Educational Opportunities

I spent from Tuesday through Friday morning of last week at a conference. My initial plan was to set up my blog on Sunday for the whole week, but my last post went over why that wasn't something I could do. I thought I'd have time at the conference, but not so much because I turn into a social butterfly at these things.

The conference was AMAZING, it's my favorite one. I felt less than prepared for my presentation due to just switching jobs and kind of having to scramble once at the conference to add things to the presentation (luckily we presented late in the afternoon on the second day so we had time). All of the sessions were super informative, and I think that the longer I spend in the field, the more I get out of the sessions.

Also conferences have the best food, this was a custom mac
and cheese station

Mine was quite unhealthy

The most fun was seeing people I don't get to see very often. I obviously immediately reconnected with my former coworkers. We spent a good amount of the conference together, including going out on Wednesday and Thursday together (along with some other friends). I made a ton of new networking connections and touched base with people I've known for a while. A bunch of new ideas cropped up for how to collaborate with other colleges and stuff I'm excited to take back to work.

Friday morning I was a bit hungover, having had a heavy discussion with my former boss (who is now merely an amazing mentor) the night before and then deciding that drinking alcohol, which I rarely do, was a good way to loosen up from that. I stayed up way too late bonding with my former coworker (who is now one of my good friends) and ended up going to bed around 1am to get up at 6am for my flight. I got about four total hours of sleep because I kept waking up feeling sick.

My journey back was real interesting but it was mostly because a) I kept making plans for the possibility of needing to throw up when the mode of transportation got bumpy (my driver to the airport was aggressive) and b) I got lost a few times in two airports I'd never been in.

I finally made it home and decided to decompress for an hour, hanging out with my cat and trying to get myself to eat.

Dinner one night

Peony, Andy, and L were coming over (more on that later) so we could go to an important event (more on that later), so I decided that I needed to go try to ride real quick so I could shower and get ready. TC hadn't been ridden since Monday and before then had a couple days off for rain so he's basically had a bit of a vacation. Peony very kindly fed him while I was gone and I got out there to see he was bright and excited to see me. I took note that all of his legs looked normal (I always expect one to blow the fuck up) and that he needed to be brushed.

I took him out, passing the farrier who was packing up, and put him in the cross ties. I took my time brushing him, getting all the hair off- he's so much lighter this year!

I then glanced down at his left hind and immediately ran outside to see that the farrier had left. Seems like TC had spooked his shoe half way off. This has happened several times before, probably happens every six months, where TC startles by throwing his legs sideways and he sheers a shoe right off.

I picked it up and saw that only half the nails had dislodged and were now poking into his hoof, cool. I ran around the barn asking people if they had anything to take shoes off with, messaging Peony FRANTICALLY asking for her farrier's number (who is in Oregon for the week but coming to put the shoe back on tomorrow), and trying to pull at the shoe a bit. A friend at the barn showed up and I asked her if she had anything, she had nippers but I really needed a rasp to take the nails down on the other side. No dice.

So much fun

Peony was on it though. She sent me "Andy just watched a shoe removal video. He said we can improvise" and I ran up to my house to get ready for the event while they made their way out there.

Andy to the rescue, for sure, they brought a rasp, which we used to file down the clinches to get the nail straight, then we dislodged the shoe a bit with the nippers, and then he yanked each nail out with pliers. Shoe came off and the foot looks normal and the shoe honestly could get tacked right back on, it's totally normal looking. Because TC was barefoot for so long, I'm not worried about riding him like this, the ground is still really soft from the rain. But I ran out of time for Friday so I fed him grain, told him to stop spooking his damn shoes off, and we headed back to my house to get dressed and drive out.

Then it was time to go home

I'm so grateful for friends like these who come to rescue me! I owe them big time! And I think I'm going to be buying a few tools to have laying around just in case this happens again so I'm not nearly so frantic when it does happen... And we'll see what new farrier thinks of possibly putting quarter clips on those back feet! He has them on the front.

A Very Bad Day and a Very Bad Week

Um, pro tip, just skip this post. Come back tomorrow. Good things will be on the blog tomorrow. These are bad things. I haven't had to post really bad things in a while (and for that I am grateful), but this is one of them. And I'm sorry. I didn't want to write this but I think he deserves it so it's written.

This is not typical, but I am turning off comments because I am presenting at a conference this week and I really can't be crying any time my email updates. Please do not reach out to me in other ways for the rest of this week and mention this post or tell me your sorry or any of those things that I honestly am so touched that you would want to do.

