New Year, New Goals

After reviewing my goals a few days ago I starting thinking about my goals for this year.  I feel like I have come so far in my riding the last few years and yet sometimes it feels like there is still so far to go.  But I guess that's just how this sport goes.  You are constantly learning.  So without further ado, my 2012 goals

2012 Goals

• Once again my confidence issues are number one on my goals list.  This is one of those things where I know I have made huge progress, But I still have that mental block in certain areas.  So, we'll just keep chipping away at it.
• Work on First and Second Level Dressage with Bugsy.  The jumping part is easy, I just have to point him at the fence and stay on.  Dressage is the hard part, and I want to do it right.
• Ride a variety of horses-Naughtie, Airy, Twinkie, Mystic, Buddy, etc.
• Qualify for the AECs.  Even if I can't afford to go, I at least want to be qualified.
• Use every opportunity I can to improve my riding and knowledge.

January/February Goals

•   Work on laterals with Bugsy-leg yield, half pass, shoulder in, haunches in, etc.
• Work with Mystic to improve his suppleness and bending, get him responding to my leg and inside aids.
• Keep the ponies happy in the cold weather.
• Renew memberships-USEA, USEF and USDF.
• Plan a show schedule.

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2011 Goal Review

Hard to believe that 2011 is over already.  Although some great things have come from 2011, there have been some pretty rough lows too.  Here's to hoping 2012 is a better year.  But before we can completely shut the book on 2011, it's time to see how I fared on accomplishing my goals.

November/December Goals

• Continue First Level work with Bugsy
• Success!  We're still learning, well I'm still learning, but we're getting there.  I've started to get the shoulder in and half pass.  The haunches in still needs some work and we've gotten some decent extensions at the trot.
• Start jumping again
• Success!  I haven't done much jumping.  But there have been a couple of jump schools, including a very fun one with Kaye.
• Continue to work with the "babies"
• Well the babies went to Tammy's in November, so I haven't had much opportunity to work with them.
• Build up my own fitness
• I'll be honest, I haven't really done as much with this as I'd like.
• Ride Naughtie, Airy and X
• Well I didn't ride Naughtie as she needs her feet done.  But I did ride Airy and X.  And I started riding Buddy and Mystic.
• Find a way to balance my time with D and the barn    
• Success!  I've been much better about splitting up my time and getting equal time with both.

Not too bad for the end of the year.  As for my overall goals for 2011, well honestly it's been a while since I looked at them and I found that a lot don't apply to me anymore.

2011 Goals

• Continue to push my boundaries with my own confidence issues
• Success!  Again I know this is something I will struggle with for the rest of my life.  But this year I have really made a lot of progress.  I'm riding horses that I wouldn't have gotten on before.  Bugsy can try his nastiest bucks and I just laugh at him.  I still need to work on becoming more confident over fences.  But we are getting there.
• Move up to Training level with Kaye
• Well, as much as I would like to be able to check this one off the list, the reality is I stopped riding Kaye.  And that's ok.  I will get to training level someday.  Just not with Kaye and not this year.
• Work on dressage with Kaye.  Become solid at First Level, schooling Second Level
• See above.  Although I did work on some first level dressage movements in the first part of the year when I was still riding her, we never moved beyond that.  
• Rehab Miss-keep her in work for as long as she wants/is comfortable
• Well, even though my Baby Girl is no longer with me I can still count this as a success.  Miss stayed in light work into the beginning part of the summer.  This fall when she let us know that she was not longer comfortable and happy, we let her go.
• Work with Titus at the walk and trot.  Get him ready for walk/trot dressage this summer.  
• Well, I got back on Titus, and we did some walk/trot work.  Unfortunately he didn't come back to the farm until it was much too late to think of any dressage shows this year.
• Work with Twinkie both on the flat and over fences.  Get her going solidly under saddle.
• I didn't really work with Twinks much over fences this year.  But she is going very, very well on the flat.  So I'm counting this as a success!

I'd have to say it was a pretty good year for accomplishing my goals.  Now time to think about 2012... 

