2019 Goal Announcement

I am a big believer in setting goals. I feel like when you set goals for your riding you really get to see markers with your improvement. As with setting any goals you always want them to be S.M.A.R.T. specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time bound. I often set goals for myself that don't fit in to these parameters that I unfortunately have to put on the back burner for hopefully another time. BUT, my goal I'm setting for next year fits perfectly in to these guidelines.

My goal for 2019 is to participate in the Retired Racehorse Project!

Specific: I want to participate in a certain competition, the Thoroughbred Makeover in Kentucky as a part of the Retired Racehorse Project. Along with this will come regular horse shows, but I have never gotten to participate in a finals event. Those often require a lot of money I don't have to buy a fancy horse, campaign them at A horse shows and earn the points to qualify for a year end finals. This is still a prestigious event but doesn't require any outside showing to participate.

Measurable: By being just one competition this goal is easy to measure, I ride at the RRP next year. This is also measured by getting a quality and talented horse that will help me accomplish this goal.

Achievable: Off the track horses generally don't cost the same amount of money that young warmbloods do and because of this I can afford to still get a nice horse that fits in to my budget. This goal is also achievable because training horses is literally what I do for a living so I know that is in my wheelhouse of abilities.

Relevant: The obvious reason that this goal is relevant for me is that I am a trainer already enjoying training young horses. This goal is also something I can afford to work towards at this time in my life. Maybe one day I'll be able to buy a future Grand Prix horse and ride at that level. And the best reason for this goal being relevant is that I love the Thoroughbred breed and I absolutely love that this event has been growing nonstop and promoting this smart, brave and athletic horse.

Time Bound: The beauty of this competition is that all the horses competing have only had ten months maximum of training. I can commit to this easily for a year.

Applications just opened up and if accepted, I am very excited to take on this challenge and share my experiences with you through regular updates here on the blog, on my social media channels and on YouTube with videos documenting our progress!