If you do want to make me feel better, without mentioning anything sad, just send me a hilarious picture/video/post or tell me a joke or just know that I'm having a super fun time at the conference and hug your animals close for me (but again don't tell me about it, sorry I'm just such a fucking crier. And I have to wear make up and not be running to the bathroom to fix it all the time you know? Gah I wish I could control this shit).

Goodbye Cooper

A little over a week ago, I was driving out to my lesson with my new trainer and I got a call from my dad. It was 7:43am.

My dad doesn't usually call me, so I immediately knew something was off. My parents' older golden retriever, Cooper, had collapsed the night before and had been rushed to the vet. Things were not looking good. They wanted to know if I wanted to come down to see him.

I didn't even think about it, I turned down the highway in the opposite direction of where I was going and two hours later I was walking into the vet clinic frantic. I did let potential new trainer know where I was going and why. She was very nice about it.

Years ago when he was young

I don't want to talk about the rest of the day. It was terrible. Cooper, who had battled and, we thought, beaten a cancer that would have killed him a year and a half ago if it hadn't been caught and treated, had been struck by the cancer again. In addition to having a tumor on his spleen (that we didn't know was there, he was going in for blood work in a week) rupture, he had thrown a clot overnight in his leg and couldn't walk anymore. It was absolutely time. Just twelve hours earlier he was running up to the barn, barking and playing.

For the first time in my life, I was present for it. I had to for this dog. He was my mom's dog but he was my dog too. I have heard of having a heart horse, and that is Rico to me. But if there's such a thing as a heart dog, well, so far, this dog is mine.

I didn't handle it well, but I did it for him and I do not regret it. He is the best dog. I miss him so much. I hugged my mom and my brother, I drove down to the ranch to hug Ruby and Rico. I rode Rico down the road and he was sassy and silly. I drove all the way home and hugged TC and Jade. It was a very bad day. It was a very bad week.

There are currently eight important animals in my life. Rico is the one I fear for the most, both for him in that I want his death to be one that is not traumatic, but peaceful. I want to know when he goes that it was the right time, not too soon or too late. I almost lost him before. I will have a very bad day for him. I will have a very bad week and probably for him, a very bad month. Jade is my sweet kitty and I should have so much time left with her but it will be a very bad day when I lose her, followed by a very bad week.

He and Rico had such a ridiculous relationship

Stretch will likely go soon, he should have gone a long time ago. I will have a very bad day when he goes and a very bad week afterward. Riot and Sunny have found their way into my heart with how much freedom they are giving my parents. Seeing my mom with Sunny makes me so happy, she's like a kid with a pony. My dad didn't ride for years before getting Riot, he has a back injury that makes riding very difficult. He loves riding. When they go eventually I will have two very bad days and two very bad weeks.

Xena is my kitty from when I was a teenager, I got her when I got Rico. She was found in a box on the side of the road and I took her home. She is the most cat-like cat I've ever had and I love her dearly. My mom decided that she was her cat before I moved out, so she didn't come with me. She's still my sweet baby girl even though she's twelve this year. When she goes I will have a very bad day and a very bad week. Ruby is my parents' younger golden retriever.

And TC. I do not currently plan on keeping TC to the point where I am the person who has to decide about him. I hope dearly that he finds a new owner that gives him the life that he deserves after he and I conquer what we must. Selling him will occur on a very bad day, and I will have a very bad week when I no longer have that horse with me. I'm sure when, eventually, he goes as well, it will sting.

Love this dog

It's pretty much guaranteed that for the rest of my life, I will have at least eight very bad days. Eight very bad weeks. Eight times that I have to adjust to the loss of an animal. Eight moments where I question if it was the right decision. Eight times where I ask myself if it's even worth all of this pain. And even though this week has been terrible, it's all so worth it.

I had so many years with him, so many wonderful moments. So many times I asked him to come here when he was already laying by me and he wiggled and barked at me as if to say "I'm already here!" so many moments where I asked him to speak and he'd have a conversation with me, so many times where I'd need a hug and he'd give me the best hugs. I'm glad that he didn't have to have any bad days.

Seven Years Old

Today I am leaving for a conference! But today is also TC's birthday. For his birthday, he got ditched in favor of data, sorry buddy. But yesterday we did actually celebrate like we did last year, by dressing him up in dollar store birthday garb and making fun of him. He actually handled it SO MUCH BETTER than last year, with only a few tiny spooks and a lot of him just looking at me like what poor life choices led me to being owned by you?

