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.

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.

Practice

"There's no such thing as bad practice. Only skillful and unskillful. The only way for practice to be unskillful is if the intention is not on compassion."

Les Kiger