Goals Thread...

Tuddy · Postby **Tuddy** » Sun Oct 11, 2015 6:01 pm

Hey, can we get the Sept/Oct goals moved over from UDBB? That is a HUGE source of motivation and inspiration for me!

PaulaEdwina · Postby **PaulaEdwina** » Sun Oct 11, 2015 9:18 pm

I agree. I love the accountability. Why not start our own?

I plan on hauling Fella over to my dressage trainer (where I usually take longe lessons on her horse) once or twice a month to work on our Western Dressage and Ranch Pleasure. This trainer is an accomplished Traditional Dressage rider and trainer, but came from a Western background so she has the imagination and the skills to bring us along.

Paula

Silverado · Postby **Silverado** » Sun Oct 11, 2015 10:06 pm

October goals ….I am planning on hauling my Connemara pony, Chase over to my trainer for a least one lesson, it's a busy month and I don't think I will get the riding time I need for more than one lesson. I am hoping to ride him at least three times a week, although I already know I won't have time this week. We need to work on the basics….walk, trot & canter.

Chisamba · Postby **Chisamba** » Sun Oct 11, 2015 10:40 pm

I have not been in showing mode at all, having toyed, as i am sure you are sick of hearing, with the notion of never showing again. Well i ventured out to a show, and realized that I am more focused when i have a showing goal in mind, so, getting Kimba ready for first level next year, and entering three shows, and bringing Acacia along, reducing her reactivity and sensitivity to change.

I am only listing my own horses for this and making it more personal, because I have often ignored my own goals in favor of offering my best efforts to my client horses which i do not resent, but i need to reserve enough energy at the end of the day to also ride my own.

So that is a goal, reserve enough energy to ride my own horses every riding day. at least four times a week..

I had my horses do poles and low jumps and they seemed to really enjoy it, so i want to cross train a little more too

Moutaineer · Postby **Moutaineer** » Sun Oct 11, 2015 10:47 pm

Still working on straightness. My homework this week is a shoulder in at the canter. Now there's an interesting exercise...

As a side goal, I have to get comfortable sitting the trot on this big, bouncy boy, and stop dumbing it down. That is going to require me doing some serious core work, but without angering my already angry SI anymore than strictly necessary.

MyDanceTilMidnight · Postby **MyDanceTilMidnight** » Sun Oct 11, 2015 11:22 pm

My big goal is to work on my geometry...my horse is a foundation bred stock horse and not a fancy mover, so we need to be super correct. I am going to my first show that includes dressage this weekend, then a horse trial in December. Maybe a dressage show in November, haven't decided on that yet since I need some new show clothes for a real dressage show and am waiting to see how the show this weekend goes. So tomorrow I'm measuring the placement of the dressage letters in our grass arena to ensure they are spaced correctly and then I will work on utilizing my corners and making my circles 20 meters.

gypsy still flies · Postby **gypsy still flies** » Mon Oct 12, 2015 1:34 am

My goal for October is to stretch and loosen my hips so Rustle gives me a foxtrot. He was getting pacey but at least now he hard trots so I'm hoping we can get back to a foxtrot.

Imperini · Postby **Imperini** » Mon Oct 12, 2015 2:45 am

My goals are to work more on straightness and getting him more in front of the leg. The horse I ride goes a bit crooked and has done so for quite a long time so it's a bit of a challenge but it's a goal to work toward. He's also quite lazy so I want to work on increased responsiveness as well as having him be forward without so much effort from me. I feel we have improved a lot since I started with him almost a year ago but I only ride twice a week and he's a hunter during the week and masquerades as a dressage horse for me on weekends so things take a while.

Flight · Postby **Flight** » Mon Oct 12, 2015 5:50 am

I'm still aiming at getting flying changes sorted. That's the long term goal. So, with my instructor I've been working on lateral stuff in canter and for this month it will be getting a better half pass, and quarters in on the circle in canter. My little guy is very cute and tries so hard.

