2017 Q1 Goals Review and Q2 Goals

My goals have been all over the place this year. With TC being ridden like normal again, I pulled these out from the beginning of the year to evaluate him on. We haven't made as much progress as I hoped we had, but we've kind of pulled off a lot more than we should have given that he's really only probably had a month of work this quarter.

This guy is happiest about the first goal

2017 Q1 Goals (January/February/March)

TC
- move into a large paddock
YES this happened and he was so happy. On Saturday he moved to his permanent one (since the one he was in was for two horses) and hopefully he stays happy in that thing.

- survive the rest of the winter without murdering the horse or being murdered by the horse
It was a close call but technically we are both still living

- perfect the stretchy trot
Yes, need to practice it in new places and when he's tense, but we absolutely have it

- perfect the leg yield
As close as I could have hoped given how little I rode him, just needs to be a bit steeper and then we'll add a bunch of cadence to make it fancier.

- perfect the shoulder-in
Same as the leg yield, it's as close as I could have hoped for but it still could use a bit of work

- improve the haunches-in (walk and trot)
Yep! The trot needs major work but it's happening.

- maybe touch on half pass at the walk
Yep! And did a bit at the trot too! It's bad but it exists.

-perfect the lengthened trot
He needs strength but it's quite reliable

- perfect the lengthened trot transitions
The upward needs more power and the downward needs a better rider, I tend to half halt big to get him back and forget that he's really adjustable. Rico would get strong in it and TC stays super light and fluffy.

- perfect the simple change through the trot
I didn't do tons of canter work this quarter, so this isn't perfect, but it's quite good, just needs to be straighter and more reliable.

- improve the lengthened canter
Definitely improved!

- perfect the 10m trot circles
This is much better but I don't feel like they're perfect yet, I avoided doing small circles this quarter.

- perfect the 15m canter circles
Definitely really close to perfect, every now and then I lose power steering, woops.

- start working on 10m canter circles
Yep! He's really comfortable at 12m on a good day.

- improve the counter canter loops
They're show ready on the right side but not on the left.

- improve the simple change through the walk
He's got a good walk to canter and his canter to walk is good when he's fitter

- improve the straightness at trot and canter
This improved quite a lot, the trot more than the canter.

- improve the collection at trot and canter
This improved quite a lot, the canter more than the trot.

- regularly travel off the property to the ranch, weather permitting
The weather was terrible, so we only got to the ranch once.

- visit another new facility, weather permitting
We went to the bombproofing clinic so that counts!

- bombproofing clinic in February?
March! But check.

Counter canter = no problem for this guy (but totally a problem
for me wanting to adjust too much, leave him alone!)

My Riding
- keep working on the sitting trot
This happened rarely, I really need to focus on this next quarter.

- work on feeling more comfortable sitting on the back edge of my seatbones
SO much better, but my tendency is still to lean forward when things happen, but since I'm sitting further back, I really notice when I go from sitting back to leaning forward so I can force myself back to a more relaxed place.

- try to make riding other horses on the weekends more of a priority
It was so rainy this quarter that this was really hard.

- work without stirrups when possible
Failure, mostly because of the above.

- work in two point whenever possible
Failure, I might have done two point like three times this winter.

- figure out a gym plan and stick to it
Sort of yes? I mean I have a gym plan and I stuck to it whenever I wasn't sick or injured. I've been off the gym all of March because of my foot, hoping to start up again soon!



Msc
- actually defend thesis
NOPE, this got delayed and I'm irritated. This semester was supposed to be a go but I took on a contract position and started teaching semi-regularly again so I had zero time. Hopefully we can get this squared away this summer.

- submit thesis
Yeah same as above.

- add money to my savings despite the horse really loving his vets
YES. Oh man, my tax return and teaching/contract position has left my savings replenished almost completely from this last year. Next steps: keep saving at this rate if I can, but don't kill myself with extra work.

Goal number one: more of this (off property work, not me getting
so tight in my hip, gah, but that should be a goal)

2017 Q2 Goals (April, May, June)

TC
- stay sound and sane (I feel like this is asking too much)
- go off the property as much as possible
- find a trainer/clinician/someone to at least work with semi-regularly
- show, maybe, this is so questionable right now
- possibly trail ride, like on a really hot day after he's been worked really hard and with a super lazy companion horse who is mostly dead and walks super slow
- improve the connection to the left
- improve the engagement
- improve the collection at trot (and canter, but especially trot)
- perfect the leg yield zig zag at the trot
- perfect the counter canter loops
- improve the lengthened trot
- improve the lengthened canter
- improve the haunches-in/renvers at the trot
- improve the half pass at the trot
- work on the stretch circle (and general relaxation) in new places
- improve the simple changes (walk-canter more through and more honest to the left, get the canter-walk transition back to it's previous glory)
- if not showing, play with the flying changes a bit
- install the counter canter (not just the loops), at least the one from 2-1
- work on the walk pirouettes
- improve the free walk (cover more ground)


My Riding
- work on the sitting trot
- fix my seat at the canter (again)
- work to get my leg down (again)
- carry my forearms/work on my hands being even softer (when I think they're too soft, they're not soft enough)
- try to ride other horses more often


Msc
- work on thesis
- figure out what is going on with my foot
- start back at the gym after dealing with the above
- have a ridiculously good time in DC!
- add to my savings account


Hopefully things keep going well this quarter and I can actually address these things. I really like having goals!