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September/October Goals Review

September/October Goals

•  Continue to work with Twinkie
• Success, I had some really good rides on Twinkie in September.  She's really coming along well.
• Begin schooling First Level dressage with Bugsy
• Success!  It's not a whole lot yet, but Bonnie had us start working on some of the laterals and the extended trot.  We're getting there!
• Work on my own fitness
• Well I signed up for the fall Walking Campaign through Pitt.  So I guess that's a start at least.
• Start the "babies" under saddle
• Titus was started under saddle again.  So that's one down...

November/December Goals

• Continue First Level work with Bugsy
• Start jumping again
• Continue to work with the "babies"
• Build up my own fitness
• Ride Naughtie, Airy and X
• Find a way to balance my time with D and the barn   

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July/August Goals Review

July/August Goals

• Ride Twinkie
•  Success!  I've gotten a couple of rides on Twinks lately and she is progressing so well.  Our last ride was fantastic, she was bending and moving off my legs.
• Work on improving my own ability to ride Bugsy in Dressage
• Success!  33.8 in dressage at EHSC HT says I'm improving.
• Work on my own fitness
• Not so much a success.  In fact, I didn't really do much on this on.  Fail.
• Continue to work with Naughtie
• Another fail.  Actually I don't think I've even been on Naughtie in the last two months.
• Become more comfortable riding lots of horses
• Success!  I've been riding Bugsy, Twinkie, Airy and actually I feel like I would be fine getting on any horse in the barn.  Even Cuddles. And I think Bonnie wants me to start riding Mystic a bit.  Of course not sure when I'll have time for that...

 September/October Goals

• Continue to work with Twinkie
• Begin schooling First Level dressage with Bugsy
• Work on my own fitness
• Start the "babies" under saddle

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May/June Goals Review

I know, I know!  I'm super late with this, and I thought about just skipping it altogether, but that's just not me.  So here we are, May/June goals review

May/June Goals

• Improve Naughtie's dressage
• I'll say it was a success.  We scored a 36.5 and a 35.5 in her first show.  I'll take that.
• Ride Twinkie
• Big ol' fail on this one.  Just never got the chance to get on her before the end of June.
• Prep Naughtie for her first recognized horse trial
• Well, we did prep for a horse trial, and pretty well.  We did the combined test at South Farm in early June and she was very good for that.  But we never actually made it to a horse trial.  However since the goal was only to prep for it, I'm saying it was a success.
• Ace the PHR Exam
• Well, I don't know that I'd go so far as to say I aced the exam.  But I did pass.  And hopefully that will open some doors for me employment-wise.

July/August Goals

• Ride Twinkie
• Work on improving my own ability to ride Bugsy in dressage
• Work on my own fitness
• Continue to work with Naughtie
• Become more comfortable riding lots of horses

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March/April Goals

Well my March and April goals were pretty much all a success!  Woohoo!  That's really exciting for me to be able to say. 

March/April Goals

• Start jumping
• Success!  Not only did I start jumping Kaye, I have been jumping Fanny and Naughtie as well.  
• Start riding Twinkie and Naughtie
• Half success.  As you can see from the previous goal, I've been riding Naughtie.  Unfortunately I haven't found the time for Twinkers yet.  
• Work on developing my own fitness
• Half success again.  I did start to work on my fitness.  And I am improved.  However I'm not finding that riding Naughtie takes a lot out of me.  So I need to up this even more.
• Budget for 2011 show season
• Success finally.  I'm sure there will still be some tweaking, but I think I have it figured out.
• Study for PHR certification
• Success!  Still a lot more studying to do before the test at the end of June, but I've got a good start to it.

May/June Goals

• Improve Naughtie's dressage
• Ride Twinkie
• Prep Naughtie for her first recognized horse trial
• Ace the PHR exam

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Goal Review

Alright I know, at almost the end of March I'm a little behind on my goal review.  But in my own defense, since my goals weren't really all that exciting I kinda forgot.  Oh well, better late than never.

January/February Goals

• Ride more!
• Success!  I have been riding Miss every week, and riding Kaye fairly often again.
• Begin to develop a show schedule
• Success again!  Tentative 2011 Show Schedule is up!  Of course it will probably change many times before all is said and done.
• Start to budget for said show schedule
• Well, didn't so much happen.  Of course I don't really like to think about finances (or lack there of) so that's probably why I avoided this goal.

