End of Year Goal Update

I'm suuuuper bad at achieving goals for myself, so this is mainly to try and keep me accountable

• My far off goal is for Jetta and I to get our First level scores for our Bronze medal. I've wanted to work towards this for a while and I think it's definitely doable, I just need to hurry up and get started! This is far off since I start clinics in June and I'm really poor so hopefully I can save and have enough for a recognized show!
• We did it! I didn't think it was going to happen after a couple of lackluster league shows, but Jetta did amazing! I was SO nervous, but we pulled it off with our best tests this year! I may have almost bankrupted myself, but the show was 100% worth it!
• I think the clinic helped with an unwritten goal to get more involved and make an effort, I've wanted to ride with that clinician for years too! 

 

• Take Jetta for trail rides! I'd really like to go to the beach since it has been years! 
• We did get to go on quite a few, but sadly no beach ride. 

• Baby needs to learn lots of things
• Tying
• She's a champ! Cross tying is still a work in progress, but I'm super happy with her normal tying. Next step is going somewhere new and tying her there or tying her to the trailer
• The beginnings of lunging
• We've started lunging, but that is still a work in progress, especially as I don't want to lunge her too much until she's older.
• Ponying
• Soon!
• Trailering by herself
• She's great! A regular little traveler
• Teach her to self load in the trailer
• Not yet, but I should definitely start this
• Take her on a handful of field trips
• So far only two field trips, but we will do more!
• Bathing
• Failed. Poor baby has still never had a bath, but I will probably take her to the barn where there's a hot water wash rack for her first one in the next month or two
• Maybe wear a surcingle and bit 
• Another one on the "soon" list
• General ground work and manners
• This is coming along really well, we now trot in hand, back up with halter and chest pressure, and she yields her haunches. We need to work on yielding her forehand more, but she's learning that swinging her head around as a weapon is not ok, neither is body slamming.
• Clipping her face
• Done! She's not a fan of her bridle path, but we finally are at the point where I can clip her bridle path, muzzle and chin while standing quietly! 

I set the bar really low this year due to vet school, but I'm really pleased with how well everything went! I tackled some huge goals for Jetta and I this year that have been in the works for way too long. 

2019 is a huge up-in-the-air year for me. I graduate in June and have no job lined up at the moment so I have no clue where I'll be come July. I may not even be in the same state depending on what opportunities I find. That means that the horses are going to be up in the air too. They are definitely never going to be sold, but they may be put on the back burner (like, super back burner, more so than now!). That said, I still like setting goals, so here's our new ones:

Jetta:

• Show at Second level
• Even if it's just a ride-a-test clinic. I want to go out in public and ride a second level test!
• Go cross country schooling
• Ride in a league show at least once
• Go for a few trail rides
• Beach ride! 
• This is always going on my goal list
• Audit a clinic
• I would love to ride in one again, but it may not be in the cards this year
• Since we're getting fairly comfortable schooling second level, start schooling third level movements and wear a double bridle a couple times

Maisie:

• Pony
• Lunge - install voice commands
• Self load in trailer
• Wear bridle and bit
• Long rein
• Carry a saddle around
• Go for a trail walk - ponying or in hand
• Get a bath
• Play on a trail obstacle course

2018 Goals

This years goals were pretty simple:

• My main goal is to have a healthy, happy little foal. I am trying so hard to keep my hopes down since I have seen anything and everything go wrong with foaling. I am so nervous!
• Success! Maisie was born textbook perfectly with no complications! Now to continue to keep her happy and healthy.

• I am hoping to find a horse to ride in some capacity during the spring and early summer. This is my last free summer so I want to make the most of it. The goal is to find a green horse that needs miles or someone who just doesn't have the time for their horse. And maybe even get to show said horse. Free is the name of the game.
• Also a success. I got to lease Trask for 6 months. He ended up being my most challenging project thus far, but he was also really fun and taught me a lot of patience! We went to a handful of shows, both dressage and eventing.

• Once my (hopefully) bouncing baby buckskin is born, I aim to take it to get approved with RPSI since there will be another inspection at the same barn as last year. Also, get the baby its lifetime registration with USEF.
• Also a success! RPSI is now Westfalen so baby got branded and registered. Lifetime registration with USEF was included with registration

I'm not really sure where to set goals for this coming year. It's going to be very busy with school, so I might get very little horse time in.