This horse usually isn't a side-eye kinda guy
but Peony caught this and it was hilarious!

Mom please you're embarrassing me

We went and grazed for a bit, he wasn't happy
because the hat kept touching his ears but he was
willing to put up with it for grass

TC's six year old year has been pretty amazing, it was around this time last year that I started really gaining confidence with him and as the fear washed away from both of us, our relationship strengthened. Since then we debuted in the rated show ring, won All Breeds for Training level, hit the trail for the first time since before his injury, rode bareback a few times, and generally had a lot of fun together.

I'm really looking forward to the seven year old year. He's a great horse and is maturing every day. His personality is my favorite and I just plain love being around him these days. It's fun to live so close to him (look at that, I thought I'd hate it in a way) and bring him carrots every day.

Here's to another year with this great horse! If we could just replicate the last year and do it over again, I totally would (well, in some ways).

Peony got this cute picture of us hugging

I hate dis

Before I left I put it all over his stall... Yay TC!

Out in the Field

Last weekend I had a three day weekend so got some really good rides in. On Friday, I had time (sorta, I missed more of the clinic that I had wanted) to take TC on a walk around the cross country field in hand before riding him. I really wanted to get a move on getting him out in the open because I so valued wandering around at my old barn. Most of the time when we're riding, we're focused and working hard, which is awesome, but I really cherish those moments of just walking on a loose rein.

TC was EXCELLENT out there, we walked to the back of the property and had a snack on the grass, then wandered back to the cross ties. When I got on him, I walked him out to the pastures as usual, then decided to just walk along the path we had been on earlier. My plan was to get off and do ground work if necessary.

Sunset at the barn is so pretty

But TC just quietly walked along, looking around with soft eyes. We walked back to the outdoor arena and immediately I could tell that TC was much more relaxed than he normally is. As much as I think this was because it was warm, the barn was quiet, it was in the middle of the day vs the evening... I think it also had a little to do with the walk around. Even at his old barn, if you went straight from his stall to the arena, he wasn't as good. Even when I was in a hurry, we prioritized a walk around the barn.

The ride itself was great. He was immediately into the bridle and stretching down over his back. His trot felt better than it's felt since he moved in. We did a lot of changes of direction to break up what remained of the tension the night before- stepping off my inside leg was hard in both directions I think because he was just so tight that day, probably made himself a bit sore. And eventually he was like butter in the connection (hardish butter, this horse doesn't get to be light and fluffy).

The canter felt kind of blah to the right. His canter has suffered quite a bit in the move because we've had to take a step back and get him relaxed/through before going back to putting in a bit of positive tension to get the uphill balance. I'm not worried.

Thinking about how much he hates the water
complex for some reason (?? he loves water)

The good thing about the canter starting out as blah is that I COULD finally increase the pressure inside him without having him get tense, and we got some really nice moments of canter to the right. This direction remains our trickier direction to get him uphill, but the easier direction for throughness. The left lead felt pretty great, though my instability to the left (which I'm hoping to work on this weekend with new trainer on her horse!) makes it hard for him to really step into the right rein.

To fix both of these issues (the uphill balance to the right and the straightness/connection to the left), I've been wanting to do a whole bunch of counter canter and I finally could on Friday.

As an aside, I've been looking forward to schooling counter canter on this horse for the longest time. Mentally when I started with him, I took note of a few big hurdles that I thought we may not make it through. The first one was that I thought he might be fine at First, but that the collection required for the simple changes and counter canter at Second would be too much for him and that we'd spend years trying to get it.

Love riding in the giant outdoor arena!

Friday we did the counter canter. It's not easy for him, but it's not particularly difficult. As is incredibly typical, the canter gets a touch weak in it, but to be perfectly honest, I've been pleasantly surprised with how easy it has been to put on him. He doesn't feel like he's scrambling and he doesn't come off the bit. He just... does it, and backs off a tiny bit. So we schooled a ton of big loops and the straightness and connection to the right rein got stronger the longer we did it.

Sunday we got to school the simple changes for the first time this year. I have been avoiding doing too many walk to canter transitions. His trot to canters remain weak (though getting much better) so it seems silly to school them. But I was cantering along and we had a particularly good canter to walk transition, I changed directions and asked for the canter.

