2014 Goals-ish

The best at stuff

I'm trying to  be positive and focus on the things that I want to do when winter finally ends. In light of that, here's the list I'm aiming for this year.

2014 Goals

-go chase cows
Let's face it: I live in the west and there are plenty of horses that still make a living on ranches. Courage is going to have to embrace cows if he's going to live out here. They're everywhere. I might as well take advantage of that. I've never done it before and it sounds like fun.

So spunky

-do a mini endurance ride
I'm still working out the details, but it's something I've wanted to try for years. Might as well give it a go. I'm in contact with an endurance friend about finding an actual ride to participate in. We'll see how it goes.

-jump 3'
This one should be wicked easy. I'm going say that I want to be competent at 2'9" courses by the end of the year. Not "hunter round" polished and perfect, but safe and sane without being over faced.

Practicing for the water jump

-run BN cross country (maybe school some novice?)
We'll do our best to hit a couple of clinics and local derbies. The little man is brave and clever, so I don't think it will be a problem

-do some local jumper shows
I don't have the finances to haul to big out of state shows, but I just want him to get out and learn about the show environment and hopefully start his own ribbon collection. Up til now, all he's won is money... wait...

Long Range Goals

-Do a hunter derby
Not even kidding. Upper level eventing doesn't call my name, but these look so incredibly fun.

Photo by Lauren at She Moved to Texas - used with permission

Dream goal

-Qualify C-rage for the derby finals in Kentucky. I'm still on the fence about whether I'd want to ride him myself or hire someone with a much better shot of winning, but I'm confident that we're way too far out for that to be a big deal right now.

Unrealistic? Totally. Fun? Absolutely. I know absolutely nothing about hunters, beyond their fixation on braiding (gag). I don't know if Courage is going to be fancy enough. I don't even know how to go about qualifying. I do know that giving him a solid basic education, including lots of desensitization, natural obstacles, and practice at being handy will only help.

Squint and pretend the jump is huge

We'll try to do a couple clinics with hunter-type people and get some realistic feedback. I have no idea if it will all work out, but a girl can dream.

I'm getting excited for riding weather.