I was sitting at work when I was struck by this BFO (blinding flash of the obvious): goal setting is an important part of planning for the year in the office, and working toward specific goals is in part what keeps us on track and ensures we’re being progressive…why am I not doing this with my horsemanship?? As you can tell from the title, showing isn’t a big priority for me, at least not right now. It’s possible that might change (ask me next week, I might have a different answer!), but for the time being I’m not terribly motivated by competition. However, I definitely want to be developing my horsemanship, and I realized that I was selling myself and my horse short by not setting goals for the year. I ride 3-5 times week, but without figuring out exactly what I’m working toward, I was allowing myself to be stagnant in the progress I was actually making! So, I sat down and wrote up a few goals I can work toward throughout the rest of the year.

Goal #1: Film Level 3 Liberty Audition
Everyone has their own preference when it comes to horse training, and what has spoken to and works for me is the Parelli philosophy of natural horsemanship. Parelli students generally play with their horses in four different areas, or savvies, one of which is called Liberty. This is when we play with our horses with no lines attached, no halter, no nothing, so it really comes down to how well you can communicate using body language, as well as strength of bond. Liberty is SO much fun, can be incredibly rewarding, and also quite revealing. One of my favorite sayings related to this savvy is, “When you take off the halter you’re left with only one thing: the truth”. This Fall we passed our Level 3 On Line assessment, so my goal for the end of the year is to film my Level 3 Liberty Audition. This means filming a 10 minute video showcasing what Bolero and I can do at liberty, including a few mandatory tasks. One of the trickier tasks will be showing a figure 8 pattern where I stay standing in, more or less, the same area while Bolero trots a figure 8 around 2 cones out in front of me. To start developing this, I’ve been working toward ensuring that both drive (sending him out and around the cone) is balanced with draw (pulling him back toward me on the other side of the cone), which allows for the full figure 8 when it’s connected. We’re doing this on line to start, but the goal is that I don’t need to use it, that the line stays slack on the ground. We’ve been making good progress, so I’m feeling pretty confident this should be an achievable goal for this year.

Goal #2: Get Off Property
One reason I think Bolero and I get on so well is we have a pretty similar personality. We’re both what we would call Left Brain Extroverts, which for him means he loves, loves, loves learning new things and being asked different questions. His mantra would be, “Play with me!” so I have to be careful that I don’t bore him by doing the same things over and over, and part of that is getting him out and about in new places. We are lucky in that our barn has a couple riding rings, a large field, and a track around the property, so I can switch it up in terms of where we play and ride. However, I’d like to try and get him off the farm at least once a month this summer, and below are a few ideas I have in mind:
• Trail ride at the local state park with friends
• Make a trip to the beach
• Ride in a local clinic
• Schooling at a local dressage show
• Ride in a hunter pace

Goal #3: Build Toward Level 3 Freestyle Audition
Freestyle riding is the foundation of eventually being able to ride bridleless, and one of my favorite things about this savvy is that it really helps the rider learn to ride with their body. Bolero and I have made a lot of progress in the past year, but this savvy is a bit harder for both of us. It may in part be because he was started later than is typically normal, but helping him figure out how to carry and use himself has been a slow process, especially at the canter (not to mention he’s a pretty big guy, being an Oldenburg/Belgian cross!). My bad habit is that I tend to micromanage, rather than really setting him up so that he’s searching for the answer. The Level 3 Freestyle Assessment is a pretty big deal, and the goal would be to film the audition without needing to use the bridle, so we probably won’t be ready for that this year. However, my goal is to slowly build toward that goal by really being disciplined in how I’m riding him when I’m working on Freestyle. There are a few ways to start advancing this savvy, things like string riding or stick riding, so my plan is to try and have at least 1 ride a week where I make that my focus. I think if I can work that into my sessions, we should be able to film the audition sometime in 2017.

And those are my goals! I can’t wait to look back at the end of the year and see how Bolero and I did!