DressageChic2 · Postby **DressageChic2** » Mon Oct 12, 2015 11:52 am

October goal is to get Goof used to working around other horses so we can do some arena hires and group work over winter, ready for 2016 4yo classes.

He is good, but being entire has the attention span of a toddler gnat, so needs to get on and make other horses normal

redsoxluvr · Postby **redsoxluvr** » Mon Oct 12, 2015 12:38 pm

Goals for the Rookie - start counter canter by the end of the year. He's already pretty steady in the contact in all three paces.
Sadly, he is on the lazy side. (Comically so.), He's been here since Aug 1, and all we have focused on this first 8 weeks is leg = go wholeheartedly, not nap and sulk. He is 18H but not a huge mover like Mr. Perfect. He is a quick study, but it's definitely been a bit of a process
for him to learn to go on his own. The first three weeks I spent booting him around like a little kid on a Thelwell pony.

Goals for Mr. Perfect - resolve his eye issues (again). He tends to be pretty forward, and the issues with his eye are
making him overly spooky in addition to frantically forward. With him, all I feel like I can work on is keeping him confident and rely on me to
keep him safe. His current source of terror is a small, white pig. He's always been weird about white things
on the ground, but now he is off the hook scared. The fact that she moves, does tricks and rubs against the trees
bordering our properties only compounds the horror. Desensitization is not the issue - it's the fact that he comes
off the aids and panics. If I can get his attention before things escalate he will generally get through it.
And no, I am not going to buy a pig to help him get over the fear. If it weren't the pig, it would be something else.
He just needs to realize that I will keep him safe regardless of what is happening.

Sue B · Postby **Sue B** » Mon Oct 12, 2015 3:05 pm

Moutaineer, another thing Beth Glosten said to certain riders was to imagine you had a seat belt on pushing your abdomen to your spine. This was to keep folks from arching the back while trying to engage the core.

October is a tough time for me to get rides in, so my goals will be small. My goal is to simply ride both horses a few times a week and to focus on perfecting my position while on Rudy. Tio (the "baby") just needs saddle time. He has the same attention span as Goofy.

Ponichiwa · Postby **Ponichiwa** » Mon Oct 12, 2015 3:08 pm

Yo yo yo!

Formerly EngineeringExtension, now Ponichiwa. Checking in!

Couple things going on in Kiwi's world:
- Flying changes are less dramatic and are always clean unless I'm making them harder (e.g. halfpass to flying change on the centerline, multiple changes in a row, etc.), and then cleanliness drops to ~80% or so. Working on that.
- Signed ourselves up for a Jeremy Steinberg clinic towards the end of October, which means I'm hoping that:
- My new saddle arrives soon.

TequilaMockingbird · Postby **TequilaMockingbird** » Mon Oct 12, 2015 3:44 pm

My goal for the rest of this year is to do a longe lesson once a week. I've done two so far and they've been extremely helpful.

I'm also planning on hauling out to the local eventing course just as a way to do something different. My trainer is going to bring along her 4 year old greenie that has only been under saddle for 3 months. If all goes well and weather permits we'd like to do a real trail ride with both horses. The nice thing about going to the eventing course is we can do a trail ride if we want but we can also use the dressage arena if they get stupid. I doubt they will but you never know.

Ryans Friend · Postby **Ryans Friend** » Mon Oct 12, 2015 3:50 pm

Cannon and I were progressing nicely under our former trainer JP. His death in December of last year threw us off course. The stars were aligned wonderfully though and we are blessed with a new local trainer, whose background is eventing and dressage, and we are back on course again. We just started working counter canter, and will be tackling first level next season. For now I am working on my seat and aids (as always!), and assuring that we think and work "forward."

MaryC · Postby **MaryC** » Mon Oct 12, 2015 4:23 pm

So I finally put my toe in the water with the Sept/Oct goals, planning on debuting 3rd level. Well.....WE DID IT!!! Got a 63 & 65 at 3rd-1, and earned our bronze medal! Woot Woot! So proud of my big girl, she's been quite patient as I've gotten out of perma-first and over the second level hump. She was a rockstar! It was a great way to end the show year. We're gonna spend the winter further improving position, and planning on movin' on up next year!

