2018 Goals

1) Ride four days a week

I think I held to this fairly well this year, with the exception of November and December. My planned days are Monday, Weds (lesson), Thursday, Saturday, Sunday. That gives me five days of riding, with the option of dropping one due to life. Ashke progresses well with this riding schedule and I can maintain my riding fitness for the same reason.

2) Trail Ride More

I need a trail riding partner that enjoys being out as much as I do, who can carry on interesting conversations and who also can just be quite and enjoy the environment we are riding through. Obviously, it would be optimal to meet someone who could become a friend/confidant/buddy, because it's just so much more fun that way.

I would love to be able to break my 500 miles in a year mark. Some of which would ultimately include horse camping. I just need to work on getting J back out on her mountain bike and doing some of the more aggressive/fun/steep/rocky trails. She's going to love me.

3) Horse Camping

I want to go to Fort Robinson for a long weekend. We can put Ashke up in the stables there and spend all of our weekend riding long trails in the badlands of Nebraska. I just booked a RV site and horse stall for Memorial Day weekend, and after a very funny conversation with my son, he has agreed to stay home with the dogs:
               
Me: Will you stay home with the dogs and take care of them and the house on Memorial Day weekend?
T: Am I not invited? Can't I come with you?
Me: Of course you are invited. We are going to spend the weekend mountain biking and riding the horse over all of the trails at Fort Robinson, and camping in the truck camper. Do you want to do that?
T: I just want to be invited. I can't believe you would plan something like this without inviting me.
Me: Well, of course you are invited. Do you want to come?
T: Oh, hell no. Imma stay home with the dogs.

4) Lesson weekly with Amanda

I love how Ashke has developed over the past year. I love being able to practice moving his body around, making him stronger and more flexible, improving our connection and what we can do. We have kind of tabled the flying changes for right now. He needs to be a little stronger in the back end, so we are working transitions and proper bend on his right lead. And he needs to learn to live on the bit. We've built the house, picked out curtains, and moved in furniture. We now need to live there. We will get there, I have no doubt, because he loves learning the new stuff.

So that's it for now. I will be doing some WE stuff in the form of clinics, play days, TD at a show, course design, Awards committee and my work on the board of HCWE. I'm not setting any showing goals, because it will depend on my mental state when we get to the show in June.