Lighting the Fire: 2026 Goals

 Today is the Chinese New Year and it is the year of the Fire Horse.  According to Chinese Astrologers it is the year to take action and start galloping. 

Winter is still present here but the sun has some warmth to it and the days are getting longer. You can feel that spring is coming.  

enjoying being naked

guess who's 2?! 

I'm getting itchy to be riding again. So it makes sense to work on my goals for the year.  

For Me: 

1. Be relevant 

I always find it interesting how certain messages seem to come from multiple channels.  I was listening to a podcast from Stacy Westfall that really resonated: She was talking about how riders can freeze or shrink when horses get ramped up. It comes from a desire to be calm but is often perceived by the horses as being abandoned. That we need to match their energy to help them know what to do. Then I saw a post on FB from Dr. Shelley Appleton. she was talking about how women are taught from a young age to shrink and not take up space. But this doesn't work with horses 

"Because horses do not interpret shrinking as kindness. They interpret it as irrelevance.

When you hesitate because you do not want to upset your horse, when you soften your request halfway through, when you step back the moment you feel uncertain or judged, your horse does not admire your sensitivity. Your horse simply concludes, “I’ll organise this.”

So it scans the environment. It drifts. It disconnects. Not because it is dominant or damaged, but because you diluted your own significance."

When Carmen was really acting up I would try to stay calm and took off all the aids. That just freed her up to make choices. Then last year when Quaid was struggling I tried to create a calm centre but in that I stopped giving him direction. So he fell back on instinct. 

All of which is a long rambling way to say my overarching goal is to stay present with my horses and be relevant.  

2. Work on my health and fitness: I aim to continue to work on my strength, flexibility and core.  

3.  Stretch myself a bit. I'm hoping to travel further to show this year.  

For Carmen: 

AI is fun even if the feet don't make sense

1. Improve her flexibility and suppleness. Carmen tends to lock her jaw and neck and then everything becomes tight. We ended last year really working on her flexion and I could feel it helping. 

2. improve her self-carriage: push from behind and through transitions. 

3. Improve our transitions: both between and within gaits. This could also be written as 'improve our half-halts because it's all connected. 

Those are all process goals, but I also have some outcome goals: 

1.  be able to do flying changes. We need this to leave second and get to third. 

2. do a freestyle. I keep playing with the idea but never move forward. I'm not sure what's holding me back but I really want to do one so if I write it out 

For Quaid: 

1. Improve Quaid's confidence at home and away

2. Learn to keep his focus on me despite his worries

3.  Establish and keep a forward rhythm 

Outcome goals: 

1. compete at training level 

2. learn to hack out 

For both horses: trailer out and do new things. So far I have Quaid signed up for a groundwork clinic away  and both for two clinics. Like I said above I'm working out a plan to do an additional show away in addition to the two we normally do. 

Winter is still here and I know it's not done with us yet. But it's fun to start thinking about this year and make plans. 

What plans do you have for this year? 

Holding Patterns

 I've not been active on this blog for the past month.  And that's because I'm hunkered in from winter. 

 For weeks the temperatures have been bitterly cold and made it difficult to spend extra time outside. We've had a few storms and even a power outage. But the last storm predicted took a turn and missed us completely. Other than the wind that blew previous snow around. 

looking for the perfect spot to roll in fresh snow

I was really happy to see January go and have been enjoying the more mild temperatures that have arrived this February. The horses too have been out soaking up the sun. 

My snow shoes have created a path for Cordelia
and I to have our daily walks. 

I probably should be using this time to advantage and create my goals for next year. Instead I am baking. 

ginger crinkles

And reading. And going to my various fitness classes so I don't turn into a total flabby blob.  The weather has turned mild (for February) and there's nothing on the horizon for weather (at least for now). It does make me dream of thawing and getting back in the saddle.  February for the past few years have been busy with horse  incidents (Quaid's hoof puncture, the truck catching fire while trailering) so I'm happy for the calm.  I have moments of envy of people with an indoor. And I know I could trailer there but I don't really want to trailer on snowy roads. 

So the holding pattern stays for a few more weeks. We do have a trip south planned for the end of March which is something to look forward to. 

2025 by the numbers

 

I know I've MIA. I've been struggling to find things to write about and feeling kind of 'meh' these days. Winter has settled in and has been particularly nasty so far. It's been cold and windy. And when it warms up it's rainy and windy. So, yeah. It's the time of year where the horse work goes up and the horse fun goes down. 

Willow has the right idea

But enough whining. I figured that it would feel good to review last year pony activities. 

For the past few years I've been a member of a FB group that has members set goals around riding and other activities. It's been a great group to celebrate rides and working towards my goals. For 2025 I set the goal of 100 rides for each horse and 150 workouts.  In looking back on that it inspired me to look at number data from last year. 

Saddle Time:

I got a lot of time in the saddle this year- I recorded 2018 rides compared to 205 in 2024.  . I had a geek moment and graphed 2024/25 data: 

2024 is blue and 2025 is green

As expected the majority of rides are April-October.  I know in the summer I rode almost every day.  

I miss this

Fitness: 

In addition I did 174 workouts. It really helped with riding and my overall health. In there I did about 100 karate classes.  It was a new thing for me and I started in January. I got my yellow and orange belts. And in December I successfully tested for my green belt.  I continue to really enjoy it. I'm hoping to get my black belt before I turn 65. 

Not counted in this are the many, many walks that Cordelia and I have taken this year. 

dogs don't care if it's cold and snowy

Learning; 

There was a bit of slow start to lessons last year, but in all I told 24 lessons and 3 clinics. Two of the clinics were with Jane and one with Johanna.  Every single ride I learned a little more, understood things a little deeper. I am also no where near done. I do remember a riding coach said to me (a long, long time ago) that by the time riders were in their 40's they were unable to really advance their skills. I'm happy to report that she was wrong. She also was not a good coach and the relationship did not last very long but that's a whole 'nother story. 

Shows: 

The horses and I competed in just two shows last year. Like, why did I write 'just'? That sounded really judgy. Let me fix it: I took both horses to two shows and it was fun, exhausting and we learned a lot. Carmen and I got a lot more grounded together and Quaid and I found some holes to fill. Carmen and I earned our silver pin for our scores which was nice. And we were 2nd level champs at our show in June. 

I also travelled to Quebec to help at the Eastern Dressage Championships. It was a lot of fun and a great experience. I met some great people and saw some lovely horses. 

Those are the things that I can count. There are also all the things that can't really be enumerated. Things like changes in confidence and skill. The fun times spent with friends and family. It was a really good year for me and it helps to look back. Especially on a day like there where the wind is trying to peel the skin from my face. 

How was your 2025?