• My far off goal is for Jetta and I to get our First level scores for our Bronze medal. I've wanted to work towards this for a while and I think it's definitely doable, I just need to hurry up and get started! This is far off since I start clinics in June and I'm really poor so hopefully I can save and have enough for a recognized show!
• Take Jetta for trail rides! I'd really like to go to the beach since it has been years! 

• Baby needs to learn lots of things
• Tying
• The beginnings of lunging
• Ponying
• Trailering by herself
• Teach her to self load in the trailer
• Take her on a handful of field trips
• Bathing
• Maybe wear a surcingle and bit

2017 Goals

I didn't do any formal goals this last year. After failing miserably at every single goal I had in 2015 and with being in vet school, I knew I would be lucky just to get to the barn and ride a few days a week.

I did have a couple things on my mind I wanted to achieve. I wanted to get two 60% scores at First Level with Misty. I wanted to go to the Inavale one-day horse trials. I wanted to sell Misty. And I wanted to take some lessons. And I wanted to breed Jetta.

I managed to get only one score at 60% at First Level on Misty but we worked really hard at it and were so close multiple times! It can be hard for a stock horse in the dressage world! Jetta managed to get two 60% scores at first level at one show (where we had the worst rides of my entire life) so that was good I guess? We didn't get to do any second level showing though.

I did get to do the fall one-day horse trials on Jetta and we actually did Novice! We had a silly elimination over a ditch in a sort of "coffin" combo, but otherwise she was fantastic especially when we went xc schooling the week prior.

I did end up selling Misty to a wonderful home, but I do miss her a lot.

I did not take any lessons unfortunately.

And I did breed Jetta!

This year again is going to be a slow horse year. Jetta will be pregnant for most of the good riding season since she is due August 1st. This means I won't be showing or taking lessons. I'm hoping to take her on a trail ride at least 2-3 times a month to keep her in shape and from being bored. As she gets more and more pregnant, this might turn into just hand-walking around outside.

My main goal is to have a healthy, happy little foal. I am trying so hard to keep my hopes down since I have seen anything and everything go wrong with foaling. I am so nervous!

I am hoping to find a horse to ride in some capacity during the spring and early summer. This is my last free summer so I want to make the most of it. The goal is to find a green horse that needs miles or someone who just doesn't have the time for their horse. And maybe even get to show said horse. Free is the name of the game.

Once my (hopefully) bouncing baby buckskin is born, I aim to take it to get approved with RPSI since there will be another inspection at the same barn as last year. Also, get the baby its lifetime registration with USEF.

Once baby is weaned, I want to get Jetta started back under saddle, maybe in time for some fall showing if things go well.

Of course, once baby is born there will be a lot more goals in terms of bringing up baby, but I don't want to get too far ahead of myself just in case something does go wrong. We shall see!

2015 Goals and Year in Review

This was definitely not my year horse-wise. Unfortunately they've begun to take the back burner with vet school in the works, so it'll probably be at least 4 years until I get to ride consistently. At least I'm hoping so.

My goals for this past year were pretty low, though sadly I achieved a 0% success rate. Depressing.

• Compete in the one-day HT with Jetta

 Jetta was pretty neglected this year as I was trying to prep Misty for sale and didn't have the time to ride two horses. So we didn't do this or our next goal.

• Ride a second level dressage test at a show and not fail horribly

Not even close, Jetta didn't get to go to ANY shows this year. 

• Sell Misty

Fail. Had a couple close calls, but no luck. 

• Compete in an LD

Again, a fail. I would have loved to do this, but with no time to ride, there was no time to get Jetta to the fitness level necessary for a 25-30 mile ride. Bummer.

But I did get to do some stuff. Misty went a dressage show early in the year, earning a 66.54% and 65.9% at Training 2 and 3.

  

I got the boy to ride Misty on the trails which was fun and adorable.

I leased Misty out for several months and she got to do a recognized horse trial.

I got my long awaited hoofprint tattoo for Grady.

Misty and I did the fall Inavale one-day HT at beginner novice and placed first in our division which cheered me up about our show season.

