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While we Wait
Most people who know me know I am a little obsessive and weird about organising stuff. I love order and planning. One of my great joys in life is my little label machine, I am sure my poor trainer remembers the days when I was her working student. I would go around obsessively labelling saddle racks, bridles. Making lists of what tack each horse wore and often rearranging her tack locker and so forth way too often. I love that she let me get a little nuts about it and just had this funny coy smile that said 'crack on crazy lady'.
So now you know my little bit of cray cray, this latest blog will make a bit more sense.
While I wait for the PPE, I have been merrily joining the relevant horsey organizations and will be starting to learn some dressage tests as soon as I can. Alright, I do realise that I don't actually have a horse, yet. but in my mind, this is just a slight teeny, tiny hurdle, on the path of dancing my way to area finals! I can already see myself riding down the centreline, blingy bridle on: The perfect halt, salute, we look fantastic!... Oh but sometimes I do wonder if I should be aiming instead for that stick horse competition that is becoming popular, just think, no PPEs, no vet bills and the horse never has a grumpy day. I'm so tempted with this idea, who's with me?
Anyhow, I ran a little off topic. Right, focus. I am a visual learner, so I was very happy to learn about 'Dressage Illustrated'. They sell those test papers with the little lines on, The lines show you where to go, and what movement to ride. They use different colours for the different paces and the dots are closer together or more spaced apart, depending on the requirement within the pace. For me this kind of layout is hugely helpful in learning my tests, and is most definitely worth the extra dollar dollar bills. The tests come in neat slimline printed books. The paper itself is apparently tear proof and water proof. I have pulled at the corners and sprayed the pages with water and so far so good. It will be great to see how they hold up under the horse slobber and starbucks spill test. Any barn items should be able to pass this test.
Now, please let it be known that I am making NO promises that I will actually remember the test once I get in an arena (and panic), but at least I can start to set myself up for success as much as I can. I don't need to be my own worst enemy quite yet.
The other fun news is that our lovely little barn crew have got a SMART goals meeting next weekend. (By which time I should at least know about prospective pony and if he's a yay or neigh haha)! Seriously though, having aims and goals in a SMART format helps everyone to plan the year properly. I feel that without that, its easy to get into that 'wing and a prayer' situation. You know, "well I'd like to qualify for so and so". But then, you didn't make it to enough shows as someone got sick, you missed the entry, you didn't know the test well enough, your horse ate the decoration flowers, white breeches made your bum look big so you scratched... Planning for some downtimes (and teaching your horse not to eat out of flowerpots) helps to ensure you can still meet the goals. Understanding rules and qualifying procedures, plus knowing what steps you need to take all help you achieve. Of course, it is by no means a guarantee, (oh how I wish it was) of meeting your goals, but it at least gives you a better chance of hitting them. Personally, after I've spent all that time writing all those silly acronym style plans, I feel like I should win everything just on merit. Even if it is the stick horse dressage championships...
So now you know my little bit of cray cray, this latest blog will make a bit more sense.
While I wait for the PPE, I have been merrily joining the relevant horsey organizations and will be starting to learn some dressage tests as soon as I can. Alright, I do realise that I don't actually have a horse, yet. but in my mind, this is just a slight teeny, tiny hurdle, on the path of dancing my way to area finals! I can already see myself riding down the centreline, blingy bridle on: The perfect halt, salute, we look fantastic!... Oh but sometimes I do wonder if I should be aiming instead for that stick horse competition that is becoming popular, just think, no PPEs, no vet bills and the horse never has a grumpy day. I'm so tempted with this idea, who's with me?
Anyhow, I ran a little off topic. Right, focus. I am a visual learner, so I was very happy to learn about 'Dressage Illustrated'. They sell those test papers with the little lines on, The lines show you where to go, and what movement to ride. They use different colours for the different paces and the dots are closer together or more spaced apart, depending on the requirement within the pace. For me this kind of layout is hugely helpful in learning my tests, and is most definitely worth the extra dollar dollar bills. The tests come in neat slimline printed books. The paper itself is apparently tear proof and water proof. I have pulled at the corners and sprayed the pages with water and so far so good. It will be great to see how they hold up under the horse slobber and starbucks spill test. Any barn items should be able to pass this test.
Now, please let it be known that I am making NO promises that I will actually remember the test once I get in an arena (and panic), but at least I can start to set myself up for success as much as I can. I don't need to be my own worst enemy quite yet.
The other fun news is that our lovely little barn crew have got a SMART goals meeting next weekend. (By which time I should at least know about prospective pony and if he's a yay or neigh haha)! Seriously though, having aims and goals in a SMART format helps everyone to plan the year properly. I feel that without that, its easy to get into that 'wing and a prayer' situation. You know, "well I'd like to qualify for so and so". But then, you didn't make it to enough shows as someone got sick, you missed the entry, you didn't know the test well enough, your horse ate the decoration flowers, white breeches made your bum look big so you scratched... Planning for some downtimes (and teaching your horse not to eat out of flowerpots) helps to ensure you can still meet the goals. Understanding rules and qualifying procedures, plus knowing what steps you need to take all help you achieve. Of course, it is by no means a guarantee, (oh how I wish it was) of meeting your goals, but it at least gives you a better chance of hitting them. Personally, after I've spent all that time writing all those silly acronym style plans, I feel like I should win everything just on merit. Even if it is the stick horse dressage championships...
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