Uhhhhhhh. Well, as far as goals go, I think last month was THE biggest failure in terms of completion that I've ever had. I guess some things are really just out of my control.
November Goals:
1) Make this the Month of Dressage! Lots of dressage work, focus on correct and confident work, start to add bits of collection back into the mix, practice tests, take lessons, etc!
Well, we STARTED strong... she was going better than ever, feeling stronger and sounder than ever, and giving me some amazing, mind-blowingly excellent movement. We tried to video a bit of my ride the day before she came up dead lame, and my camera battery died mid-attempt. Sigh.
2) Do records - EVERY day!
I did a terrible job at this. My hand-written records I just gave up on when Gogo went lame. My computer-written records have been going strong, but I don't want to rely on them because I think how things just sometimes magically vanish on computers. But I no longer need hand-written notes on all the training and things I did with her on a particular day... I just need to know how the leg looks, how she's behaving, and on what days do certain procedures happen. I need to back up all my information on this computer.. perhaps that is a good start.
3) Have Gogo's teeth done
Our only success! Dr. R didn't find much of anything on her, just lowered a few mini-points she was getting. She did have some sort of weird plaque build-up on her incisors, which was weird. None of the other horses had it, so we can't figure out WHAT caused it (he said sometimes feed that is high in molasses causes it, but that is certainly not the case here). She had just been done six months ago, and I think she's about at the age where she can really start getting really floated once a year instead of twice. This isn't exactly an exciting goal completion, but it's all we have, so I'll take it!
4) Hopefully have the chiropractor work on Gogo
Didn't happen. Between all the chaos of moving/packing/leaving/job hunting/travel/etc, I just never had a chance to get everything together. And now that she's toast, there's probably not much of a point until we get a little further along in our rehab.
5) Map out a rough game plan for the next two months - I hope to really get back into real, planned, structured work in January in hopes of eventually conditioning for eventing, but I want to keep it simple and easy (and fun!) until that point.
This hurts. Clearly this is a fail.
Well.... there you are.
I could completely stop making goals for the time being, but I don't think I want to do that. I do love a list, and I really extra love completing all the little projects on it. So why not?
December Goals:1) Transition to all-day turnout - and hopefully 24/7 turnout, if the situation allows
2) Decide whether or not we are staying here for the month, or going elsewhere for the month, and carry out that plan successfully
3) Figure out a new supplement plan of attack (we reallllly don't need the whole load of them anymore)
4) Maybe teach her some tricks for fun??
5) Just hang out and enjoy the holiday season!
Maybe I'll do all those stupid Parelli games with her. I think for the most part, all of that natural horsemanship stuff has a really important base, but has become completely swarmed and overtaken by crooks trying to make a quick buck off of idiots. I am pretty sure, having read the little bit about them that I have, that I'd be able to do all seven of them in a day. And I'd do them without fancy halters, orange wavy sticks, or spending hundreds of dollars for DVDs and clinics!
Other than that, I have to really use my brain and figure out what other fun things I can do with her. As long as it's low-stress and low-impact, it's game.
As for today, it's absolutely pouring and blowing like a hurricane out there. I assume the horses are still out, so I'm glad she has a shelter to go hide in, if she figured that out. Not sure that she will! I'm finishing up here with all of my packing, and then I'll go visit her. Tomorrow morning I fly out to Texas for my interview. I dunno how I really feel about Texas in general, but you never know do you?
Proving her heart of gold and guts of steel at the 2009 American Eventing Championships
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15 comments:
Texas is AWESOME! Ok, I might be a teeny bit biased since I live in Austin, but I really love living here.
If you do end up coming to Texas, there is a WONDERFUL retirement farm in Central Texas where Gogo would fit right in. Excellent, excellent care and beyond reasonable prices. My 22 YO eventer is there and doing fabulously. Drop me a line if you're interested, and good luck with the interview!
