At this time of year, I always find myself reflecting on the year past and rehashing what
went well and what I would change if I could. It is also the time of year that I, like many
people, look ahead and plan my goals and map out competitions. In New England, our
regional competition season is only a few months long. It is easy to get a bit worked up
about getting out in a timely manner each spring to start competing because if you blink,
it’s mid-summer and your fellow competitors are planning their winter trips south.
We all know only too well that plans with horses are ALWAYS tentative. Horses are
fragile creatures which is part of what makes our time and relationships with them so
magical. It is easy to get frustrated when one of these magical creatures we devote so
much time money and effort to throws a wrench into our best laid plans with an untimely
pulled shoe or worse.
As we head into 2014, I am looking ahead at the USEA spring omnibus and trying to
calculate where each horse will be training wise. I am more tentative than I have
been in recent years to try to pinpoint how much progress each will make by May.
This past year has been a year of small triumphs and small setbacks.
On paper, the setbacks come close to outnumbering the triumphs. Oskar was injured, I
was injured, I didn’t get to even half of the competitions I had hoped to, let alone the
clinics, BUT, I have a quite a few things that have gone well.
What I am most proud of however is a renewed appreciation for the daily ins and outs of
training my horses. This coming year I am going to try really hard to remember the
whole reason I am riding and training these great beasts; because I love to do it!
I have many grand goals and dreams of what I would someday like to accomplish with
my horses and my riding. Sometimes it is hard to remember that the day to day riding
really IS the whole reason I am doing this!
2013 was a year in which I tried really hard to accomplish competitive goals. I really
wanted to get Oskar out competing at training level and prove to everyone, and myself
that he and I are the unstoppable team that I know we can be. This goal was not
accomplished however…
Strangely, I find myself entering 2014 not really caring. What I did accomplish last year
was finally finding the tools I need to begin to influence Oskar under saddle. Sounds
pretty simple doesn’t it??? Amazing that it took me two and a half years with this horse to figure this deceptively simple thing out!
I am not going to lie; I am having trouble visualizing a plan for this horse in the year
ahead. Looking back I now realize that I have wasted so much of my time with him
striving for goals competitively while totally missing the mark on the basics…
Now that I finally HAVE a good foundation and partnership with him I am not willing to
compromise this for anything. If Oskar is happiest working on trot/canter transitions for
the next year, that’s what we will do!
Each horse is truly an individual and I love and understand this well. What I have
neglected to remember from time to time is that just because a horse CAN perform a
certain task doesn’t mean that he SHOULD.
We all know that the time we are given is finite. The time we are given with each horse
is sometimes even more so.
At the end of 2014 I hope to look back and see a year of even less wasted time. I am
hopeful that the clarity I have developed in my riding of Oskar will transfer into my riding
of everyone else. I hope I get to some competitions but I really could care less where or
how many.
I hope to have many great rides…at home, at an event, in a lesson, on a trail… it
doesn’t really matter where.
Last, I am hoping for an early spring!