For the record, the previous state of the walk to canters has been very hollow, but clean. So no trot steps, but he seems to want to put his ears in my nostrils. Hence not working on them because who wants to teach him that it's okay to do that? But Sunday, his walk felt so good that I couldn't help but to ask him to canter and he DID and it was clean and very round. Now, I couldn't replicate it, but he did get lots of praise for that one.

Love getting to hack him out every day (well, today it's going
to probably rain)

It's been really fun to poke at the Second level stuff! We had played with it a little in October but that felt more like putting on the tricks, whereas this feels like utilizing the movements from the level to improve the horse.

I found out that on Sunday I have a lesson with potential new trainer on her horse! So that should be super fun. I'm really looking forward to being able to focus on myself and figure out what is going on with my asymmetry. I'm sure TC will appreciate it quite a bit! I've been really struggling to the left all week so hopefully that will go away starting next week (when I'm at a conference, ugh timing sucks).

WW: TC Has Big Feet

When Nicole met TC, one of the first things she asked me was why I hadn't dedicated an entire post to TC's big feet. And I don't know. So this post is for you, Nicole.

For the record, TC does have big feet, but they are still a standard shoe size (4). He doesn't need any special shoes or anything. I've grown accustomed to them so I think their normal sized and that all the other horses around have tiny feet.

This is TC's shoe next to my mom's pony (same
farrier) 

This is TC's right front foot after he was wet so
the shavings stuck to it. There's no reference
here but trust me, it's a big foot.

TC's feet are bigger than my feet are. My feet
are a size 7 by the way. 

Wasn't going to pick his feet for this, sorry

His back feet are also big

When TC lost a shoe this summer. I wear a size
7-7.5 glove

Even More Biomechanics

On Friday and Saturday, Nicole brought one of the trainers I met at the Mary clinic in to her barn! I really wanted to ride with her, but I also have a horse who is very hit or miss right now and have no way of getting over there anyway. Hopefully TC will settle, and I'll have a good idea of what my trailer budget is by the end of April, really hoping that I can resolve that problem as early as May!

But I obviously wasn't going to miss out on an educational opportunity if I didn't have to, so on Friday (which I had off from work, which was so awesome), I zipped over to Nicole's barn to watch the clinic.

This clinic feels like a lifetime ago!

Alexis is a Grand Prix dressage trainer and was a demo rider at the Mary clinic on her sometimes tricky but very talented stallion. Seeing her ride this horse and hearing stories about him made me very sure that I wanted to work with her. And then finding out that she regularly works with Friesian x Warmblood crosses really solidified it for me. She also has a fabulous dog, which is always a major plus in my book.

The focus of the clinic was biomechanics, which was great. Kate and I have had many a conversation about biomechanics since the Mary clinic and have helped each other out a bit with it too. I've audited another potential trainer who was at the clinic as well. But it was great to see Alexis' take on the whole thing, and I was really impressed.

Here were some of the things I took away:

Water Pooling Up
I want to write a whole post on the landau reflex and how learning about it has completely changed the way I deal with TC's bolting issue, but Alexis had a great visualization for it. Imagine that the musculature of the horse's topline (and/or the backline of the horse) is a hose and that water flows through it from the hindquarters, over the back and under the saddle, up over the neck, and then into the bridle. When the horse retracts their head and neck backward, the water flows backward and pools. Immediately I imagined the pool of water being right on the horse's wither, since that's where TC wants to drop when he gets his neck backward like that, but you could also imagine it pooling under the saddle where a lot of horses drop their backs.

Pulling on the face is just encouraging this water to continue to pool. Instead of going to the reins at all (and she was pretty adamant that you don't do any pulling/wiggling/wobbling/shaking the bit/*~*softening*~* and I was nodding vigorously by that point I think), you need to find a way to get the water flowing out to the bridle again. This comes from getting the back up. Some horses, like the one in the clinic, really convince you it's all about the jaw/neck/head. They shake it at you, throw it back in your face... but it's not at all about the neck or the jaw or the head placement.

Um excuse me I am not the type to put my ears in
your nostrils, no sir

Suction Cups
One cool thing that came out of both her lecture and a couple lessons was the idea of a suction cup. I've mostly read and discussed it in terms of the seat, so we'll do that first. The rider can do three things with the way their seat interacts with the horse's back. They can squash the horse's back down away from them, they can stay neutral, or they can suck the horse's back up. All in the way the rider is sitting. Alexis emphasized that sometimes for riders, it's hard enough to get into neutral, where the rider is simply staying out of the horse's way and allowing the horse to move under them. But when you start to become really good, you can start to change the way horses use themselves simply by how you sit on them, that you start leading the horse with your superior structure/way of riding.