What part of Texas? It's a big state, and there's a lot of us who read your blog from here. I'm in Denton, which is far north Dallas. The winter weather is much more mild than northeast. Summer gets hot.
Good luck w/your interview!
I suck at records. I try so hard to keep typed ones, but then I forget and I hate trying to catch up.
For backups, you should use Dropbox - www.dropbox.com. Basically you download the program and Dropbox is a little folder on your desktop. Anything in that folder is automatically synced with your online Dropbox account, as well as any other computer on which you've installed Dropbox. You can upload or update files to the online Dropbox from anywhere, and your home computer will automatically update the files.
It's awesome. Total lifesaver for me, when I might work on a paper from five different computers in a given day. Plus it means automatic backup, and it keeps previous versions stored on the online account too.
Good luck with the Texas interview!
Texas is definitely a big state, and where you are located plays a huge part in how much you might enjoy it, and how much the cost of living is. We are about a hundred miles SE of Houston. It's cheap to live here, but there is not a lot going on in the way of entertainment.
It's about 30 miles east of Forth Worth, so like 40 mins? And about an hour east of Dallas. I keep hearing that Austin is awesome and everything else sucks... I wouldn't know, I've only ever been to Galveston in miserable weather as a kid.
You could try some clicker work - horses that are very intelligent often really enjoy this work, and there are so many different things you can do with it.
http://wildponybeast.blogspot.com/2010/05/101-things-to-do-with-your-stall-bound.html
There ya go!! Those are for a stall bound horse, but it's 101 things that my friend made for me.
"It's about 30 miles east of Forth Worth, so like 40 mins? And about an hour east of Dallas. I keep hearing that Austin is awesome and everything else sucks... I wouldn't know, I've only ever been to Galveston in miserable weather as a kid."
Well, Dallas is east of Ft Worth, so 30 miles east of Ft Worth is probably smack in the middle of downtown Dallas. An hour east of Dallas is Tyler, where the Texas Rose Horse Park is located. Nice country out there, would be a good place to have a horse on 24/7 field board I think.
As for Austin being awesome, yes it is. But I don't think "everything else sucks." I've heard Houston is pretty miserable, the humidity is pretty ridiculous there. And I grew up in San Antonio which is ridiculously hot and far from anything eventing (Pine Hill is the closest HT at 4 hours away). I think Dallas is fine lifestyle wise, and it's okay weather wise most of the time. Only during July and August do I want to sit inside in the A/C all day every day. :-D
It's funny because I grew up in Texas and I live here currently, but I've lived in KY and MD and like them both better and as soon as I graduate, I'm moving somewhere cooler. But anytime someone says Texas sucks it raises my hackles a little bit and I feel like I've gotta defend the homeland, lol.
Anyways.....Yeah. My main point is that it's pretty impossible to be 40 min east of Fort Worth but 1 h east of Dallas. Just so you know. :-)
Personally I like the Parelli games and it's helped my horse and I develop good manners and some boundaries. But, yeah. It only takes about a day or two to learn them and you really don't need all of Parelli's "special" stuff. Maybe just have some fun and go for some quiet walks together. If there's trails near you, you could just walk them on foot. There's a great website about teaching your horse how to eat a carrot which might be pretty fun :) http://www.hoofprints.com/itrainhorses.html
Good luck!
I'm a showmanship nerd, so I always suggest that as fun, low impact, but definitely beneficial ground work. Nothing is more amazing to me than doing a complete showmanship pattern with no halter... just your horse reading your body language. LOVE IT!
Good luck with your interview!
Without fancy halters? Uh- huh. We've seen your halter collection. :P
For horse records, nothing beats www.rendaivu.com I use it for my three guys, and it's been a godsend in keeping track of my fragile butterfly warmblood's various injuries. Plus, it's FREE!
all the best from NZ for the interview. Am looking forward to reading about the next adventure!
Durrrrrr not east, I mean WEST!
I'm so going to take a stab in the dark and say you're out near Weatherford. LOTS of horse stuff out there, and of course Greenwood HT!
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