So the next logical step will be my March/April goals...

March/April Goals

• Start jumping
• Start riding Twinkie and Naughtie
• Work on developing my own fitness
• Budget for 2011 show season
• Study for PHR certification

I know you all are reading this and going "huh?  PHR certification, what's that?"  I've talked on here before about my job at Pitt.  I'm basically in an entry level HR job in benefits and it's going nowhere.  With state budget appropriations the way they are things aren't going to get any better.  It's time to seriously look for other opportunities.  I like working for the University, really I do.  But I need to do what's best for me, and at this point I really think that's going to be in the private sector.  I need all the help I can get though.  And the Professional in Human Resources certification will do that for me.  And even better, Pitt will reimburse me for the cost if I pass on the first try.  Which will be a big help as it's a $300 exam.  I'm scheduled to take the exam on June 23rd.  So I've got some serious studying to do before then.  And I need to keep it on my goals list even if it is non-horsey to encourage me to keep up with the studying.  You know how much I like to cross those goals off my list!

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2011 Goals

So I've been thinking over my goals for the past couple of days.  I really want to try and be realistic about my goals this year, yet at the same time push myself.  So without further ado...

2011 Goals

• Continue to push my boundaries with my own confidence issues
• Move up to Training level with Kaye
• Work on dressage with Kaye.  Become solid at First Level, schooling Second Level
• Rehab Miss-keep her in work for as long as she wants/is comfortable
• Work with Titus at the walk and trot.  Get him ready for walk/trot dressage this summer.  
• Work with Twinkie both on the flat and over fences.  Get her going solidly under saddle.

Jan/Feb Goals

• Ride more!
• Begin to develop a show schedule
• Start to budget for said show schedule

As you can see I'm not really planning much for January and February.  The weather is so unpredictable right now, and even though we have an indoor arena, it's still not always possible to ride.  My car is not good in the snow, so I can't always get out to the barn.  Plus when it gets very cold, Bonnie doesn't like to open the barn to go out to the arena.  So I'll just leave it as ride more, regardless of it being a lesson or just walking Miss when the weather cooperates.  

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Goals Update

Well, not much going on at the pony front.  Between working so much and the weather, I honestly haven't even been out to see them all that much.  I had good intentions of getting out there Saturday, but the roads were terrible when I left work Friday night, and there was still a lot of snow on the ground in the morning.  I knew my little car would have trouble getting through the driveway at the barn.  So I stayed home.  And I'll admit, I appreciated getting the chance to sleep in.  

So since I don't have anything knew to report, I figured this would be a good time to review my year end goals.

November/December Goals

• Focus on Dressage with Kaye
• The few rides I did have on Kaye, were pretty much dressage rides.
• Learn from our experiences at the Boyd Clinic
• Well, the one jumping lesson I had we did try to incorporate some things from the clinic.  I haven't done this as much as I would like though.
• Start jumping X again
• Yeah, big old fail at this one.
• Start riding Twinkie again
• Another fail.
• Light dressage work with Miss
• Well, this is the only goal I can really count as a success.  Started walking Miss under saddle.  We've been doing a lot of dressage work at the walk to begin building up her muscle and top line.  We've been alternating walking on a loose rein with periods of contact.  Lots of laterals and circles to build her up.  She doing great with the walking and eager to move up to more work.

Not as much progress on my goals as I would have liked, but with the weather and heavy work schedule there wasn't much I could do.  Not to mention the fact that I haven't gotten a lesson in probably two months.  So moving on to my 2010 goals.