KathyS · Postby **KathyS** » Mon Oct 12, 2015 5:35 pm

Work more on our canter to the left. Our right lead is so much easier, so I need to force myself to canter left more.

We've been cross training and doing some jumping. Did a schooling hunter show, and Breeze did really well. We're going to do another mini-trial in November, and there is a Dressage schooling show late November. That will probably be the end of showing for the year.

Magicboy · Postby **Magicboy** » Mon Oct 12, 2015 6:13 pm

My gelding is such a gentleman...we did ok at second level this show season and now we are deep in flying change hell...half passes are easy for him and there's lots of pilot error to deal with in FC hell. I'm working on timing of course...Doing some trail riding this month too

Kelo · Postby **Kelo** » Mon Oct 12, 2015 6:27 pm

MaryC wrote: planning on debuting 3rd level. Well.....WE DID IT!!! Got a 63 & 65 at 3rd-1, and earned our bronze medal!

Whoa! Congrats MaryC! Woop Woop! :mrgreen:

Gosh darn it, I always LOVED the goals thread so now I'm gonna JOIN instead of lurking.

I am done showing for the year, so I am just working on improving our weak points. Haven't been able to do lessons for awhile, so hoping to start back with that soon and get some feedback. I think I've been improving, but...guess we'll see.

A couple weeks ago I tried an Intro to Working Equitation clinic. It was a disaster. While the teachers were pretty good, but the riders at the clinic....let's just say trotting was a challenge for them. It was my fault for paying to go despite vague answers from the clinic holder; I thought we would get an opportunity to, say, play with various WE obstacles, the garrocha pole, etc., but it turned into a "intro to riding 101" clinic. While the teachers were just doing what most of the riders needed, I was left in the lurch. Spent hours watching them try to teach people the most basic "walk without your horse's head flinging all over the place". At lunch, they promised me they'd have some stuff I could do in the afternoon. That turned out to be highlighted by a WE obstacle of....a walk-thru L (also not a challenge for us, although it was for everyone else!!!) and that's it, so I literally just walked out. I was very excited for it, and was so terribly disappointed. :cry:

I haven't been able to go do other stuff (work cows, trail ride, whatever) with the exception of the failed clinic. So my other goal in the coming weeks is to get out and do some fun stuff in addition to the dressage work.

Silverado · Postby **Silverado** » Mon Oct 12, 2015 7:14 pm

MaryC……HUGE CONGRATS!!!!

sixcrowns · Postby **sixcrowns** » Mon Oct 12, 2015 8:08 pm

was Jenn, now sixcrowns. Oct goal is to pay off the vet bill...beyond that I have the next two weeks off starting on Wednesday and my goal is to get on a horse every day even if it is only to walk around the arena once...we'll see...

khall · Postby **khall** » Mon Oct 12, 2015 8:28 pm

MaryC Awesome! That is huge!

October goals are get back on my horses, sigh if it is not one thing it is another. Big guy got upper respiratory ick now I am afraid he may have guttural pouch thing going on, plus he threw a shoe. Have been back on my young mare and she is doing well helping a friend with her young mare. Big TB/perch girl that is young and a retrain project. Not the best start on her plus she has grown so much since she got here like riding a different horse.

One bit of good news is that my older mare that foundered end of June is looking great. Feet are growing out nicely and she looks pretty sound on them. Whew, thank goodness.

Tuddy · Postby **Tuddy** » Mon Oct 12, 2015 9:35 pm

I guess I should jump in.

My four year old, Yonka, that I had in training, has reached his mental capability for this year and will come home. My 14 year old, Lucas, will go and take his place. Lucas is broke to ride, but he is going there for weight management. My goals are 1) to make the swap 2) get on Lucas at least twice a week. He has been a pasture puff and I don't want to put him into real work until he can handle more than 20 minutes at a time.

