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| 3'. We do that now. |
Without further ado, here is a summary of the my 2014 goals:
1) Go chase cows.
FAIL
I did nothing with this goal. I want to do this for so many reasons--I want Courage to stay fresh by trying new things, I want him to be brave around cows, and I would really love to win prizes doing something. I didn't make it happen. Hm. Oh well. Maybe next year?
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| we got an epic trails picture |
FAIL
We did some fun trail rides and there was that week where I rode the piss out of Courage so he wouldn't kill the farrier, but I never got coordinated enough to actually figure out what it would take to do a ride. Plus I hear rumors about the endurance world that make me not want to be involved and I really don't think I want Courage fit enough to trot fifteen or twenty miles, so we'll just scratch this one off for the time being.
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| Ok, this one is technically 2'9". 3' is at the top of the post. |
SUCCESS.
The jumping we did this year was more about quality than height or quantity. I mean, we jumped lots and lots of little jumps, but we really just focused on teaching Courage the mechanics of how to jump and how to handle his body on a course. It wasn't the right time to do complex combinations or add in a lot of height.
It worked--the one day we jumped a 3' jump he was bloody perfect. He's been exposed to lots of different types of jumps and had one successful XC outing.
So that's good.
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| because cute knees over a ditch |
HAHAHA FAIL
Can we not even talk about this one?
Fine.
Courage did really great at his first ever xc schooling in March. I was THRILLED with him. THRILLED. ECSTATIC. JUBILANT. Unfortunately, due to my lingering cross country issues and the issues with jumping that we dealt with later in the spring, cross country just isn't happening for us in 2014.
When I set this goal, I was banking on being able to do more clinics and lessons, but the whole "buy a car" thing derailed the "spend money on ponies" thing that I was planning on.
It was optimistic when I set it, and yeah, didn't even sort of happen.
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| it was a jumper show. don't judge. |
Semi Success?
I'm going to count the event derby we went to as a jumper show, since it was over show jumps and then I look like I failed at goal setting slightly less miserably than I did. I also tried to send Courage to another jumper show, but he went a little lame and couldn't compete.
Courage handled the atmosphere really well (eventually). He did great in the jump warm up and was completely unphased by normal horse show things.
.jpg) |
| goal one: jump skinnies like a badass. check. |
He definitely needs more exposure to be a seasoned show horse, but I'm not too worried about it. He's such a confident jackass most of the time anyways that it's not like he's impressed by the "atmosphere".
So that was 2014's goals. I still want to do the month by month wrap up (because I absolutely LOVE those. Srsly best time of the blogging year.) and I'm thinking on what I want to set for 2015 goals. Obviously, I aimed way too high for 2014. I want to be more grounded in the coming year and more mindful about pursuing my goals.
Not 100% goals met but seems like a pretty successful year! I don't even make goals...
ReplyDeleteYou definitely had a very successful year, congratulations! And I will totally agree about doing the month-by-month yearly recap on the blog: best thing EVER :)
ReplyDeleteidk - i kinda love this assessment. whether each goal was checked off or left undone, you ultimately achieved a more mature, well-rounded horse who understands his job. nice!
ReplyDeleteThe epic trail photo is still the most epic thing ever.
ReplyDeleteThat trail photo is beautiful!
ReplyDeleteYou guys are doing great! Sometimes life gets in the way. (*cough cough* unexpected expenses). You have your whole future ahead of you. You'll get to do all the cool things in due time!
ReplyDeleteI will join you in the 'this year did not go as planned' club. We can make t-shirts.
ReplyDeleteThis is one of the reasons I hate setting goals is because something ALWAYS happens. So I tend to set really vague goals, if I set any at all! Still, seems like 2014 was a pretty good year - y'all have made tons of progress, even if it wasn't quite in the way you had envisioned!
ReplyDeleteSounds like am awesome year to me - would love to have achieved half the things you guys did *thumbsup*
ReplyDeleteUgh, I hate doing year end goals wrap ups. I always feel like I did nothing even if i actually did a lot.
ReplyDeleteSuccess doesn't always look like how we think it will, but you and your horse have come a long way in 2014!! =)
ReplyDeletecongratulations on your successes! and I think it is really good to have goals set up and look at them afterwards - will do that this week in my blog, too! AND start planning for next year - at least, that I have already done ;)
ReplyDeleteoh geez I don't think I hit any of my goals... my goals for next year are figure out how to have a happy sane horse :\ funny how health issues will put it all in perspective!
ReplyDeleteanyway, looking forward to your year end wrap ups! you're doing the right thing by taking it slow :)
Some success is better than no success ;)
ReplyDeleteThis is why I stopped setting yearly goals. I am just no good at predicting the time frame of when we will get something done, so now I just have a list of forever goals (bucket list) of things I want to do with him, so we have our whole life to complete them but we still get to check things off a list hehe. :D I think you did a great job considering it's just about impossible to tell how a whole year will go. You may not have accomplished those goals, but you sure accomplished a lot of other things. :D
ReplyDeleteSuccessful year because when it got tough, you stayed with it. And Courage looks more pony, less deer over jumps. A year is a long time to plan for, lots can change in that time. Also really doesn't take that much endurance for a limited distance endurance ride, just patience to not be top 20 in. But I agree, fitness it a blessing and a curse with the ponies.
ReplyDeleteThe year might not have gone according to plan, but you enjoyed the journey and that's what really matters!
ReplyDeleteDon't be too hard on yourself for aiming too high. He's your first real greenie, right? I agonized over what goals to set when Connor was super green and I'd never shown before, because I had no idea. I feel like, with my next greenie (many decades from now!) I'll be a lot more experienced with reasonable goal setting. Plus, I feel like your biggest reach goal was jumping 3' and you totally nailed that one! You guys had a good year, your accomplishments were just measured in things other than ribbons.
ReplyDeleteI always enjoying seeing how our plans change paths throughout the year. You guys had a good year!
ReplyDelete