The changing of the year always presents the opportunity to reflect on the past and think about goals and wishes for the year ahead. For equestrians, this is the ideal time to decide on some goals to work towards to ensure we don’t lose focus or get stuck in a rut with our riding.
What are some things you’d like to achieve this year? Maybe you want to improve your jumping technique, learn a new dressage movement, or compete in a new discipline. Or maybe it’s something less ‘obvious’ like teaching your horse to load on a trailer, or to ride away from the herd, or to feel confident to canter in the open.
Whatever your goals are, it’s important to set them realistically and break them down into smaller, more manageable steps. Here are a few tips for setting and achieving your goals:
- Be specific. What exactly do you want to achieve? Instead of saying “I want to be a better rider,” try saying “I want to be able to consistently jump a course at 80cm.”
- Be realistic. Don’t set goals that are too difficult to achieve. Start with small goals and gradually build on your success.
- Make a plan. How are you going to achieve your goals? What steps do you need to take? Do you need any support or specialist equipment?
- Set a timeline. When do you want to achieve your goals by? Also, be clear in your mind if that is a hard date, for example set by a competition schedule, or something that has flex. If the latter, you will need to be disciplined to ensure that flexibility doesn’t lead to procrastination!
- Track your progress. Keep a journal or log of your progress. This will help you stay motivated and see how far you’ve come.
- Don’t give up. It takes time and effort to achieve any goal, especially when your goal is shared with and relying on a sentient being with a will of its own! Don’t get discouraged if you don’t see results immediately. Just keep working consistently towards your goal, and you will get there.
- Know that the trajectory is rarely smooth. When we plan, we often imagine a smooth path to progress. However, it is more common for the path to be a little wiggly. We may progress then plateau, then progress again. Sometimes things even seem to go backwards for a little while. Accept that this is normal, but take the opportunity to ensure your goal is realistic and review your plan, in case you need to make any adjustments.
Every rider will probably already know what they want to work on or towards, but here are a few examples to help prompt ideas:
- Improve your flatwork. Work on improving your position, balance, and rhythm. This could include no stirrup work, too. If you use spurs now, could you work towards achieving the same results without spurs? Could you take part in a virtual dressage test to help ensure you keep to your timeline? Could someone film you ‘now’ and then again at regular intervals so you can see as well as feel your progress?
- Try a new discipline. Research the disciplines available near to you (or virtually), think about what you and your horse enjoy and what your strengths are, and then start to build in the training you need. For example if you want to enter a 20-mile pleasure ride, you may need to work on stamina and fitness. If you want to try horseball, you’d need to incorporate desensitisation training and riding in close contact with other horses, and so on.
- Improve your jumping technique. Take lessons from a qualified instructor and practice at home or at clinics. You could also explore different scenarios depending on what you want to achieve with your horse. For example, show jumping, cross country, arena eventing, team chase…!
- Spend more time with your horse. Set aside more time to just ‘be’ with your horse and enjoy your time together, or you could set a goal to learn liberty work together.
No matter what your goals are, remember to be patient and consistent. With time and effort, you can achieve anything you set your mind to.
I wish you all the best in achieving your equestrian goals this year!
What are your equestrian goals for the new year? Please share them in the comments below. And do get in touch directly if you’d like any help working towards them.