 

I also took her to possibly the most miserable H/J schooling show on a whim one weekend and had fun despite the weather, made it worth it by winning the 2'6" jumper class!

Of course my biggest success of the year was getting into vet school and surviving my first term. So while I may not have gotten to do the things I wanted to horse-wise, overall it was still a great year.

I'm leaning towards not doing any goals for the next year. I don't know if I'll be able to complete anything with school happening as my main focus is surviving that. My roommate wants me to be a working student over the summer with her dressage trainer as he'll be starting a couple babies and then I can maybe ride some of his upper level horses. I haven't decided if I should do that or get some more vet clinic work under my belt. It would certainly be nice to get back into riding shape, but I don't know if I'd have too much time for my own horse riding.

I'd love to get Jetta back into show shape and take her to a dressage show and really work towards that second level goal of ours. I'd like to get Misty showing at First Level, as I think she's pretty much ready for it, just needs a bit more polish. Of course do the Inavale one-day HT and if I can afford it, possibly the recognized HT as well. I'd really love to take some lessons. And I've become less motivated to sell Misty, though I'd still really like to find her a new home. She's been one of the most fun horses I've ever owned, so I'm not in too much of a hurry to get rid of her, though it'd certainly be easier financially and time-wise to only have one horse. Not sure if I want to put these into concrete "goals" though since the last couple of years my goals just never seem to work out. I think I'll just sit back and see what happens and hope for the best!

Here's to 2016 for being a great year no matter what I do!

2015 Goals

Here were the goals that I made for this last year. Overall, I was really disappointed in this year horse-wise. It just didn't really come together for me very well.

• Compete in a recognized dressage show. Finally.

 If you had asked me which of these goals were one of the least attainable, I probably would have said this one. I've been wanting to ride in a recognized dressage show for at least the past three or four years but it was never in the cards financially or in level of preparedness. This year, our dressage team went as a group and I had a total blast. Never would have thought it would be on Misty either!

• Get a ribbon in a horse trial! Either from a schooling or recognized one. I don't care I just want that ribbon!

Success! I rode Misty in the spring at a one-day horse trial and she was absolutely fantastic. We placed 2nd out of 12 horses! 

• Ride at Inavale and/or one other recognized HT.  

Nope

• Compete at Second Level at least once and score in the 60's. 

 Nope

• Compete at Novice and just not get eliminated. 

Nope. Funny story. I actually did try to compete at Novice this year at a little derby. I didn't write about it because I was hugely disappointed in myself, but it was a major fail and I actually ended up scratching. 

• Show at 3'+ in a jumper show 

Nope

• Do at least one, but hopefully two LD endurance rides. 

Nope


Overall, I am actually surprised that I actually accomplished two of my goals. This year was just really tough juggling full time work, two horses, no money and my research.

Next years' goals? I'm not sure I want to think about where next year will go. I know I won't have enough money to do a recognized dressage show (I didn't have to pay for it personally last year) and I don't think I'll be able to afford a recognized HT either.

• Compete in the one-day HT with Jetta 
• Ride a second level dressage test at a show and not fail horribly
• Sell Misty
• Compete in an LD

Productivity!

Not too much of a horsey weekend, but I did have to bring up 3 tons of hay for the horses. I borrowed my dad's flatbed and had the hay loaded on it. About half way to the barn I passed a bicyclist who was staring and pointing at my truck, so I figured I should pull over and see what the fuss was all about. This is what I found:

Leaning tower of hay...

Someone failed at stacking. I lost two bales out of the middle

Luckily a random guy stopped and restacked them for me. Sometimes I love people, it was such a nice thing to do!

Today, I had quite the productive day at the barn. I had only one early morning class today so afterwards I was planning on homework, but ultimately decided on going to the barn instead. The farrier was coming at 1:30 meaning I had three whole hours to fill in the meantime.

I cleaned the stalls to perfection, gave both girls a good grooming. Lunged and rode both horses then cleaned all my tack. I finished it all up right at the perfect time for the girls to get their toes done.

Neither of them have been growing much hoof since I've been riding them on gravel and their runs are concrete, they pretty much wear it off at a fair rate. I've been smoothing down the edges with my rasp whenever needed, but an actual trim hasn't been needed in months... I think like December? So I figured it was time to have the real farrier out to balance up their hooves. Especially because Misty has weird feet that I just don't even know what to do with.

