Discipline

I haven't seen Izzy in two days. :-( It's been ridiculously cold and windy and I had people over, so it didn't work out, and I wasn't too worried about it.

Anyways. I've noticed that some bloggers (Pia's Parade and Eventing-a-Gogo come to mind) set monthly goals, then evaluate their progress on a month-by-month basis. I like that. Also, I think that by incorporating a little more structure into both blogging and riding, I'll be more able to track our progress and spend less time feeling like we aren't getting anywhere.

So. Goals.

I want to have big goals to achieve over the course of the year. In order to do that, I'm going to make bite-size goals for each month. I haven't totally hashed it out yet, but I think my overall goals are going to be something like this:

1) Ride in a schooling dressage show at training level and do two tests that I'm comfortable with. (I would like to say score 60%, but I can't control the judge's scoring).

2) Ride in at least one event derby at intro beginner novice and finish the course.

3) Ride in the Karen O'Connor clinic in August and not completely embarrass myself or my horse. (This one depends a lot on money, so we'll see how it goes.)

4) Continue our western training and ride Izzy in at least one western show, probably in a novice pleasure class. (More on this later).

I think those are reasonable goals. I've tried not to set them too high because I need wiggle room in case I end up unemployed or something again. Basically, I want to get Izzy and myself out there doing eventer-type stuff. I either need to get it done or quit telling people we're eventers. Plus, I love it.

In pursuit of those goals, my goals for the month of January are as follows:

1) Ride at least four days a week, even if it's cold. Do two days of dressage, one day jumping/cavaletti, and one day western. Any extra days can be used for whatever. (Hacking and trot/canter sets will commence when the weather is better and the track isn't covered in ice. Probably late Feb/Early March).

2) Focus on dressage--specifically lengthen/shortens for Izzy and position for me. I tend to collapse my shoulders forward and lose my seat. Focus on sitting up, driving with my seat, and looking where I'm going.

3) Trot/canter transitions. Work on timing, accuracy, and riding both gaits well.

I think that's enough goals for now. I'll update them as needed and we'll see how January goes.