dancing horses

dancing horses

Wednesday, January 10, 2018

2018 Goals: Going Boldly Forth

"Freedom lies in being bold"- Robert Frost


I do not know why I have been procrastinating on writing this post. It's not that I don't have goals- I do. It's not that I am afraid to write them down in case I don't meet them. I am okay not hitting all my 'goals'.

I think that the biggest struggle has been in identifying what I mean by a 'goal'. Last year it seemed pretty simple- I needed to get off property and expose Carmen to new things. This year we will be doing a lot of the same things but for a different purpose.

Shows

So far I am aware of 4 shows this year- two Bronze and two Scotia Series (these are at a provincial level and don't require a licence from Equine Canada). There's also a schooling show but it conflicts with one of the Scotia series. Which is really unfortunate- it's not like we have so many.

I am planning to do the four shows. My goal is to show at First Level. I think that Carmen will be better with more to occupy her. However, it will require us to really work on her lengthens.

I am also going to keep my eye out for other shows that might be fun to try.


Lessons & Clinics:
I am itching to start back with Shanea. But I need my ring to thaw first. I want to have a regular schedule so that I can really tackle my riding goals (below). In addition I want to participate in clinics. I find them a good way to stretch myself.  I am definitely planning to do the Johanna Batista clinic. It will be the long weekend in May.

I've already registered for another of the Ultimate Trail Clinics. This one is much closer to me then the one I went to last year so that should be good. I am so excited to do more of this.

I'd love to do another Jacqueline Brooks clinic if that works out.

Fun stuff:
I want to spend a lot of time hacking out. I hope to  join up with Nancy a few times. I'm also on the look out for more trail options as well. Overall I want to hack out on my property at least 4 times a month.

Fun weekends away- at Karen's or Rachael's or somewhere else. That always assumes that they want me.

It might be a crazy idea but I think it might be fun to introduce Carmen to some low level jumping. We shall see about that.

like this only, you know, taller
Those are the 'things' that I want to do. Obviously riding and training are much more then that. I have some specific goals for riding and behaviour.
Riding Goals:
  • I want to further improve my seat so that I can stay both relaxed and effective in the saddle. 
  • I want to fix my tendency to want to 'coast' and expect her to carry me. Instead I want to be giving her direction so that she doesn't feel abandoned and then make bad decisions. 
  • Let go of the rein. This is a hard one given Carmen's ability to duck behind the contact and then spin/bolt. Keeping a short rein keeps her from getting away from me but it's not a good long-term solution. This requires me to trust and ride forward. 
  • Increase awareness of my body and it's impact on how she's going. 
Carmen Goals:
  • Go forward of the leg. Not fast- forward, reaching from behind. 
  • Keep her attention on me and not on all the things that are obviously waiting to kill her
  • Develop her trust in me in new situations so that we can have successful shows/clinics etc. 
  • NO MORE SPOOKING BETWEEN E AND C. This is huge for us. 
  • Develop her push from behind so that she can collect/lengthen

So that's it. Those are my goals. I know that I will add more and there will be things that frustrate me and moments of real joy.

Come on 2018- we're ready.

Carmen: shouldn't you wait for things to thaw a bit? (PC Cindy M)


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24 comments:

  1. These sound like great goals. It's a shame the schooling show is the same day as the other one. They do that around here too and we have so few shows I cannot understand why.

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    1. I know! I suspect that it's because the barn hosting does a lot of H/J so they probably are more worried about conflicting with those shows.

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  2. Good luck. Too bad there isn't a WE show near you to add to your list.

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    1. I know! But there are ultimate trail classes so I may try that...

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  3. i bet you're right about more challenging tests giving more opportunity to keep carmen occupied and focused at shows - very exciting too! all around so many great goals there - i love your mix of making sure progress continues while also keeping it super fun! can't wait to see how it all unfolds

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    1. And possibly keep her rider focussed too...lol. I am curious to see how it unfolds. I can get a bit intense so adding in the fun keeps me from getting too driven.

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  4. I really like your mix of goals with some super serious competition goals but also a lot of fun stuff thrown in. It should be an exciting year

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    1. I hope to have a lot of fun and continue to grow our partnership

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  5. Sounds like you’ll have lots of fun with Carmen reaching your goals! I can’t wait to see how she likes the jumps, bet she’ll think it’s super fun stuff to do.

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    1. I hope so. I don't know how far I'll really get with that but we can play.

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  6. Ooh, I love it all and YES, jumping!!

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    1. Oh thank you! Jumping will add some flavour.

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  7. I think you guys have a very exciting and FUN year ahead of you.

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    1. I hope that it's not TOO exciting. Just exciting enough. :)

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  8. You've got such a well-rounded solid year ahead it sounds like! I can't wait to see where you'll go with Carmen now that your partnership has reached a point of more mutual trust in many more situations. I've got my fingers crossed for the E-C spooking to be resolved and can't wait to hear how your progress with that goes!

    I'm really curious to see how Carmen will take to jumping with her mindset about the world. Q (whom we know shares so many similarities with Carmen) shockingly takes to jumping pretty well once I've established with her that her job is to jump things no matter what, which is shocking when you consider how spooky she can be!

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    1. Eliminating the E-C spooking is going to happen this year. I am determined on that! The jumping may not happen- we shall see but I want it to happen. I think she will either lose her mind or love it. You and Q are my inspiration.

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    1. Thank you! I am looking forward to tackling them.

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  10. Since we ride primarily trails, I try to make them different occasionally. We have lots of downed trees, so I drag them across trails to make low jumps, piles sometimes and other times single obstacles. You might want to do something like that on one of the trails you built on property?

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    1. I think mother nature is taking care of that for me. :) But I like your idea!

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  11. I like your list. My trainer next door does a jump night every week, but I don’t have any jumpers. The ones who participate sure enjoy it. She sets up a course and pushes them through from the ground and over the jumps pretty regularly. I used to jump with Cowboy—small jumps. I only did it to prepare for spring trails when Cowboy would jump down logs and streams. It was more for me.

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    1. I only want to do small jumps- just be able to break things up.

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