Misty has a big scar on her left front. It doesn't interfere in any way, just looks ugly and makes her hoof on that leg grow differently than her other front hoof. She's been getting a lot of heel on that foot but not on the other. Then add in that her right hind is having all sorts of fun flaring out to the side... She needed some balancing done. AC said her hooves were fine, they might not look perfect but they were functional. She's got great sole depth and nice thick walls going on!

On the riding front, I rode both girls dressage. They were both great! Kept both rides pretty short and sweet because I am SO SORE. One of my main personal goals this year is to get in better shape in order to benefit my riding. I always feel like I'm going to die after cross country so I figure if I'm more fit it would probably help :) In that vein, I signed up for a 5k color run since it sounded fun. I was super good about running the first few weeks after I signed up, then I sprained my ankle and didn't run for 2 weeks... But I was determined to do it. And I did! I managed to run the whole thing and my ankle didn't even hurt. I was so proud of myself because I am not a runner. But my body is now mad at me and so is my ankle, so riding was a bit of a struggle today.

Colorful!

Misty:

I'm considering showing her at first level at the show at the end of this month. She's starting to really put the pieces together for all the new movements introduced at that level, but so far everything's "good" but not great. I think we've finally found our lengthened trot, but it takes quite a bit of tinkering to get it during our ride, so it's not quite ready to be put out there in a test. Leg yields have improved quite a bit but aren't quite consistent enough yet in our bend and angle, but at least she's stopped getting worried about them. Circles still need some smoothing out, but our trot loops and all transitions are a lot smoother.

Will do a review on my new breeches soon. I love them so far!

Jetta:

I don't want to jinx it this early on, but I feel like I'm finally starting to get my horse back! I hadn't ridden her all weekend, but I tacked her up and lunged her in side reins first. She was definitely more uppity and spooky this time around. Every little sound seems to set her off and several people were cleaning stalls which was apparently very scary, but she wasn't as bad as she could have been.

When I got on, we did our long walk warmup with lots of leg yields and shoulder-ins and bending to make sure she was listening well. In the trot, she definitely is not quite there muscle-wise yet to carry herself which means I do a lot of holding her up, but we still have been able to get nice moments of self carriage. Lots of bracing in our rides, but again, she has at least as many soft moments as braced ones. We will get there eventually! Since she's having trouble carrying herself she ends up on her forehand and resultingly gets a little too speedy at the trot, but I would much rather have that than her awful pony trot. She was super good about leg yields and shoulder-ins at the trot. The canter was great today too! Last time we had trouble to the right where she got tense and speedy, but today she was perfectly balanced.

Ahhh, feels good to ride her again. By the end of the ride, she wasn't even tensing at all of the noises going on around her. Success! We only had one minor tantrum when she spooked at something and did a baby hop/spin towards the center of the arena, but it was so minor compared to her recent bronc moments that it almost isn't worth mentioning. I was a happy camper with my horses today!

Equestrian Un-Bucket List

I think this was a great idea that I saw on She Moved to Texas' Blog. I think we all too often focus on what we haven't done and I know my bucket list is a mile long and oftentimes I'm afraid I won't ever get to do half the things I hope to do!

Lauren did 30 things because of her previous post on 30 things to do before she turns 30. First of all I wasn't sure I could come up with 30 things, plus I'm 21 so I bring to you,

21 Thing I've Already Done

1. Ride on the beach and go a full out gallop

2. Win a belt buckle (or 5)

3. Compete in a ranch sorting competition and win

4. Owned a Gypsy Drum horse (or two)

Miss this big guy a lot.

5. Ride in a recognized horse trial and not get eliminated

6. Ride in a double bridle

Jazzy and I in a lesson

Preparing to execute a very sassy flying change

7. Start a horse (well, several) from the ground up


8. Ride bareback and bridleless on a horse I trained to do so

9. Go to OHSET (High School Equestrian Team) State meet in reining, dressage and jumping on the same horse

10. Show at 3'

11. Ride outside on a summer night

12. Do an endurance ride

First 25 mile LD ride!