PNG_Pony · Postby **PNG_Pony** » Mon Oct 12, 2015 9:51 pm

I can't remember what my Oct goals were. I suppose that means one of my goals for this month is to get back into goal-making!

I've introduced Cassia (2 year old) to the surcingle and cavesson. She's now practicing walking and trotting in straight lines without reaching back to yank on the pad or play with the surcingle rings. She's also learning to stop square and respond immediately to voice commands (esp. WHOA!). She's got a great mind, so I think I may end up long-lining her before lunging, since she's so young, to give her something to do.

Rowena's goals continue to be increased strength and balance (not very quantitative, I know). I've spent a lot of time in-hand with her the last 6 weeks, getting her to lift her sternum up and it's making a big difference. Her canter is finally getting to the point that I can do something with it, so I suppose I should...

My goal is to be a little more insistent with my seat/position and hold it even when Rowena's hind legs go out the back door.

Rosie B · Postby **Rosie B** » Mon Oct 12, 2015 10:16 pm

This session I was just planning to ride four times a week and hopefully find a saddle that fits. I've been lucky in the saddle department and have been riding on average four days a week.

I discovered I can ride him in the dark with a headlamp before work so I have been getting my rides in at 5:00 am in the dark.

.

This weekend I have a clinic with lee Tubman. Can't wait!!

Silverpoet · Postby **Silverpoet** » Mon Oct 12, 2015 10:28 pm

October goals for me is to work on Maddie's transitions, up and down the gaits and moving off of my leg. She's a gypsy draft cross and about as chunky as she is tall so sometimes, her bulk gets in her own way. My trainer and I have been working on getting her to move her shoulders instead of just falling over them and to get her hind legs under her.

I'm also bringing my 19 year old back into work after the last year off due to my schedule. So, we are still just working on lunging to build up her topline a bit before I expect her to carry my big butt in the saddle, lol. She is in very good shape but I'm ever mindful of her age and want to take things slow with her.

klark_kent07 · Postby **klark_kent07** » Tue Oct 13, 2015 12:26 am

My last goals were to get through our first second level start, which we did and won with a 62%.
We have our last competition for the year this coming weekend and are once again dipping our toes into second level- 3.3 the hardest one! :roll:

At least I'll be prepared for next year I guess!
We will also look at the changes over the next month or so. We haven't started them yet but all the prep work is in place and I have a 3 day clinic with my coach's coach in a month, so hopefully we have started them before that and she can help me refine it all.

I had a shocking ride last night, one where I actually got off at the end of the ride and apologised to my horse :oops:

I even checked for spur marks- which sounds hideous I know! ( I have never left a mark on him and of course there wasn't any there). It was because he was jumping around spooking at everything and nothing and being over reactive and dramatic and I just decided to give him a good reminder with the spur to wake up to himself, focus and remember that I was actually up there and in charge!!! He can sometimes switch off and make a mountain over a mole hill so I really had to try to get his attention back on me. It did work, although it wasn't pretty. But I can admit that and although I wish that all my rides were perfect- they aren't sometimes! :shock:

Flight · Postby **Flight** » Tue Oct 13, 2015 3:14 am

klark_kent07 wrote:We have our last competition for the year this coming weekend and are once again dipping our toes into second level- 3.3 the hardest one! At least I'll be prepared for next year I guess!

Meee tooo!! I've only done a couple of dressage comps this year, and finishing off for the year with the 3.3. Arghh! I have to practice the finishing up the centre line a few more times before Sunday, I've never tried cantering up the centre line before and doing downwards trans!
Goodluck with yours! Hopefully we will be both be happy on Sunday night

bailey · Postby **bailey** » Tue Oct 13, 2015 3:46 am

Congrats MaryC, and others. You guys inspire me!
Goals for Oct were ride 4-5 X/week, and exercise 3 X week. Was planning to clinic weekend of Oct 24th. Things were going ok, schooling first level and making progress until today. 'Scratches' on left hind caused edema up whole leg. Vet out, IM antibiotics and steroids, no work for rest of the week.
Oh well, so goes life with horses....as long as my guy gets better and heals, that's all that matters.
Final goal, which I will meet this month, is to learn how to post video and pics here.

