2014 Goals Q1 Analysis
I think part of it is the winter, part of it is Simon being NQR for a few weeks and a huge part of it is my whole saddle debacle plus all the dog and personal life drama… but honestly I’ve felt a bit like a deflated balloon for 2014 so far.
When I wrote these goals at the end of last year, I was on a showing high. Now I’ve had a lot of financial setbacks and some mental ones too… and I don’t even know if I care if we achieve these goals right now. I want to better my horse and my riding, but the rest… eh?
Equestrian Goals for Me
- Post the trot for five minutes without stirrups – I have made 0 progress on this because I have spent most of the past three months in a saddle that doesn’t fit me or my horse. I am very thankful to my barn-mates who have let me borrow their saddle, but most days my legs are either flopping around because I feel like I have no base of support or I suspect Simon is grumpy due to an ill fit.
- Be able to braid tails well enough for A shows – I haven’t practiced at all. :/
- Make improvements in not getting frustrated with my horse and/or riding – I have done very well with this one I do have to say! I haven’t lost my patience with Simon hardly at all this year, and we are able to get through even challenging rides while keeping our cool. Proud of this 🙂
- Compete in the local 2’6″ hunter derby and execute (well) at least one handy or high option – I skipped the March derby (1 of my 2 chances this year) because I felt we weren’t ready. This was a good decision, so we’ll see if the stars align for us to do the derby at the end of April.
- Qualify for the 2’6″ medal at the year end show – Really I want to scratch this one off the list, but I’ll leave it for posterity. Financially I am not able to show as much as I originally wanted to, which severely lessens our chances of qualifying since it is unlikely we will win one of this to get an auto pass. Also, our barn is trying some new shows this year which means some of my precious show dollars will be going to a different circuit. I’m okay with that, just lessens our chances of qualifying.
Goals for Simon
- Open up his stride and stop doing the ads – This is going much better. We don’t always get the stride at home, but we get it more times than not right now. Hopefully when he’s at a show jumping jumps with a lot more fill this will be easier for him.
- Reliably get leads over the fence – This is kind of a fail. He usually lands right, but it’s not consistent. An added bonus though is the lead changes are getting better… so maybe we’ll meet in the middle somewhere this year.
- Reduce his anxiety with flatwork – Not perfect, but better. I have my trainer to thank for that.
- Make it through a flat class with no explosions – We had a decent flat class in February, but we still broke up to the canter and got the wrong canter lead once… so not sure it fully counts.
- Stay sound – Mixed results? But we are doing better post hock injections.
Personal Goals
- End 2014 with 0 credit card debt – I was doing well with this until dog-vet-bill-apocalypse 2014. I still think this will happen in 2014, but I was hoping to get this knocked out 1st quarter and maintain for the rest of the year. In reality, it’s just going to take longer.
- Lose 20 lbs – Started off strong and then slipped back. Story of my life.
- Find more balance with riding and “real” life – This is an ongoing struggle for me. I’ve been riding a lot less, but am still scheduling my personal life around riding so I need to be better about that.
- Be more enthusiastic about my real job – Some personal not-blogging-about stuff happening which is making this hard. To be continued.
- Train Pascale as well as I trained Eliot – Well Eliot has been biting dogs in the face lately, so maybe I shouldn’t be doing this? Actually we have made progress since we’ve been doing a lot of training sessions with the dogs to handle Eliot’s aggression. Pascale knows sit, down, touch, and “go to your crate”. Stay is special.
- Take more pictures – So far a huge success! I’ve taken a lot at shows and at the barn. I don’t really care if they’re all horse pictures, because that’s my favorite thing to shoot anyway 🙂
Now that I actually list everything out, I do feel like we’re making more progress than none. I still feel like a deflated balloon though.
16 thoughts on “2014 Goals Q1 Analysis”
I know how you feel. I had some goals in mind for 2014 that I really doubt I will achieve and it’s got me down too. I try to focus on the positive, but dang it sometimes I just don’t want to put in the effort! I remind myself that as long as I change for the better over the long run then I’m OK. As much as I love instant results, they don’t always happen 🙂
So, don’t feel alone. I’m another deflated balloon person bobbing up and down with you. Things will get better. Now, any suggestions for getting over severe anxiety related to a hard fall while jumping? I literally dry heave at the thought of going back to the barn… it’s been 3 weeks since the fall. I’ve ridden a different horse at a different barn and had no issues. But, as soon as I think of this barn, I get all panicky and queasy :-\
That’s hard. Have you tried visualizing riding at that farm/horse without any falls? I feel like going over things in my head usually helps me reduce my anxiety about what could go wrong… because I reinforce success to myself.
I realized my last post came out as very- me, me, me. I apologize about that, didn’t mean for it to come out sounding like it was more about me than you…
I’ve tried visualization and as soon as I get to that jump in my head I get all panicky again (maybe I should select another course?!) I’m stuck all on the negative, the negativity and stress from work probably isn’t helping either. Guess I gotta keep working at it!
You definitely are making progress and its just the first quarter 🙂
Considering the setbacks I think you’re doing awesome reaching your goals. Although I have to say that as I didn’t set any *blush*, so I think ya’ll are fabuloso!
Hope your saddle headache is resolved soon as that’ll have a knock on effect on making lots of niggly things better
It’s hard when you write everything down and then- BAM horses keep us on our toes with not doing as we planned.
Keep your head up and any progress is better then none!
Even the best laid plans can go awry! Chin up- there are a lot of positives on this list!
Shit is hard right now, but you’re accomplishing more than you think. And I’m totally going to help motivate you to lose weight so we can fit into matching SunShield shirts from 2,000 miles apart. Yeah… we’re THAT COOL. <3
I think you are making some good progress especially considering it is only the end of March. Hopefully things will start improving overall soon, though!
Funny, I was just going through my resolution posts yesterday and thinking about doing a post. I’m sorry for the dog-saddle-work troubles you’ve had- but you have quite a few positive changes noted… Definitely something to be proud of, considering it’s only Q1! 🙂
I think this is a good set of goals for you! And you know what, you’ve got a good support team to watch you attain them. Keep pushin’ girly. You got to trudge through the hard shit before the paddock is clean am I right?
I think those are great goals! It looks like you’re making some good progress and you still have a large part of the year left. Good luck!
At least all the frustrations mean lots of opportunity to practice coping with frustration?
FWIW, I really appreciate lists like this; it’s a nice we’re-all-in-the-same-boat reminder.
Life gets shitty, it is what it is. But you’re definitely making the best of it and striking out forward on your best foot! I think one of the best goals is one that you’re succeeding with – patience with Simon. If you make that habit through time, then all the other goals will fall into place easier because you will have such a strong relationship and better understanding in your partnership. Pushing harder later will be easier because you two will just *click*.
You’ve got this. =)
I completely understand how you feel! I’m a goal orientated person (like you) and when I don’t achieve something I’ve failed! What I’m trying to focus on is how incredibly lucky I am to even have these types of goals in my life. So maybe try to dwell on that too!?
Also, I recognize and accept that sometimes people (in your case saddle reps/custom service) just suck.
Hang in there girl! You have had some wrenches thrown to you but its just the start of the year. Things will find a way to work out just the way you hoped.