13. Go to the 2010 World Equestrian Games

14. Have owned two amazing heart horses, each for 10+ years

I will forever miss this view on Grady

15. See a horse being born


16. Have a professional trainer offer you a partnership as co-trainer in their barn

17. Ride a finished cow horse

18. Show at an A rated show

19. Ride a stallion

20. Ride in a parade

21. Ride a horse in Costa Rica

My pony for the ride

When I started this list I had trouble thinking of things to put, but as I got rolling I found I'd actually done a lot more than I thought I had! It'll be good to look back at this when I feel like I haven't accomplished anything.

2014 Goals

Since there is absolutely NOTHING exciting happening in pony land. I haven't even seen the girls but once briefly. But now that I have a few days off work that will change! In the meantime, I bring another year-end post.

And also this ridiculous picture of Jetta: my view when giving her smooches.

 Here's what I wanted to achieve in 2013 and let's see how I did!

• Compete in a 3' class - hunters or jumpers and I'd just like to have a clear round!

Success! I did a hunter/jumper show at the beginning of the year with Jetta and we competed in our first 3' class. Warm-up was pretty embarrassing and I wasn't sure we were quite ready for it, but the first class we went in, a hunter class, Jetta rocked it. Of course, I was super excited when my mom told me she caught it on video... come to find out, it was a 3 second video of the ground. Bummer. We did two other 3' jumper classes. One fail due to rider error (I forgot a roll back) and then the last class she bombed through a fence because she was getting tired. But, we accomplished one clean, awesome round! And we've continued to school 3'+ at home and she's been great.

• Compete in  one recognized and  two league dressage shows

Somewhat of a success. I competed in way more than two league shows so this year was way, way better for us in terms of dressage competitions. However, I didn't get to accomplish the goal of a recognized show. The show I wanted to attend was in early summer and at that point, I didn't feel Jetta was ready for that level of competition. Now, if it had been at the end of summer, that would have been awesome.

Here's how our shows went:

Training Level

• 65.0% at Training Level Test 2
• 65.8% at Training Level Test 3 
• 64.6% at Training Level Test 3
• 62.419% in Training Level Test 3 

 First Level

• 61.724% at First Level Test 1
• 62.42% at First Level Test 1
• 66.724% at First Level Test 1 
• 62.027% at First Level Test 2 
• 66.757% in First Level Test 2
• 64.0% at First Level Test 3

• Ride a first level test at a show and score at least a 65%

Success! Our last show earned us two 65%+ scores!

• Compete at the recognized Inavale HT - I don't care whether it's at Novice or Beginner Novice I just want to ride in it!

Also a success! I had a blast. Jetta was awesome (in everything but stadium). We finished with a number and not a letter, which was the goal and we were actually only one place away from getting a ribbon. So close!

• Ride in a schooling HT and not get eliminated

Well, not quite. We did a schooling HT and did get eliminated, but it was still an improvement. However, we did complete a recognized HT without getting eliminated (see above). So it was kind of a success. 

• Try to get Jetta inspected by a warmblood registry, probably RPSI or Oldenburg

Fail. I don't know why I never got around to it this year. I think it was just poor planning.

•  Compete in an LD endurance ride!

Success! This goal got added in late but it was something I really wanted to do and while it took us forever to actually achieve (I planned on completing it at the beginning of summer but didn't get to until fall). It was awesome and now I can't wait for the next one!


Goals for 2014. These are just going to be for Jetta, because she's the main gal around here. The name of the game is attainable goals. I have some loftier goals, but I'd really like to be able to check things off, so here we go:

• Compete in a recognized dressage show. Finally.
• Get a ribbon in a horse trial! Either from a schooling or recognized one. I don't care I just want that ribbon!
• Ride at Inavale and/or one other recognized HT. 
• Compete at Second Level at least once and score in the 60's.
• Compete at Novice and just not get eliminated. 
• Show at 3'+ in a jumper show (Yes, again. But hey, maybe we'll try out a 3'3" class)
• Do at least one, but hopefully two LD endurance rides. 

Ok, and I actually will add in a couple Misty goals.