PaulaEdwina · Postby **PaulaEdwina** » Tue Oct 13, 2015 7:02 am

Bailey,

How to post pics.

The reply dialog box defaults to "simple". Choose, "Full Editor & Preview" and you'll get all the buttons to attach things to your messages.

Now an update for me:

Fella has gone from fit to fat I'm afraid. I went from riding 5 days a week over Summer semester, to 3 days a week for Fall semester. I put him back in half training with our trainer just to put more ride time on. I'm really going to have to buckle down and WORK those 3 days of riding. Haha -just like that fit to fat

There's a cowboy trail competition the end of the month that I'd like to attend if I can get the transportation. It's trail challenges but timed. Should be fun, could be a mess

Paula

MidgetMustang · Postby **MidgetMustang** » Tue Oct 13, 2015 9:51 am

Goal one: post instead of lurking...so here I am

For Cara (the midget mustang): CHANGES. We are in flying change hell. Miss Cara is ridonkulously smart so getting her to wait and let me teach her what I'm asking for has been challenging. She has figured out this funky "skip" change where she sticks a foot down (any foot-she's not picky) in the middle of her change. AAANNNnnnd because she's pretty sure she's smarter than I am ("no I swear this is easier mom...trust me!"), she offers that whenever I start thinking about a change. Or a change of bend. Or the weather. Sigh.

For Keilah (IDSH jumpventersage mare): get her back soreness figured out so we can get back to riding. Chiro, acupuncture, vet...checked all the boxes and she's still NQR. Having a different chiro work with her in 10 days or so. Hopefully he can work his magic and we can get back to work. We were making some real progress on the cross country courses when she came up sore. Poop.

Linde · Postby **Linde** » Tue Oct 13, 2015 11:45 am

My goals are to ride at least 4 times a week. Also, I need to get back into lunging my guy in side reins regularly, even if it's just a few minutes at the beginning.

He has a tendency to keep tension in his back and not using his hindend. and if i lunge him, he warms up way better. In the spring I was lunging him at least once a week, and we made nice progress. I can see the difference on the lunge line in down transitions. He steps more under. I hope more if that will carry over to under saddle.

Spotted at X · Postby **Spotted at X** » Tue Oct 13, 2015 2:02 pm

I'd like in! No horse access yet as we won't move til Nov 12th, but my goals to make that happen would be packing the rest of the house in boxes, arrangements for the furniture were not taking to be donated to goodwill, and arrangement of pick up in Nov. I need to clean out the pantry, and fridge, and paint the kitchen wall white again before we move.

I also need to do my 21 day fix videos and jog! I've got 4 pants sizes to go still to be my pre-Lincoln baby weight!

DJR · Postby **DJR** » Tue Oct 13, 2015 2:14 pm

October is a difficult month because the daylight is fading early enough that getting home from work in time to ride here at home is very, very challenging.

That being said, I was accepted to ride in the Jacquie Brooks clinic coming to eastern Ontario on Oct. 23-24, so I need to keep Jet (my 17-1/2h, 10 yr old Friesian/Perch gelding) in shape for that. We've been making steady progress with my coach for the past two years, with big breakthroughs in the past 6 months, so I hope that carries over to the clinic environment.

I just finished my competition year with the little Fjord-X large pony mare that I bought for my dd last January. She is "4 or 5" as I was told when I bought her (I think 5 is the correct number). She turned out to be NOT as advertised and was very, very green, so my dd got her own medium pony (a schoolmaster Welsh mare, 17 yrs old, been there, done that) and I have been riding Aggie, the Fjord-X. I'm really happy with how Aggie is coming along. She has an AMAZING little trot when she gets balanced and forward ... really fun to ride! I took her to the last three "short-course events", which is a schooling series for novice horses and/or novice riders to get experience eventing, and competed in walk/trot since her canter isn't yet show-ready. She won every time with dressage scores in the high 60s to low 70s.

