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In Loving Memory...
~ Gogo Fatale ~


6/2/01 - 10/11/11
~ Forever the Marest of Them All ~
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Sunday, January 3, 2010

End of December Analysis

I apologize for not doing this a little sooner - I am one sick puppy right now. Time to go over all our December goals! Well, they weren't really goals - more like guidelines - but we were able to accomplish them all, which makes me feel very good. Baby steps, baby steps.


December Goals:

1) Continue successful walk work under saddle, building to 30 minutes and working on very simple on the bit work

Success! We progressed to very simple serpentines and large circles, and even a few very shallow leg yields. I don't do much, just because I don't dare risk stressing those legs, but walk work is relatively low impact, and at this point in our rehab, we're safe to carry on with slowly increasing levels of difficulty.

2) Take our first trot steps in 3 months and not be lame/freak out
Success! She feels great! Except she's... a little high energy. So there's been some freaking out, but as of late, it's been completely curbed. Thank you drugs. Sweet.

3) Fully plan out rehab schedule for the next 3 months
Success! Well, for the next two and a half months, anyway. We're set through the first week or so of March, tentatively. As I'm at work right now, I don't have a screenshot of Gogo's Fancy Daily calendar, but I will get one up later. I've never shown you guys The Calendar! It's pretty epic, so be prepared. If you guys think I'm an organized freak now, this is going to take that image to a new level.

4) Start looking ahead to next show season and make very tentative plans

Success! I've tentatively decided on all the events I want to do next year, but not branched out into other things just yet. I want to also pick up a dressage show or two (probably schooling, because I'm not pointchasing there so I see no reason to spend extra $$$), maybe a schooling jumper show (but now that I have a huge array of gorgeous and expensive jumps at my disposal, I don't think I'll end up doing that), a competitive trail ride (just for fun, why not, she'd be great at it!), and a couple of hunter trials/hunter paces. Now that I've written all that out, it seems like a lot, so it'll be likely I won't end up making concrete plans for half those things. But as it stands, the tentative eventing event schedule is as thus:
May 29: Mystic Valley Hunt Club H.T. (N)
June 25-27: Groton house Farm H.T. (T)
July 24-25: Fitch's Corner H.T. (T)
August 5-8: Millbrook H.T. (T)
August 14-15: GMHA H.T. (T)
September 9-12: AECs! (T)
October 2-3: UNH H.T. (at whatever level we're ready for!)
Obviously, this is all soundness pending. But I'm feeling very, very good about the upcoming season. I have no idea when Area Championships are going to be, but I'm a bit sour from the past two years of disaster at Areas, so maybe we'll just be skipping those til our luck improves!

5) Have Gogo chiropractically adjusted
Success! And it wasn't nearly as horrible as I expected. Mostly what he said was that her posture was bad from standing around like a lazy lump in a stall for 3 months, which isn't really surprising. But her SI stuff wasn't too dramatic at all, which I was very happy about!



January Goals:
1) Continue sound trotwork and build to 20 minutes of trotwork - 50 minutes of riding total a day (we are at 40 now with 10 minutes of trot a day)
2) Talk to the vets about when to schedule her next ultrasound (I'm thinking instead of mid-January, we want to shoot for mid-February before we start to canter)
3) Take our first little hack outside (flat ground, around the barn)
4) Set up show budget and breeding budget - how much do I need to save, how much each month, etc?
5) Add incline work on the treadmill



Sweet!


By the way, who am I going to be seeing at Area I's Annual Meeting? It's coming up fast (next Saturday!) anf if any of you guys are going, let me know!

6 comments:

Katherine Erickson said...

I'll be at the meeting! Very excited, I got my first ever year end award =)

Kelly said...

Plan on 3 to 7k total for breeding, not including feed, farrier, board and labor. More if it's ET.

Breakdown for retail costs (in my area):

200 for breeding exam
1.5-2k for stud fee (plan on double dose), read the contract for the hidden fees/Guarantees.
300-400 collection/handing fee.
300-400 for container/FedEx.
1k for vet work (will be less if everything goes right).

Breakdown of what I spent:
150 for breeding exam
500 for stud fee (originally 1.5k, bought at auction).
300 collection (1 time fee)
400 shipping (2 times via fedex)
600 vet work

Registration:
170 - USEF Lifetime, (125) for Lifetime PHR, and (10) American bred horse awards.
35 - AHA
75- PHR Registry
65 - USDF lifetime (unspent)

One very important thing to remember is to get everything, documented and in writing. Have your contracts available when your consulting with anyone involved in her pregnancy. You'll save yourself some tears and trouble.

Clover Ledge Farm said...

Wow, good for you to still be thinking of moving up to Training! I hope things keep improving for you guys! :)

Andrea said...

Katherine, sweet!! I saw you on the Leaderboard. I got one award too, which of course I had to be a pooper about because last year I got 5 awards. Sore loser right here. But through the new medal program I did get two gold medals and a Rider Achievement award this year... so that ain't all bad.

Kelly, thank you for that!!! That's exactly what I need to look at and I will defintely be referring to this list.

STB Eventer, yes that's the plan! She's ready mentally, it's just getting her body back. If she's not ready then she's not ready, but if things all go swimmingly (cross your fingers) then there's no reason that we won't be able to do Training by the end of June.

Mellimaus said...

Hello!
I was just referred to you by Mrs. Mom and I just wanted to tell you, I LOVE your blog! I'm going to try eventing next season (undecided whether to do intro or beginner novice; my mare and I have ZERO experience, but we need big jumps to get her attention :P) and I ride barefoot...so it's cool to see that you event barefoot so succcessfully! So you never really have problems going barefoot over hills and such? I know some of the events we are looking at have some very steep down-hills, and my trainer told me right away that my mare would have trouble due to her not having shoes w/ studs...I loved what you wrote below regarding studs and such...
I saw that you mentioned Stuart Horse Trials somewhere as well...I live 20 minutes away and I've groomed there for 2 years with my trainer. Great event :).
I'm slowly combing through your blog; again, great job! Can't wait to read more! You and Gogo look great; she's a pretty mare!

Anonymous said...

AEC's are at Chattahoochee Hills in GA!