be motivated. The problem is that I just haven't been feeling like I'm really motivated and back into it even now that I'm feeling better.

In my musician family we used to talk about doing other things that would help with our motivation such as reading a good book, going to an art museum, spending time at a national park, going for a hike etc. Sometimes though it's just immersing yourself into the thing that you aren't feeling motivated to do even more that help increase your motivation. The problem is that it's tough to know which will help.

I think I finally figured out why I haven't been as motivated but I'm going to share more about that later. For now, the break last week and watching all of those talented ponies at the National Dressage Pony Cup was really good for my motivation.

Life in the City

I love my new home so much! I’ve wanted to live in the twin cities for such a long time and I’m glad that so far it’s been everything I thought it would be and more even if I do feel a bit like I’ve stumbled into an episode of New Girl.

 

Sans model this looks pretty much like us

 

 Yes, I have three male roommates and one of them could easily take the place of Schmidt.

Yep, pretty much exactly like my roommate

 

We’ve even considered implementing a Douchebag Jar but so far I have been unsuccessful in my attempts to actually make it happen.

 

Veggie looking cool on his way to the dog park.

Wedge, who quickly changed to Wedgie and now Veggie (hey, it’s funny cause I’m vegan), has been slowly adjusting to life in our new place. He was a little nervous about the roommate situation at first and was constantly asking me “Why are they here in our house lady?”. Now though he’s pretty comfortable and adores N (the Schmidt character in our lives) because N naps with him and feeds him. Really, how could life get any better for a little dog.

 

My life is slowly settling into more of a routine and, to get back to pony related topics, I’ve been slowly able to work my way up to riding 4 days per week. The goal over the next month is to get to 5 days per week on a consistent basis. The drive to the current barn take me just about 30 minutes each way and the new barn will be just about 33 minutes each way. In order to miss most of rush hour traffic, and to take care of myself and the Veggie, I go home after work have dinner and take Veg for a walk and leave home around 6:30-7:00ish. This gives me enough time to get there, go through my riding routine, and leave by barn close at 9:00 I’m looking forward to the move to the new barn partially because barn close will be at 9:30 which just give me a little more flexibility.

 

New Tack Room

 

New Indoor

 

New Oversized Outdoor

The barn move is schedule for Saturday in the afternoon and other than being a little nervous about getting Katai to load into a two horse straight load, when she’s only ever ridden in a larger slant, I’m feeling excited and happy about getting to the new place. I’m planning on riding on Friday and Saturday before the move. Hopefully she’ll adjust well enough that I’ll be able to do our regularly scheduled ride on Sunday. I’m posting my goal schedule here for accountability.

 

Sunday -Morning Lesson

Monday – Pony Vacation Day

Tuesday – Late Evening Ride

Wednesday – Late Evening Ride

Thursday – either Off or Late Evening Ride 

Friday - either Off or Late Evening Ride 

Saturday – Early Morning Ride

 

With the above schedule I’ll be riding five days and never giving her two days off back to back. I had thought that I wanted to always ride on Thursday and never on Friday but I think choosing to ride one and not the other gives me some needed flexibility and based on how she’s going and if she feels tired I could give her both days off which would still put me at four rides in a week which I think is decent. I’ve also thought about more clearly defining what I’m working on each day, for example Tuesday – Cavalletti, Wednesday – Hillwork etc but I just think that’s too much at this point and that leaving it open to work on what’s most needed is going to be enough structure.

 

I have been proud that I’ve varied our work outs more than I used to. I’ve added in cavalletti on a regular basis as well as riding outside and I try not to ride in either arena (indoor or outdoor) more than two days in a row unless there’s a good reason such as weather or an event. I think it’s working to keep her more fresh in her job and also good for her to get used to riding other places.

 

Tonight I have a lesson with L and H is coming to watch and hopefully take some video. For some reason all I want to do today is go home and nap so hopefully we’re able to make it through our lesson and still be productive especially since, with the move, it will be more than a week until I have another lesson.