Here's a picture of her jumping:

: Aggie jumping - August 2015.; 2015Aug30 ChipmunkSCE_Aggie1.jpg (89.27 KiB) Viewed 41708 times

Anyway, Aggie is now "put out to pasture" as I found out about a month ago that she was accidentally bred at the place I had her boarded last Jan-April). I'm NOT at ALL happy about this, and I found out when I approached the BO to inquire about boarding there again this winter (obviously, I will not be doing that now!). I haven't yet figured out how this whole issue will be remedied, and the fact is that Aggie needs indoor board at an barn experienced with foaling out mares, and in particular that has facilities to manage a foal born in the very cold months of January, February or March, which is the window of time in which she is due. ARGH. What a wrench to have thrown into my winter plans (which decidedly did not include have a grade mare have a foal).

With any spare time I have beyond the above, I'll be putting a few more rides on my late 4-yr-old who is for sale. I have a couple of interested parties, but they're waiting for more video and since I ride alone, that isn't easy to orchestrate but will be done this month sometime.

Those are my goals ... oh, yes, and find a new boarding facility for this winter!

MaryC · Postby **MaryC** » Tue Oct 13, 2015 4:11 pm

Whoa, DJR, you've got a loaded plate! Congrats on your accomplishments, and on your (unexpected) winter arrival!

khall · Postby **khall** » Tue Oct 13, 2015 5:07 pm

Wow DJR, first gorgeous pony! A bit different than what usually see you on! Yikes on her being bred but boy what a cute baby that will be!

Good luck with Jet, is your full Perch still going? I always love your updates on all of your horses. I seem to remember a young WB just starting US and of course your foal out of your Shire mare.

Glad your DD got a schoolmaster pony to ride.

You and exvet always made me so tired with all you guys had on your plates! Glad to see you here.

DJR · Postby **DJR** » Tue Oct 13, 2015 5:18 pm

khall wrote:Wow DJR, first gorgeous pony! A bit different than what usually see you on! Yikes on her being bred but boy what a cute baby that will be!

Good luck with Jet, is your full Perch still going? I always love your updates on all of your horses. I seem to remember a young WB just starting US and of course your foal out of your Shire mare.

Glad your DD got a schoolmaster pony to ride.

You and exvet always made me so tired with all you guys had on your plates! Glad to see you here.

Hi khall, thanks for asking about the horses I didn't mention!

Yes, the full Perch, Dante, is still going. I had a severe concussion in mid-May this year which put rather a big damper on riding for several weeks, so he fell out of shape. I got back to riding regularly by mid-July, but chose to focus on Jet, Aggie and the WB-x you mentioned (Panache). I had hoped to event Dante at recognized events this year, but it takes regular riding to keep a draftie in that kind of shape so he's just enjoying pasture life until next year. He's a lot bigger & chunkier as he has filled out (not fat, just Percheron-ish!) so I will be limiting his eventing in future to preserve his soundness. He LOVES jumping, but he also loves trail rides and just generally being snuggled & cuddled, so he seems fine with this plan.

Finn, my Shire's foal from last year, is doing great. I still don't know what colour he will end up as, but I think I'll know over the winter & next spring what he finally sheds out to. He's very tall - pushing 15h as a long yearling, so he'll be in the 17-18h bracket as a grown-up. Kammie is in foal again for a June baby, same cross, so that's something to look forward to!

Brydie · Postby **Brydie** » Tue Oct 13, 2015 9:21 pm

Well I had my first lesson a couple of weeks ago which went extremely well. Our issues are forward and roundness. Due to a pony in the round yard we had zero problems with forward in the lesson (my usually very laid back tb actually started playing up, jigging, snorting etc). Pony went away and he was back to his usual self but with some forward! I learnt that I really need to RIDE and not just be a passenger... all our issues? Me not RIDING!!! I finally feel like we are starting to make progress! (Why did I not do this sooner?) We have another lesson next weekend and a show the following weekend. I entered our first rated classes!!