• Hopefully do another sorting competition
• Take a reining lesson
• At least school cross country but hopefully do a one-day show at the Intro or BN level. 
• Mountain Trail Competition
• Show at Training Level and work on First Level at home

5 Day Challenge - Day 4

Ok, first off I want to say that it snowed! It usually snows here once a year, if that (last year the snow never stuck). So I'm super excited. Except for the fact that my horses are an hour away and I don't have a snow-worthy car to go drive there, so I can't go gallivanting through the snow on my ponies which makes me really sad :(

view from my window

 

16. One thing you’d like to change about your horse

How argumentative she is. She's always been like that. I mean literally, her first ride in the round pen, she would twist her head around and bite my feet WHILE WE WERE CANTERING. She's just stubborn and she likes to do what she wants to do. Honestly, she's lazy, which is part of it. It's too much hard work to carry yourself properly apparently. So if I could change one thing, I'd make her less stubborn/argumentative and have a better work ethic.
 
17. Your horse’s future

I don't plan to sell Jetta. I hope she stays with me forever.

I hope to breed her someday. I have narrowed down the stallions to 2 or 3 but haven't decided when I'll actually breed her, but I really want to raise a foal from start to finish, I'm really into learning about reproduction, and I'd love a mini Jetta so this would be an awesome opportunity.

I hope to event Jetta up to Training Level for sure, but I'm secretly hoping we could do Preliminary together. I really have no desire to go beyond Intermediate level, ever. I hope to get her to at least 3rd level dressage, but maybe with the help of TS we'll go farther since she loves Jetta and believes that she could make an FEI level horse and I trust her thoughts because she has trained a TB stallion to go Grand Prix. So it could be a possibility.

I think there might be some fanciness locked away in there

With Misty, I haven't really applied these challenge questions to her, but I figure it's a good a time as ever to talk about my plans with her. I decided that she is a resale project horse. I toyed around with the idea of having two permanent horses that weren't for resale, but as much as I would love to have a western pony and an english pony, ultimately I am planning on finding her a new home in the spring once I've finished training her. I'm having so much fun with her and I'm going to miss doing western and cow events immensely, but I think she could make someone else an amazing all around horse or youth horse.

I'll really miss doing stuff like this though:





18. Your worst show ever

Gah, I don't even want to talk about it.

But, I guess I will. It wasn't anything to do with a bad ride or anything. Rather, it was to do with my job.

I asked for the weekend off. I didn't get it. I literally never got any weekend off that I asked for, even if it was one that I normally wouldn't work. I'm convinced that they purposely would schedule me on the days I asked for off, especially because I could ALWAYS find someone to work in my place (keep in mind that I was a lab tech/vet tech assistant so I wasn't a super integral part of the team like a vet or vet tech would be and there were plenty of other lab techs to go around).

Anyways. I asked another girl to cover for me and she said she would. I was confident in my trade off, especially because they had double scheduled people for that Saturday, which is never done and the number of pets coming in wasn't out of the ordinary.

So I signed up for the show and on the day of, drove the hour and a half up there. It was a dressage sport horse breeding show, so I was riding in a Materiale class then doing a couple of conformation classes. I was really excited about it, especially because it was my last chance to do a Materiale since Jetta was 5 that year.

I did my Materiale and it was fine. There was one other horse in the class. Jetta was okay. We were still in the very baby stage of riding. But we pulled off a 78% and a blue ribbon which was awesome. What was not so awesome was that I got a very nasty message left on my phone by the practice manager. I guess the girl I asked to cover my shift decided that she "didn't want to" though she was in town and had no other plans for the day. That wouldn't have been a huge problem except for the guy that was also scheduled was sick and couldn't come in. So therefore it was all my fault and I was an awful person and I better come in right now.

I was terrified of losing my job and I felt super awful and I was so upset about getting yelled at that I bawled the whole way down to the clinic. I was so lucky that my mom was at that show with me because she drove me there and then took Jetta home so I could go into work. 

So yeah. That was the worst show ever. I had to forfeit almost all the money I spent on the show, not complete the classes I was really excited about and I still feel bad about it and get upset thinking about it, so I don't. I don't even have the ribbon Jetta won there hanging on my ribbon wall. It's just in the tack room at home. I can't look at it without remembering what a bad show it was.


