2015 in Review and 2016 Goals

Wow what a year of changes. Now that we're upon the new year, I wanted to go through my pitiful goals  for 2015 and set some even more pitiful ones for 2016.

Goals for 2015
I am having problems even coming up with these because I am currently horseless (lol same). But here goes nothing:

Get a job and start saving money
Check

Graduate from my MA program
Check

Finish thesis
Nope, sadly

Buy a project horse
Bought TC!!

Develop new horse to prepare for sale in 2016
Going to sell him later on because he actually has some potential!

Continue with Crossfit
Did it for about half the year, then broke myself.

Wow that's pathetic. Also why is this writing so small? Clearly my goals did not warrant a regular font size, although my work computer isn't helping to remedy this problem.

Horse: acquired, and much nicer of a horse than I thought I'd get

Key Moments of 2015

2014 ended with a bang as I earned my USDF Gold medal on Rico and he was semi-retired after it was apparent that he wasn't going to stay sound in regular work. But we had some fun before then, and continued to play on the trails and in the arena a little bit throughout 2015. I started riding TC in December of 2014 with the idea that he *might* be something I bought later on, but nothing was anywhere close to being set in stone.

The first three months of the year were spent just playing at home and experiencing new things together. We went on a few trail rides, rode out in the field together, and experienced the joy (not at the time) that was the neighbor arena. We also went to a few new places that were mostly a little disastrous.

In April, TC and I did our first schooling show together, it went well! The next day, I broke up with my long term boyfriend and had to move away from school and work (but closer to TC and Rico). It was the right decision, and I'm so much happier now.

In May, I graduated with my MA degree! But I was and still am considered ABT- all but thesis. As a present to myself, TC and I went to our first clinic with Tracey. Tracey was very complimentary of us and gave me the go ahead to buy TC.

Who wouldn't love this trot? Just... don't look at the canter

In June, TC and I did our second show and our first cross country schooling. He was nervous (and reared at the trailer a lot), but very good and he LOVED the water. I reinjured my back and wrist so I stopped Crossfit. No fun. Rico and I trespassed on a golf course in one of our trail adventures. I got a fish at a county fair because my brother is too good at beer pong. At the end of the month, I got to meet L (and Ramone) and watch them at the Woodside horse show.

In July, I was offered a job! But I turned it down. I showed TC at another schooling show and we had a judge that irritated me with her comments so I vowed to do more clinics and less shows. At the end of July, I audited Axel Steiner and met Nicole (and Murray) and Peony (and Spot and Stubby).

In August, I was offered the job AGAIN and I took it. I scheduled TC's vet check shortly afterward and he passed! TC and I went to our second clinic, this time with Barbi Breen-Gurley. I also got some pretty adorable baby pictures of TC. And I had one final hurrah with Rico as we went to the beach, where waves tried to murder him.

This was SUCH a fun ride, even if Rico didn't think so

In September, I started my job, bought TC, and moved north all within five days of each other. My job thought about killing me but then got much better. TC and I rode with Barbi again and it was wonderful. I briefly thought about the FEI young horse stuff and quickly threw that into the "maybe but probably not" pile.

In October, TC moved up to my area. We really struggled, he had never lived in a paddock on his own before and had never lived anywhere but his original breeder's barn. My parents tricked me into coming on a trail ride with them one weekend when I was heading down to pick up a few things from their barn. I got super sick and it turned out to be my old stomach issues coming back, yay for feeling terrible (wow I can't believe this was in October, I still am not off my meds). I had a lesson with my trainer friend who helped me understand TC's bad behavior a bit better. At the end of October, I got a kitty!

LOVE her

In November, the time changed and I had to embrace the hellish adult ammy lifestyle of riding in the dark evenings. TC handled riding in the dark better than I expected, but I started experiencing some confidence issues as we swung between good and bad rides. At the end of November, I took TC and Jade home for Thanksgiving. I was expecting a horrible week with TC, accepting that I was going to have to go through some shit to get him better in new places, but we ended up having an amazing week together. This was all due to riding with a new trainer who specializes in breaking young horses. In November L and I also got to see Cavalia's Odysseo, which was really amazing.

In December, TC and I were starting canter boot camp when he went super lame and we thought abscess. Nothing came out but the trimmer was pretty sure he had one. Just a week after his initial lameness, he went super lame again and I called the vet, only to discover that he had torn his suspensory in two places. Within the week he was moved to my parents' house for stall rest and we got a second opinion from my favorite wizard vet. The injury turned out to only be torn at the origin, so that was good news, but it's at risk of adhering to the splint bone. But TC was not handling rest at my parents' place, having jumped out of his paddock and being a bit unruly to work with. He was moved to a rehab facility in late December for three to five months.

Miss this guy so much

It was a shitty end to an interesting year. Hopefully 2016 holds more success for us, and hopefully no more soft tissue injures (ever).


2016 Goals
- TC stays quiet enough on rehab to heal his leg
- TC goes swimming at rehab!
- (If sound) TC comes back into work
- (If sound) Get into ideal barn
- (If sound) Ride in a couple of clinics OR take regular lessons with someone
- (If sound) Show Training level?
- (If sound) Show First level??
- (If sound) Trail ride as much as he can handle (ideal barn has trails through an orchard with good footing on flat ground)
- Audit more clinics
- Fix my wrist injury
- Start crossfit (or equivalent) again
- Finish my thesis
- Brother and SIL get married! Not a goal, just excited.
- New job/moving? Probably not until 2017

I love this picture of him, he looks like a real horse here

The quarterly goals are so much easier when everything is so up in the air! Well, I mean this goal post was much more impressive when I had a sound horse (it was SO sad to delete those goals, serves me right for being proactive on this blog). Now it's just as pathetic as last year. Oh well, keep an eye out for some slightly less boring quarterly goals tomorrow. Happy New Year!