2017 Goal Wrap Up

I'll confess to not even doing goal wrap ups some years because the results were not good. Ha. This year, I tried to check in periodically so hopefully we'll see some actual progress. Here goes!

Courage Goals:
1) Starting in February, keep him in work 3x a week--lunging, riding, groundwork.
Success! Definitely more grit than grace at the beginning, but yay for hitting bare minimums.

2) As circumstances permit, pro training (lesson or pro ride) 4x a month.
Ehhhhh let's go with "circumstances did not permit" and call this a success too. I took some lessons on him and he had some trainer rides.

3) 5 off-property excursions: trail ride, clinic, lesson, horse show, or just hanging out with friends.
My records indicate that we left home 3 times--twice hanging out with friends and once to hang out at a show. Plus one time when he moved to his new home. Yeah I'm counting it.

Horse Goals:
4) Get acclimated to riding second level movements whether on Courage or on school horses.
That definitely did not happen. I did ride two horses (one time each) that were capable of second level movements, but I am in no way acclimated to them. Rats.

5) Audit at least three different clinicians.
Well technically I audited one new clinician, loved her, got a new horse, and then rode with her. Since the point of this goal was to develop another trainer to work with, I'm calling it a success.

6) Attend (either as volunteer or competitor) at least three dressage shows.
BOOM.

Well okay I did not compete at horse show one, but I definitely showed up and volunteered and groomed so it counts.


7) Ride 10 other horses in a non-toodling capacity.
I kept a list. I rode:
1) Cocoa - adorable painty mare
2) Nikki - cool second level friesian cross
3) Bowie - fancy warmblood gelding
4) Royal - super cool OTTB dressage horse
5) Hampton - the one and only
6) Roxie - but of course
7) Zoëbird - YAY

I'm 70% there. That's not terrible.

Meta Goals:
8) Attend 1-2 top level equine sporting events (advanced eventing, grand prix dressage or jumping)
CAN YOU SAY ROLEX (aka now not-rolex)? I also hit USDF regionals and watched the FEI tests, so this one is in the bag.

9) Train for and complete either a 10k or half marathon, body-permitting.
Ha. Well. I ran the Beat the Blerch half marathon, then trained for and ran the Beer and Brats 10k. Then I got a stupid injury that I've been recuperating from, but this goal is officially HULK SMASHED.

10) Do core workouts 1-2x a week ALL YEAR LONG (body permitting).
0/10 epic fail here
I can't even go with "body not permitting". It's mostly just that I super hate core workouts.

Official goal count: 7.7/10. THATS PASSING, Y'ALL.

a passing frolic

I do like the process of breaking up goals by specific horse, general equestrian, and personal--it definitely mitigated the effect of epic fails on one front dragging down the whole list.