19. Favorite horse show venue

Inavale Farms has to be my current favorite as a venue that I've showed at. I really haven't been to a lot of places so I don't have a whole lot of venues to draw from, but I really enjoy Inavale because it's close to me, so it doesn't require a lot of driving time and because they are the one place basically that has eventing opportunities in my state. There are several other small places that have clinics or one day HT, but mostly you have to go out of state for eventing, which I've never been able to do because of time and money. Plus, the dressage team works with them to host our shows there and the owners are super nice to work with, especially when we first started out and had no idea how to properly set up a dressage arena!

20. Your show day routine

Wake up ridiculously early. Double check that I have everything (trailer should be loaded night before). Put horse on the trailer. Drive to show, hope I don't get lost. Arrive at show, check in, groom horse, tack up, get dressed, memorize test/courses, warm up and then show! That's it in a nutshell.

5 Day Challenge - Day 1

Tracy at Fly on Over started this and it sounded like fun, plus with nothing exciting happening this week, I thought I'd join in!

1. Most influential person on your riding

My first two trainers would have to be the most influential. My first trainer, DVO, was very hard on me and eventually we parted ways because our personalities didn't match well, but she laid a very strong foundation and I will always thank her for introducing me to my first two horses and my love of training. My second trainer came after leaving DVO and she has been such a great friend and trainer. JF helped me start my first project horse and has most recently helped me get into doing cow work!

JF's just awesome all around

2. Piece of tack you’d love to splurge on

Seemingly like everyone else, it would definitely be a saddle. While I love my dressage saddle, I really want a new jumping saddle. I'd love a CWD (specifically an SEO2 with 3C flaps custom fit to my horse) or Antares saddle with long, forward flaps and a deep seat. Would also love buffalo leather. Drool...

 

So much want.

3. Top 5 riding playlist

I don't usually listen to music when I ride unless I'm in a bad or unmotivated mood, but I definitely do when I clean stalls. Here's my current top 5, though this list fluctuates dramatically from week to week.

Flaws - Bastille
Counting Stars - One Republic
Downtown - Lady Antebellum
Radioactive - Imagine Dragons
Lose Yourself - Eminem

4. Most important aspect of your barn?

I don't think I can choose just one! But I guess my top priority would be good care of the horses - meaning they get fed regularly what they're supposed to get fed, they always have water, their stalls get cleaned daily, etc. But also a inviting/friendly atmosphere, turnout and arena with nice footing are also high up there on the priority list.

Of my current barn? The most important thing is that we have awesome turnout and that my parents take excellent care of my ponies.


5. Three winter riding goals

I don't have very cut-and-dry winter goals, but here's the general idea:

• With Jetta and dressage, prepare to show at second level, fine tune first level and introduce third level movements. 

This trot needs to make a reappearance/improve.

• Also with Jetta, continue working on jumping, make my lower leg more solid and get Jetta more confident over cross country-like fences. We probably won't get to school cross country until late spring, but hopefully we can still work on some things. I'd really, really like to show her at Novice this year, but the issue is cross country...
  

Someday we'll conquer this airplane jump.

• Continue to work on Misty in terms of jumping and dressage. I'd like her to be ready to show training and first level dressage at the beginning of the show season and take her to a one-day event at intro or BN as well. And hopefully there's going to be a winter ranch sorting series as well (fingers crossed!)

More cows!

The Endurance Bug

I went to the horse expo yesterday. I hadn't really been sure all week if I wanted to go or not, I didn't go last year just because I was disappointed in the year before and I knew it would be the same old stuff. But I was bored and I noticed that a certain speaker was going to be there, so I went.

I've always wanted to try out endurance but never really got around to it. Partly because I had no idea how to get involved and also because I don't have any close horse friends who do it. When I had Jazz I wanted to do it with her because when she was fit, she could go all day on the trail, nothing phased her, she had awesome feet, etc.

Now with Jetta, I still want to do it. She's not as bombproof on the trails as Jazz was, but we could manage it. She loves being on the trails almost as much as she loves jumping. I love trail riding and I am a very goal oriented person, plus gorgeous views from horseback, sign me up!

AareneX over at Haiku Farm released a book on Endurance for people just getting into it and I've been eyeing it for a while... and she was speaking at the expo! So I woke up earlyish (for me - hey it's spring break!) and headed over to the fairgrounds.

