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Setting Goals - The under achiever year
Jan. 4th, 2016 08:48 amThis year, I'm going to take it easy. I'm going to relax more, stare into space more, not push myself over and over again to be a little bit better. By deciding that right now, I can hopefully both accomplish it and not feel guilty for not trying to run at 90 MPH all the time.
On the horse front, this year will be my down year. Atisa, the Pogo Pony, is getting older. Can you believe she's 17? Where did my squirrely little 5 year old go? Anyways, she's getting older and the dressage work isn't getting any easier. In fact, we're starting to hit a wall at 3rd level. This past summer, we showed 2nd and squeaked by with acceptable but not great scores. She's got a half pass but not solid changes in both directions, so the plan was to do 3rd next year but ... she has heaves. She got the last year midwinter and it was nightmare. I was afraid we were going to lose her. We got her through it but it involved months of her doing absolutely nothing but stand in the open air and eat. We didn't start showing until late mid-summer due to how out of condition she was. I expect the same thing to happen this year and getting a horse in shape for 3rd level is no joke. It takes at least every other day, if not every day, of good solid work. And that's hard to do with a 17 year old arab with arthritis. We're hitting our wall and I don't see us necessarily making it over it. And that's okay. She's still the Pogo Pony and this year, we'll do what we can and take it easy.
Which brings us to Pony #2. My husband bought me a 2, almost 3 year old mare named Rabinna. We call her Little Bean, because she's already a good 5 inches taller than Atisa and none of her growth plates are closed yet. She's a sweet baby but still very babyish. Her response to fear is to jump on top of her handler doing the horse equivalent of "HOLD ME!". I've had her for a little less than a month and she had her first rider up on her last weekend. Normally, I like to wait with babies but this girl is going to get huge. I want her started under saddle while she's still small enough to influence. The saddle work was a non-issue. It seems I still remember what I'm doing even though it's been a decade since I started a baby. My friend crawled on, I popped treats in her mouth and we walked around like "whatever". Now the breeder would love for me to campaign the Bean next year but I have other plans. We're going to trail ride. We're going to go on adventures and trailer everywhere and see stuff and go to 4H shows and just generally bomb proof the hell out of this girl. I show alone, I need a horse who can self load/unload, stand in a trailer alone and come out at a new place and work without any drama. Those horses aren't born, they're made. God knows, it took Atisa long enough to get to that point. So we're going to adventure this girl. Atisa is going with us (and so is the Boy) and we're going to have a time of it. Next year, when she's firmly 4, we'll start training. This year, we're going to learn how to be brave.
Due to the low horse goals, I have the freedom to plan things like summer vacations if I want. The concept is heady. Stay tuned, things might happen.
On the horse front, this year will be my down year. Atisa, the Pogo Pony, is getting older. Can you believe she's 17? Where did my squirrely little 5 year old go? Anyways, she's getting older and the dressage work isn't getting any easier. In fact, we're starting to hit a wall at 3rd level. This past summer, we showed 2nd and squeaked by with acceptable but not great scores. She's got a half pass but not solid changes in both directions, so the plan was to do 3rd next year but ... she has heaves. She got the last year midwinter and it was nightmare. I was afraid we were going to lose her. We got her through it but it involved months of her doing absolutely nothing but stand in the open air and eat. We didn't start showing until late mid-summer due to how out of condition she was. I expect the same thing to happen this year and getting a horse in shape for 3rd level is no joke. It takes at least every other day, if not every day, of good solid work. And that's hard to do with a 17 year old arab with arthritis. We're hitting our wall and I don't see us necessarily making it over it. And that's okay. She's still the Pogo Pony and this year, we'll do what we can and take it easy.
Which brings us to Pony #2. My husband bought me a 2, almost 3 year old mare named Rabinna. We call her Little Bean, because she's already a good 5 inches taller than Atisa and none of her growth plates are closed yet. She's a sweet baby but still very babyish. Her response to fear is to jump on top of her handler doing the horse equivalent of "HOLD ME!". I've had her for a little less than a month and she had her first rider up on her last weekend. Normally, I like to wait with babies but this girl is going to get huge. I want her started under saddle while she's still small enough to influence. The saddle work was a non-issue. It seems I still remember what I'm doing even though it's been a decade since I started a baby. My friend crawled on, I popped treats in her mouth and we walked around like "whatever". Now the breeder would love for me to campaign the Bean next year but I have other plans. We're going to trail ride. We're going to go on adventures and trailer everywhere and see stuff and go to 4H shows and just generally bomb proof the hell out of this girl. I show alone, I need a horse who can self load/unload, stand in a trailer alone and come out at a new place and work without any drama. Those horses aren't born, they're made. God knows, it took Atisa long enough to get to that point. So we're going to adventure this girl. Atisa is going with us (and so is the Boy) and we're going to have a time of it. Next year, when she's firmly 4, we'll start training. This year, we're going to learn how to be brave.
Due to the low horse goals, I have the freedom to plan things like summer vacations if I want. The concept is heady. Stay tuned, things might happen.