Preliminary 1.2 and 1.3 (pretty much the same tests as training 2 and 3).

So revised goals:
- RIDE HIM! (Gosh darn it I am sore every day as my body is not used to this!)
- Suppleness (I used to ride way too many straight lines as it was easier!) We now do a lot of loops, spiraling in and out etc
- Not embarrass ourselves in our first rated classes!

Dresseur · Postby **Dresseur** » Wed Oct 14, 2015 12:22 am

I'm here!!

So, big news and goals.
#1. Sell the Wildebeast

I've worked him for the past 3 years, and I've learned a lot. I've taught him him changes, and we debuted at 3rd level with a 66+%!! However, his owner is no longer able to ride him due to confidence issues after her stroke and issues from a recent knee surgery. So, we have to find him a new home

My heart is heavy, but he was never my horse, and it's more important to find his owner a smaller, more comfortable horse that she can ride and enjoy despite her health issues.

#2 Seal the deal in getting my NEW HORSE!!! This week, I'll be sitting on him for the first time! He's a newly broken PRE and he's perfect for me! Can't wait!!

somantu · Postby **somantu** » Wed Oct 14, 2015 7:00 pm

Rosie B wrote:… This weekend I have a clinic with lee Tubman. Can't wait!!

LOVE Lee Tubman!
Will you report on the clinic, pretty please?

Chisamba · Postby **Chisamba** » Wed Oct 14, 2015 7:31 pm

Dresseur wrote:I'm here!!

So, big news and goals.
#1. Sell the Wildebeast
I've worked him for the past 3 years, and I've learned a lot. I've taught him him changes, and we debuted at 3rd level with a 66+%!! However, his owner is no longer able to ride him due to confidence issues after her stroke and issues from a recent knee surgery. So, we have to find him a new home
My heart is heavy, but he was never my horse, and it's more important to find his owner a smaller, more comfortable horse that she can ride and enjoy despite her health issues.

#2 Seal the deal in getting my NEW HORSE!!! This week, I'll be sitting on him for the first time! He's a newly broken PRE and he's perfect for me! Can't wait!!

wow, congrats on your new horses, and you know what i am going to say about if there is no picture, it just is not happening

SandTikiFire · Postby **SandTikiFire** » Thu Oct 15, 2015 12:40 pm

Showing Training Level English this weekend and hoping the canter doesn't SUCK and INTRO western - not adding canter to that until we are better at it English. The problem is, he has a great JUMPER canter, but Tiki is sooo hard to sit and doesn't like to stay on the bit. SO, goals are SOFT and ROUND and STRAIGHT!

Linda_V · Postby **Linda_V** » Thu Oct 15, 2015 3:51 pm

Little Ozzie is getting re-started under saddle. I found a young dressage trainer who starts horses for a local Grand Prix rider/trainer that is working with him 3 days a week. I am just getting to darn old to break my own youngster anymore. I have done my fair share of young horse starting over the years. It does feel weird to not do it myself though.......

I am having fun with two new client horses. They are both fancy hunters who gets the winter off from jumping to do dressage work. I love my clients conviction that dressage work makes for better hunter/jumpers. And it is really nice to ride super well trained horses for a change. I will be riding in two clinics with one of the hunters this month and I am really looking forward to it.

Josette · Postby **Josette** » Fri Oct 16, 2015 1:06 am

DJR - I remember when you purchased your pony and admired her back then. I just wanted to say WOW!! She really turned out to be a very pretty pony! Sorry to hear about her layup situation.

demi · Postby **demi** » Sat Oct 17, 2015 2:36 pm

I am trying to follow some of the riders here. Because I tend to get sidetracked easily, I am sticking to those with simpler goals and only one (or two) horses.
I hope some of you will start some threads on some of the specifics involve in reaching for your training related goals.

