Typical ups and downs of horses. Yesterday Fliss was entered in the BD dressage at Colraine where she won both her novice sections. Sounds impressive doesn't it? Actually we were the only competitor in the silver section and won by default nevertheless she actually went very well and her way of going is improving rapidly.
Novice 24 we scored 66.7%
A mid winter outside 3 day show may not have been the brightest idea but actually we were relatively lucky with the weather and although it was bitterly cold at times we all survived. It was great to get a few days solid competition practice and we made some big steps forward.
My original intention had been to enter both girls in the Discovery and 1.05 on the first day but actually the Discovery was quite a friendly track or maybe I am getting used to bigger tracks? So just Fliss who has not jumped competitively since November jumped this class and did a nice double clear.
Always great to look back on last years website stats, I often wonder if the expense and effort that goes in to run the site is worthwhile however seeing the stats I am very pleased.
Total Sessions: 167,500
Total Visitors: 44,000
Total Page Views: 850,000
Course Pictures
437 courses added
10134 photos uploaded
114 Blog posts written
As you can see a lot of effort goes into this site but really pleased 44,000 people have chosen to visit the site. Looks like I will need to keep it going a little longer!
Yesterday we went to the BS show at Duchy, never the busiest but always nice well built courses and a decent enough arena. There was never going to be enough competitors to make it easy to take both girls so I just took Ellie. Duchy jump their classes A7 meaning a separate jump off. I wanted to finally jump Ellie's first Newcomers a daunting prospect with a 14.1 pony.
We jumped the 1.05 and to be honest we were a bit rusty, well Ellie will say I was, to be fair we haven't done any BS for a couple of months. Despite the fact I needed to ride forward and hook less she jumped a nice clear round, in the jump off we had a lazy rail at the first fence then the rest was clear to finish one place outside the money.
So onto the 1.10 and it was a nice course, there is never many fillers to get you up in the air though. What can I say, this round was our best round of the day and we jumped a super clear.
Considering January can be one of the coldest and harshest months booking an away show at Chard Equestrian might not have been the brightest idea. Saying that it is a fabulous place to jump with a huge outdoor arena, great surfaces, well built albeit top end courses and lovely stables in an indoor barn. I can't get huge enthusiasm for jumping indoors and we haven't done much this winter, we have some nice show centres locally but none have particularly big schools and with most shows running single phase I find the horses get a bit backward, maybe it is me that needs to ride better! So come rain or shine I am looking forward to getting them out jumping next week. Fingers crossed for some reasonable weather!
"Failing to plan is planning to fail". I often fall into the negative trap of not creating any goals as I am afraid that I will fail in their pursuit. I have come to realise this is counter productive and to use another quote "if you aim at nothing you will hit it every time". So I am trying to dream big but be realistic for 2019, also recognising that horses being horses things may change or alter but at this point they are realistic. I also have to accept with two horses at a reasonable level this year finances may not stretch as far as needed.
So my main goals for 2019
x - Upgrade Ellie to Novice BE this Spring
x - Jump some Newcomers with Ellie by April
x - Start Fliss at BE100 and also upgrade to Novice by Autumn
x - Have one or both ready for 1 star by the season end
x - Run a 10k in less than 1hr5 minutes
x - Find a way to earn more money to support the points above so I don't need to rob a bank - not sure how to achieve this ideas welcome!
x - Be positive and enjoy the horses
I have been lucky this year that I have been sent the Rider Performance Journal from My Equestrian Life, see their Facebook page here for more information. It is a well laid out journal which really helps you not only set goals but then put in place the building blocks for achieving them. It helps you identify strengths and weaknesses and break down the goals into bite sized monthly chunks. I love the monthly diary that gets you to record plans, lesson outcomes, competition learning, lightbulb moments and achievements. My only complaint is in a few areas would be great to add pages if it has been a busy competition month for example. If you are the sort of person that likes to keep a written record of your year and be helped put together plans than I would definitely recommend it. Equally if you coast along aimlessly then this will help you focus your thoughts whatever your goals be it Badminton or a fun ride. Would be ideal for children too.
I will be revisiting this post at several points this year to see how well we are doing and if plans have to be tweaked or altered, I am looking forward to making these goals reality.
Good Start to the New Year !!