2017 Q4 Review and 2018 Q1 Goals

2017 Q4 Goal Review

1. Fight winter blues and re-establish a barn routine

Success - not going to lie, it took a while, but it happened. Unfortunately I have been sick for the last 2 weeks which has put me back again.

2. Start pre-planning for 2018 local dressage show

Success - Venue and Judge and Date are set. The show is well positioned relative to other events in the area,  and I have been working to get the word out. 

3. Actively determine what I can do to improve the local equestrian scene

Semi-Success - I've been thinking about this, but rather than some master plan I've realized that this is more of an ongoing thing to see where I can contribute as things come up. 

4. Regularly video my rides

Fail - I didn't ride a whole lot this quarter but there's no reason why I couldn't have videoed my rides when they did happen

5. Address ground work from a root cause perspective

Success - I've been working to figure out the reasons behind Kachina's behaviour and address it accordingly. E.g. I realised that pain and fear was the reason behind Kachina's regression with having her feet handled so I've been working with her on it in a very low pressure way. 

6. Participate in 2Pointober

Fail 

7. Participate in No-stirrup November

Fail

8. Control the canter

Success - I'm finally at the point where I feel comfortable cantering every ride and I feel like I'm riding the canter instead of just being a passenger

9. Regularly work on free walk and stretchy trot

Fail - in clinics I realised that Kachina needs a better understanding of contact before I can get her to seek the contact in a stretch

10. Develop new training progression plan

Semi-success - as I wrote about in a Note on Goals, I figured out that I want to develop this with a trainer instead of my own.

2018 Q1 Goals

1. Try training with Elaine
Elaine is coming back for a clinic at the end of January and is actually staying in the area for a whole month to train with people. I have signed up for twice weekly sessions. This is a super unique opportunity for where I live and I want to take full advantage of it. 

2. Research other boarding options
I'm not totally happy with where Kachina is boarded right now, I don't honestly know if there is a better option but the first step is to actually look and find out

3. Continue with Project Magpie
So I've discovered that my non-horsey SO (who Kachina doesn't know that well) can walk straight up to Kachina and throw a rope around her neck with no drama. I'm not sure why my BO can't do the same so I need to try and figure that out with more investigation. 

4. Issue Prizelist for Show
This also involves figuring out all the details that go into it, but at least I can copy a lot of the stuff from last year.

That's all, keeping the goals simple this quarter