2013 Goals
So this post is like… seven months late. When 2013 began I said to myself, “Self – you are not very good at year long goals. Let’s do mini goals for each month instead,” and myself said “Absolutely!”
And then my horse broke himself.
For four months.
And I got a little depressed and sad and forgot all about the January goals, and the February ones… and the March ones… and, well you see where this is going.
When he was sound again, I was afraid to set new goals for fear it would break him. But he’s not broken again (knock on wood), and I’m just kind of floundering around with no goals except to beat little children win a ribbon or two when we show. Time to fix that!
2013 Goals
- Get a clean change while doing a course at home or at a show
- Do the horse strides for an entire course while in control
- Trot/Canter 5 minutes straight with no stirrups
- Lose 15 lbs
- Learn to braid tails
- Complete an under saddle class without losing our cool
- Go to a horse show without duck taping my boots
- Show confidently at 2’3″ in the November year end show
All attainable, but not easy. I kind of want to add ‘win a blue ribbon’ but am afraid of that not being realistic this year and being disappointed when it doesn’t happen. Maybe that will be the unofficial goal 🙂
Do you set goals at the beginning of the year or slack like me?
21 thoughts on “2013 Goals”
I really didn’t make a lot of goals this year..I may steal this and jot down a couple horsey goals on my own blog. 🙂 There are a lot of things I’d like to do..I had planned on starting Red on trot poles but then he started foundering. 😛
I set goals! I even have a tab on my blog where they stay all year long, just to mock (I mean motivate) me.
At my show this weekend I got the follow advice about ribbons: “If you stop stressing about your placings and just concentrate on having fun and riding to the best of your ability, the ribbons will follow.” Gotta love those smart show dads!
That is excellent advice! Something I need to think about as well.
I like the “show without duct tape” goal!
My 2013 goals started out awesome but have since fizzled into nothingness…like you, broken pony for a few months, then the decision to just give her a time out while I’m away working. I’m going to be more superstitious from now on and try to do a reasonable monthly goal rather than one giant plan for the year.
I like the ‘no duct tape’ goal. I can probably do that!
I’ll admit that I didn’t even think about it in January, so maybe I’ll do a 6 month plan and see what happens. Baby steps right? Thanks for the great idea!
Love the stirrup goal-I need to do this badly, but my horse is just so uncomfortable! Yikes!
The no stirrup goal is probably going to be the hardest for me. You can do it!
I should make goals… I am almost afraid to make them in case something happens or that jinx’s us.
My problem is not setting the goals but keeping the motivation to realize the goals. Right now just working on losing weight and exercising. Got to say I’m really liking the My Fitness Pal app. Easy to use and works for me…so far.
I’ve had good success with it in the past, and then it mocked me. I need to just get over myself and start using it again though, because you can’t beat it for a free tool!
Hmmm … Interesting. I have LOTS of goals, but I don’t give myself a time within which to accomplish them, like by the year. My goals tend to be more open-ended.
Each winter, I write down the shows that I would like to do. Once something is on my calendar, it’s a done deal. I occasionally switch shows around if something new or better appears.
Right now, I am showing Training Level (Dressage) with an eye to moving up to First Level next year. I’ll move up when my scores stay consistently in the 62 – 64% range.
I don’t care about placings, but I do care about scores. One current goal is to eliminate 5s on my score sheets. I’ll do that by getting better canter transitions.
I wanted to attend the California Dressage Society’s Regional Adult Amateur Competition AND be more competitive than last year. I am qualified, now I just need to be competitive.
A very recent goal is to qualify for the El Sueno Championship Show. I “should” be able to do that this weekend.
An earlier goal was to earn the USDF Rider Performance Award at Training Level. I did that this year.
So yes, I do have goals, but I might describe them more as targets that I am aiming for. :0)
You more than any other blogger turn every ride into a goal session. I don’t even think you need to write them down, because they’re always with you!
I have yearly goals except my goal for this year was to find happiness again, I was having a rough time at the beginning of the year but making progress on it’s accomplishment. When I get a horse of my own I will make a *ton* of goals.
I’m a huge believer in goal setting after experiencing how much of a difference it made in my academic life last year! I like to set a lot of short term goals and then a few bigger, long term ones, though I still haven’t figured out what my ultimate riding goal is. Yours are solid, reasonable, and definitely attainable, which is so important in terms of your happiness and perseverance!
p.s. can you tell that psychology is one of my favorite subjects..?
Glad to hear someone say setting goals is a good idea! Psychology is a really fun subject, I agree 🙂
I tend to set weekly and monthly goals more than yearly ones. Alex has had so many ups and downs, we haven’t accomplished much in the way of riding goals, but we seem to be accomplishing our goal of getting healthy/happy 🙂
Oh it’s good to know I’m not the only one who finds myself in July without any goals! Hmm–suppose now I have a pony I should set some for myself and ourselves… 😛
They all sound like pretty reasonable goals, although the showing without duct tape might be hard to pull off! 😛
I have never been much of a goal setter, at least not at writing them down. I might have to look into doing this.
Dude, it will be the hardest goal. Tall boots are evil. The devil sent them for us.
As you know I am a goal lover. So keep on keepingon.
I think I need to set goals. I’m just pottering around with the horses, although I do love riding through the woods here 😀 I suppose I do have a vague goal of “a week long trail ride in September” but that feels like it doesn’t count. Maybe I need to set a date to go back into the arena and start doing some work and even figure out how to ride Aero properly!