Chisamba, I am glad to hear you are going to save some time and energy for your own horses and i look forward to watching your progress.

I also like the idea of this being just "Goals thread.." as opposed to Oct./Nov. goals because it can be difficult for amateurs (myself, at least) to put a time limit on things. it tends to make me rush.

StraightForward · Postby **StraightForward** » Sat Oct 17, 2015 3:08 pm

DJD, sorry to hear that your pony was misrepresented, but I have to say she is beyond adorable. Do you plan to keep her and get her trained up until your daughter can ride her?

Maya and I are making good progress on the goals we set out at the beginning of September, as I remember them. A couple weeks ago I took her to an event derby and entered the cross-rails division. It was her first time jumping outside of an arena and at first she was like "whaaa??? jumping and trail riding mixed together?!" but was going pretty well by the end of the course, and I think we got a 32 in that crazy eventer scoring on our intro test in which I totally blanked on where the gait transitions were supposed to occur.

She's for sale currently and I have a few people interested, so I don't know how much longer she'll be around, but if a buyer doesn't turn up before winter my goal is to have her ready to show at first level and jumping 2'3" courses by spring, and just focusing on making her a little more push-button so she'll be more beginner friendly as a sale horse.

In the dressage world, we've made great progress over the last couple weeks in getting her to acknowledge that the left rein exists and that she can take contact on it and not throw her shoulders right at every opportunity. I need to remember to spiral out on the right lead canter EVERY ride until this is more confirmed. I've been doing way more transitions than usual to get her a little more responsive off my leg and using her hind end better, and that translated into some pretty darn nice trot lengthenings last night because I could actually get her hind in coiled up enough that there was some energy to release. I wish I had video to confirm, but it felt like we got a big overstep and she didn't plow her front end into the sand. I do need to get the leg yields snappier with more sideways to them though, to prep her for the first level tests. We've sort of skipped over to doing shoulder-in, but need to go back and work on lateral suppleness to develop a smoother LY.

And... today is the day that my new 2 year old mare, Rosette, is set to arrive.

She knows nothing, so I'll use whatever remaining good weather we have this year to start ground work with her, and will try to haul her to the indoor with Maya at least once a week this winter to continue the ground work and get used to the routine of going places and standing around patiently. She'll probably arrive after dark tonight, but there will be many photos tomorrow!

demi · Postby **demi** » Sat Oct 17, 2015 3:17 pm

I forgot to add my own goals:
Get countercanter confirmed and then get a short video posted.

demi · Postby **demi** » Sat Oct 17, 2015 3:20 pm

I cant figure out how to work the quote function and i dont want to make a mistake with that particular function!

Straightforward said she wished she had a video to confirm her lengthenings last night. I wish you did, too! they sounded nice!

Kelo · Postby **Kelo** » Sun Oct 18, 2015 2:37 am

demi wrote:I cant figure out how to work the quote function and i dont want to make a mistake with that particular function!

Demi, just click the little quote mark button in the upper right corner of whomever you want to quote.

So the weather finally cooperated and the Cowpony and I got a dressage lesson. Generally good lesson focusing on suppleness, I was really pleased, and she seemed pleased with our progress the past few weeks.

Then today Cowpony and I went to an local open stock show....so, reining, ranch trail, ranch riding, ranch pleasure classes. Just to have some fun. Incidentally, these patterns are easier than FEI tests to remember :lol:

I had fun, though! And the Cowpony won the high point in our division, so I even won a really snazzy halter :mrgreen:

demi · Postby **demi** » Sun Oct 18, 2015 9:59 am

Kelo wrote:
demi wrote:I cant figure out how to work the quote function and i dont want to make a mistake with that particular function!

Demi, just click the little quote mark button in the upper right corner of whomever you want to quote.
:

Ok. I think I've got it.
Nice cow pony, by the way. Is he your FEI horse?

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