I've used this a fair amount in teaching, instructing people to sit the trot they want the horse to have or to think about pulling the saddle back off the horse's withers/shoulders in the canter (another way of describing the slingshot). But I've mostly used it with regard to the seat.

Alexis also said that it can be used with the leg as well. If you have a horse who falls away from one leg and into the other, it can be tempting to make space under the leg the horse falls away from, then use the other leg to hound the horse into the void. Horses do not want to go into the void. So the idea is to get the loose leg on and then drive the horse into that contact. Suction cups do not suck unless you put pressure on first. You can't just hold a suction cup away from something and expect it to draw that object toward it (that's a magnet).

Magnetic pull toward himself (man I miss mirrors)

Using the Ground
A lot of what came out of the clinic I'd heard and/or taught before (to be perfectly honest, not a lot is brand brand new to me in the second toolkit), but the way Alexis put things into words made another of layer of realization appear. For example, a certain airy fairy horse needed more impulsion. Impulsion is the horse pushing off the ground and thrusting themselves forward.  I know these things. The way Alexis put it was that the horse didn't want to use the ground. If he had his way, he'd just float along. And it really struck a cord with me.

TC has had some issues with impulsion, less involving the ground and more involving the suppleness of his back (a big part of impulsion that I always forgot about until it was circled in like... all my tests last year). But thinking about his hind legs using the ground in a productive way, vs just floating along (which TC does do at times). Alexis emphasized that this is mirrored in the rider, if posting is just going up and down, you're not going to influence the horse to push more off the ground. She focused on getting more of a hydraulic post and it really translated to the horse.

This amount of impulsion took years to develop. I think I'm still
too scared to know how much impulsion he could have lol

As much as I want to take all my money and throw it into lessons immediately, my plan is to let TC settle into his barn situation for the month of April. While that happens, I will teach as much as I can (I blasted emails to the pony clubs nearby this last weekend and heard back!) to help accelerate my trailer purchase. In the mean time, I asked Alexis if she had a horse I could take a lesson on and she said yes! A few! So I think I'll schedule something with her on one of her horses.

There are a ton of benefits to this situation. First, I get used to driving out to her place and can see what it would be like to haul there (since you know, new rig + new roads = eek). I can also work solely on myself without having to worry about TC's sometimes tricky behavior and our history together. Alexis can get to know me as a rider on a horse she is familiar with so she can really dig into my issues before seeing how they affect TC (maybe I'll even get her on TC!). And TC gets the benefit of me getting better and having more things to work on without having to go off the property just yet. I can feel like we're making progress toward our goals this year even before having a trailer. Plus, I might bombard her with videos of TC to get some input on what she thinks of him.

After that my ideal situation would be to ride with her twice a month. Maybe once a month driving out to her place (and possibly staying overnight if I can swing it since it's 1.5 hours away) and then once a month coercing her into coming out here. I'm also going to keep auditing in this area of course, and see who else comes out here. I gotta get my teaching business up and going so I can do all these fun educational opportunities myself!

2018 Q1 Goals Review and 2018 Q2 Goals

I can't believe the first quarter of the year is already over. I also can't believe so much happened in it! I'm really excited for the next three months, I have a lot of ideas on what may happen so we'll see how that all plays out. Before we get into that though, a review of last quarter's goals.


2018 Q1 Goals (Jan, Feb, Mar) 

TC
- stay sane and sound
Sanity was questionable at times during his move but he at least seems to have stayed somewhat sound this quarter.

- stop being such a dick about riding in the rain
Well I mean it didn't rain that much this quarter, but the days it did rain, he was pretty good! Hail though, we hate hail.

- don't scare Megan in the winter
He scared me a bit... but not as bad as last winter!

- find a trainer that works for him
Haven't quite found one yet, I audited two potential trainers in March and they both passed my audit test, now to figure out how to ride with either of them without having a trailer. I am going to ride with one on her horses, so that will be good!

- do another bombproofing clinic if the date works and the weather isn't bad
They haven't had one and I moved anyway

- continue work on the long lines with the clicker
Yes! Not as much as the last quarter, I need to figure out how to swing this at the new barn.