First of all, geez it's expensive to get in. $12 entrance fee plus a $3 parking fee. I'm sure it's expensive to rent this fairgrounds because it's super nice, but holy cow, I wasn't planning on spending $15 just to get in.

Anyways, I walked around the booths and had fun window shopping but didn't buy anything. My favorite tack store was there with some good sale stuff, but nothing that I particularly needed in my price range. There was also a really neat booth with vintage equestrian fashion, some new clothing and used quality saddles. Drool. Everything was way out of my price range but fun to look at!

After finding the conference room (it's hidden!) I really enjoyed Aarene's talk. She's funny and a good speaker. Plus she showed some amazing pictures from endurance rides, the scenery was awesome. Nice to put a face to a blogger that I've been reading! Her presentation made me want to do endurance so bad! I ended up buying a book from her (autographed to boot) and talked to the local endurance group about how to get started. Everyone was super nice and the lady at the booth didn't live too far from me so she told me which rides were the easiest to drive to.

Can't wait to get started. My summer plans are still up in the air so I have no idea what rides I'll be able to make it to, but hopefully we'll get to do one or two limited distance rides. Already planning what things I'll need to for endurance (oh dear, more things for the tack whore to buy, though I'm not going overboard yet and buying a new saddle or replacing my leather tack with biothane, lol) - but I do need saddle bags that fit my dressage saddle since it's the most comfortable saddle I have, need to make sure the camper shell for my truck is still alive (it's hanging out somewhere in the forest at home...), new saddle pad that won't become an absorbent mop for our ride, some sort of way to keep Jetta from running away from the trailer overnight... and of course we need trails to practice on so I need to get to work finding some local trails that allow horses. I know of one (need to remember how to get there first) but then I also need a trail buddy.

Definitely bitten by the endurance bug so I hope I actually get to do at least one ride this year!

2013 Goals

I've kind of stopped making goals this past year or so because I felt like I never met them. I used to make monthly goals on the blog to keep me focused, but it just seemed like something always happened to prevent us from meeting all of them. However, I was kind of disappointed in this year, I was really hoping to do a lot more over the summer, show-wise and that never happened plus I feel like we're at kind of a stalemate point in our training.

So, to help all of that along... Goals for 2013!! I'm keeping them pretty simple, but here's what I would like to achieve:

• Compete in a 3' class - hunters or jumpers and I'd just like to have a clear round!
• Compete in  one recognized and  two league dressage shows
• Ride a first level test at a show and score at least a 65%
• Compete at the recognized Inavale HT - I don't care whether it's at Novice or Beginner Novice I just want to ride in it!
• Ride in a schooling HT and not get eliminated
• Try to get Jetta inspected by a warmblood registry, probably RPSI or Oldenburg

That's pretty much it! Of course I want to improve both our skills along the way and have fun, but these are just going to be the "measures" of our success. 

February Goals

I haven't made monthly goals in a while since, well, I didn't really think I was doing enough to actually meet those goals. They aren't worth making if you don't actually work towards them! Then when Jetta started acting up, my only goal was to get her to stop bucking and rearing and not fall off! Well we succeeded at that, but now I think it's time for some new goals that we actually try to work towards.

Spring is coming!!

February Goals:

1. Work on being attentive to all aids in every movement - This involves getting her forward, especially at the walk. In the trot and canter the slightest pressure from the leg sends her forward, but not so much at the walk. Then when we try to do harder movements, such as shoulder-in, haunches-in, leg-yield, I find that she's really not listening enough to perform these movements well. Our downward transitions are in need of eternal help, but I need to school these transitions more seriously to get any actual results.
2. Get a video of me riding so that I can see how we look - I like having videos of myself so that I can see my position and how effective I'm being as a rider. Plus it's always great to look back and see how you and your horse have changed! This will be the more challenging goal since it means I have to drag ML out to the barn with me to get her to video and then actually figure out how to get it off the camera and onto the computer...
3. Try to go for a trail ride - and another more challenging goal since I don't want to go out on the trails alone and coordinating schedules can be hard. But it would be nice to get out of the arena!

I tried to make these goals just a little more general and easy since I was finding that my past goals were hard to achieve since I got busy and forgot about them. So, hopefully I can achieve these!