2017 Goals Post!

As I am relatively new to the blogging world, I feel like a 2016 review would be a little redundant. I didn’t start blogging until May, and I didn’t really hit my stride until a few months later (if you can call it that, I fall off the wagon a lot, haha). Toward the end of 2016, I experimented with monthly goal posts – I thought making smaller, more manageable monthly goals might be more achievable? Really it’s more of a way to humiliate myself on a regular basis by failing to meet half of the goals – I always feel like I’m setting very realistic goals, but then at the end of the month when I look back I realize I am regularly WAY too optimistic about what I can manage to accomplish with my questionable time management skills… 

Judgemental Cruce is judging me for my poor time management skills....

So for 2017, I figured I would mix it up again. My yearly goals are going to be fairly open-ended and vague. Obviously everything is predicated on things going according to plan, and if there is one thing I know about my life – it never goes according to plan. So for 2017, I’ll be winging mostly it, with just a rough outline of things I’d like to see happen.

2017 Goals 

Myself 
- Get fitter.
In 2015, I had two horses in full work and showed regularly. Now just thinking about riding one of them seems like a lot of work. So the gym and/or workout videos needs to become a more integral part of my life, and I just need to RIDE more. 

October of 2015, after I'd been riding/showing two horses for MONTHS.

- Find a more effective work/life balance. 
I had a pretty solid schedule going for the last few years with DH on evening shift, but his move to mornings totally chucked all that out the window, and I’m still trying to figure out how to make everything mesh. Right now it’s my riding on the back burner, and that needs to change. 

More of this please.

- Continue my education. 
While I did manage semi-regular lessons last summer, I really do need to buckle down a get serious about finding year-round regular instruction, whether it’s regular lessons or clinics. 

Blurry lesson photos..... *sigh*

Ruby 
- Add jumping to our repertoire. 
As she demonstrated at the hunter pace, Ruby enjoys jumping things. We have a ton of jumping shows in our area, so maybe if I can get over my irrational fear of brightly painted sticks (j/k I’m not afraid of the sticks I’m just afraid of eating dirt and voluntarily leaving the ground on the regular seems like a great way to get better acquainted with gravity), we can broaden our horizons a little in 2017. 

Cinna 
- Get out and show! 
Aside from more dressage shows (yay!), I also want to take Cinna to lots of local fun shows for exposure and rail classes. 

Fun shows!

- Trail ride away from home. 
Hopefully at the Katy Trail or Indian Camp Creek, I think either of those would be laid back options. 

This, but in new places!

Either Horse (preferably both) 
- Professional photo session. 
This is totally vain and dumb I know, but I’d really love to have some professional portrait-type photos taken with the horses (would also love some with DH, but let’s get real haha). I do them for other people semi-regularly, and I drool over the ones I see on other people’s blogs. I want some of my own! DH is pretty good about snapping candids when I ride, but usually I’m sweaty/disgusting/not wearing make up/helmet hair/whatever. Just once I want to look pretty while my horses also look pretty and then have permanent photographic proof that we were all pretty at the same time. Is that really too much to ask? 

This doesn't count DH......

2017 Stretch Goals 

Myself 
- Lose 10 lbs. 
It’s a stretch goal for a reason, I like carbs and sugar, haha. I lost 5 when I got sick right before Puerto Rico, and I managed to keep them off over the holidays. It would be nice to fit back into some of my old clothes! 

Ruby 
- Show 1st Level at a schooling show. 
Our work for 2016 was pretty hit or miss (my fault), but by the end of the year she felt pretty solid at Training Level, and we’ve been working some of the pieces of 1st Level. 

If I'm aiming for the level a year thing (which I'm not, haha), this would be our year for 1st!

Cinna 
- Qualify for a year-end award. 
I definitely don’t have the energy to chase points at the state level again (2015 left me seriously burned out), but I think a year-end award from our local GMO is definitely doable if I buckle down and we have no unforeseen issues. 

Either Horse (probably Ruby, let’s be real haha) 
- Show at a recognized show. 
I printed out the paperwork for a recognized show in 2015, and found myself completely overwhelmed. I’d love to find a “mentor” who could help walk me through entering and competing in my first recognized show! This is a stretch goal because the local recognized show is no more, so I would have to trailer at least 2 hours and spend a significant amount on stabling. So this is a stretch for both financial and mental reasons. 

- Show at a breed show. 
This is a stretch goal due to financial constraints mostly – typically the closest breed show to me is in Wisconsin, which is a bit of a haul!

So there you have it... my very vague, but hopefully attainable 2017 goals!