- improve the engagement of the inside hind leg in each direction
Definitely has been getting better

- improve the impulsion at the trot and canter
SO much better, like there actually is some

Lateral work is getting so much better

- improve the oscillation of the neck in the canter
Obviously this will always be a thing, but it's so much better now

- improve the throughness at the canter
YES absolutely, he is so much more through

- improve the uphill balance at the canter (and trot, really)
For sure, getting the slingshot down made his canter go along on round wheels, which allowed me to really be able to start to rock him back. This is still hit or miss, he sort of has to be at the right amount of positive tension and so we don't quite have it solid.

- start re-putting on all the movements with the new balance/impulsion
Absolutely, he's got a killer shoulder-in and is coming along in the leg yield, he's still struggling to maintain balance and impulsion in the half pass and haunches-in though.

- develop a true medium (or at least a damn good lengthening)
Noooot quite, the winter made this hard to work on and now I'm ramping his fitness back up

- develop more cadence in the lateral work
Definitely! This is related to the impulsion goal.

- if the weather stays good, go on a trail ride
Yep! We totally did this and neither of us murdered the other. Our new barn has a ton of room to roam around and we've even done a short "trail" ride there.

- begin another year of traveling by going to at least 1-2 places this quarter
Yep! I went on a trail ride in February. Hopefully more traveling next quarter when I hopefully get a trailer.

- IF everything goes perfectly, show Training Level in March at Greenville
Nope, prioritizing lessons this spring, plus moving made it not so possible to show this quarter!

Would have been good at Training level though

My Riding
- stay confident with TC through the winter
Definitely! He's an awesome horse and I know I've got anything he throws at me (er, within reason)

- continue to improve the sitting trot so I feel more effective sitting than posting
Definitely, the Mary clinic helped SO much with this. For the most part, I'm sitting the second half of my rides and feeling pretty confident about it.

- ride a greater variety of horses
I certainly don't ride tons of different horses, but I have ridden a few others this quarter

- audit more clinics
Yep! The Mary clinic was technically auditing and I also audited a few clinicians in March on my trainer search. I audited Tanya and Alexis and loved both of them.

- find a trainer who works for me
Same as above, I have those two in mind, both are super nice and very talented riders and trainers.

Slowly getting my position on point

Teaching
- come up with a barn name
Yep! Alchemy Dressage is now a thing, more on that later, still working on the website.

- put up a website, or at least make progress on one
Not quite yet, but I do have an instagram, go find it! I keep forgetting to post on it.

- decide on rates, esp for clinics
I'm still working this out, but I have my normal rate and my CA travel rate so that's good

- put out at least one advertisement/something for clinics/teaching
Since I moved in March, I put this on hold

- buy teaching insurance that can go across state lines
Done!



Msc
- continue to go to the gym when possible
Kind of a fail, though it's been better already now that I have TRX straps at home. I'm considering getting a groupon for some random gym every month, but I think for now I'll wait until I get a more solidified schedule.

- cook from home more often
Well, I didn't do that very much when my commute was still freakishly long, but the last week I've been cooking all the time!

- start the new pix in parks challenge with my SIL
Yep! We have done two hikes so far, just need five more, it will be harder to coordinate this year but we'll figure it out.

- if I do get sick, coordinate being sick with bad weather at least
Ugh I literally was sick the day after that post went out. But yes it was raining.

Oops

2018 Q2 Goals (Apr, May, June) 

TC

- stay sane and sound

- press better into the bridle in the sitting trot

- no more flingy trot to canter transitions
- no more ugly downward transitions

- improve the lengthened trot
- improve the lengthened canter
- improve the halt and rein back
- quicken the walk pirouettes (and make the left one smaller)
- more cadence in the leg yields and shoulder-in
- more impulsion in the haunches-in and half pass
- gain confidence in the counter canter
- more throughness in the simple changes (esp walk to canter)

My Riding

- continue to work on engaging my backline in the sitting trot

- feel more comfortable in the sitting trot in my new position

- fix my inability to maintain tone while riding downward transitions
- continue to audit as much as possible, this area has SO MANY clinicians
- find a trainer who works for me

Teaching

- get website done and published 

- get an advertisement out (even just get my barn listed on bayequest or somewhere)

- set up a facebook page

- teach 4 new people

- reach out to pony clubs for spring/summer clinics

- follow up with people who have mentioned wanting clinics/lessons this year

- set up a billing system that works for me

Msc

- visit my SIL to keep working on our hiking challenge
- find some new places to hike in this area
- go on a photography trip in the area
- impulsively financially prepare for buying a trailer (and hopefully get one?)
- set up an automatic transfer to my retirement accounts (should have done this like fucking years ago)
- set up an automatic transfer to my Ally account