2010 Goals

• Successfully compete at Beginner Novice with Naughtie
• Unfortunately a big fat fail with this one.  But I wasn't really given a chance as Bonnie didn't want to put the time or money in her.
• Work to overcome my own fears and confidence issues
• This actually was a pretty big success.  I know I will struggle with this for my whole life probably, but I really feel that I made a lot of progress this year.  And jumping several training level questions at the Boyd Clinic in October really just proved that.
• Get X out to a schooling show
• Well I took X to the ICHA show at Canfield.  Didn't show him though.  Pretty much a fail.
• Consistently be able to jump 3' courses
• Success!  I showed Novice twice at South Farm combined tests with double clear stadium rounds in both.  Plus I was schooling training level prior to the Boyd Clinic.
• Move up to Novice by the end of the year
• Again success!  Kaye and I moved up to Novice at the second South Farm combined test.  And we won both on our dressage score.  Big success I'd say.
• Become solid at First Level with Kaye
• Well, we schooled some First Level dressage.  But not enough that I would say we were solid.  So I'm going to say progress on this, but not enough to cross it off yet.
• Work with Twinkie both on the flat and over fences
• Well, I did work with Twinkie some, both on the flat and over fences.  But I didn't work with her as much as I would like.  Again part of that wasn't really my fault, she really needs her feet done and that's out of my hands.  I'll say progress, but not crossing this off the list yet.

So I guess that means it's time to start thinking about my goals for 2011...

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31DC: Day 14

My Goals


Yay!  Goal setting!  Bonnie has really instilled in my the importance of setting goals.  And as you can see from post over the past year, I have tried to keep up with my goals this year.  Some successfully, some not so much.  So...

Horse/Riding Goals

• Work to overcome my own fears and confidence issues
• Become solid at First Level with Kaye
• Work with Twinkie on the flat and over fences
• Start seriously riding X again, get him out to some schooling shows

General Life Goals

• Get a better job
• Get a better living arrangement
• Spend more time with the ponies
• Manage my health better

Obviously some of these goals are somewhat outside my control, but with all of them there are things that I can do to work towards them at least.

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Goals Update

Ok so I thought it would be a good idea to take a look at the goals I set earlier this year. See how I did on the January/February ones and then set ones for March/April.

January/February Goals:

1. Work on my laterals, especially off my left leg.

Well, I didn't do a whole lot of dressage work. In fact I wasn't able to ride for quite some time in February because of the massive amounts of snow that was dumped on us. That being said I am working on improving my own fitness and strengthening my legs. I'm taking a pilates class this semester and I began running again. I feel that will help to improve my laterals. We'll see. This goal will be going forward to March.

2. Start jumping again.

Needless to say this goal was a huge success. I think I can check it off the list!

3. Work to get Kaye cadenced at the canter.

As I am riding better and I have a better seat I think this is coming along. However I haven't specifically worked on it. So this will be another goal that moves forward to March.

4. Work with Naughtie to get her supply through the back and to lighten her sides.

I'm somewhat ashamed to admit that I haven't worked with Naughtie all that much this year yet. So no really progress on this goal.

Ok so going forward

March/April/May goals:

• Work on my laterals, especially off my left leg
• Work to get Kaye cadenced at the canter
• Work with Naughtie to get her supply through the back and to lighten her sides
• Continue to improve my jumping

After the last few lessons I've had I think I need to re-evaluate what my 2010 goals are as well.

• Successfully compete at Beginner Novice with Naughtie
  
• Work to overcome my own fears and confidence issues ( I know this will be something I struggle with my entire life, but if I can honestly make progress I will be happy) - Already making huge strides towards this
  
• Get X out to a schooling show - Little bugger is going to Canfield in May
  
• Consistently be able to jump 3' courses - Done! Feeling comfortable jumping one stride combinations at 3'+ Going to change this to 3'6"
  
• Move up to Novice by the end of the year - very doable. Actually thinking of changing this to training by the end of the year.
  
• Become solid at First Level with Kaye
• Work with Twinkie both on the flat and over fences

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Goals

Something I've been thinking about a lot lately are the goals I have, both long-term(2010 as a whole) and the more immediate ones.

2010 goals:

• Successfully compete at Beginner Novice with Naughtie
• Work to overcome my own fears and confidence issues ( I know this will be something I struggle with my entire life, but if I can honestly make progress I will be happy)
• Get X out to a schooling show
• Consistently be able to jump 3' courses
• Move up to Novice by the end of the year
• Become solid at First Level with Kaye
• Work with Twinkie both on the flat and over fences
  

January/February Goals:

• Work on my laterals, especially off my left leg
• Start jumping again
• Work to get Kaye cadenced at the canter
• Work with Naughtie to get her supple through the back and to lighten her sides

I really think they are all within my reach this year. If I work hard, I can definitely achieve what I want to. It's just a matter of putting the work in.

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