Centered in the Saddle

And just like that, we’re halfway through 2017. This year is just flying by and I can’t believe we’re basically halfway through show season as well. I admit, my goals have changed somewhat since I last checked in. But that’s life!

RIDING

• Weekly lessons; average two dressage and two jumping per month. LOL almost all my lessons have been jumping but I’m okay with it. I will be half-leasing Duke for a couple months starting in August and then I’ll get more dressage-ing in.
• Complete at least one event. Not yet! I did do the one Combined Test, but my full-on horse trials will be coming up in September. We should be going BN, woohoo!
• Read the USEA rule book, in full. Oops. Still not done. I keep picking it up but it literally makes me fall asleep. I am determined to finish it!
• Budget and save for 3+ competitions this spring/summer/fall. Edit: I will be doing 2 competitions but also half-leasing Duke, so in terms of budgeting I’m pretty happy with where I’m at.
• Buy a saddle. Done!

HEALTH

• Exercise 3-4 times per week (including riding lessons) for a total of 180 workouts/days with exercise in 2017. Still pretty happy with my progress on this goal. Admittedly, I have been slacking on my workouts for the last few weeks but I am scheduling in my runs for the next few weeks and re-committing to healthy eating starting today. I have also been doing a lot more strength training and I’ve seen that improve my riding quite a bit. My trainer even noticed a difference recently.
• Run a 5k in the spring. Then decide if I want to run more. Edit: The spring passed with no 5k but I still want to do one in the fall. Michelle has agreed to do one with me, probably some time in October. I have run the length of a 5k, just not in an actual sanctioned event. I’m going to keep up the running/cross-training when it’s hot (because I HATE running in the heat) and keep up the strength training. I also ordered myself a running belt/bag thing because the armband I have for my phone is terrible and actually makes running worse. Having a new running tool will help re-inspire me to keep it up!

BLOG

• Blog at least twice per week. LOL nope. I’ve been doing a really bad job of blogging regularly. I do have stuff to write about, I’ve just been quite busy now that I’m planning a wedding!
• Continue chronicling my foray into evening with monthly installments on Eventing Nation (see the first and second and third installments). I should really submit another one soon…

OTHER

• Unsubscribe from all the spam emails I get (and cause me to waste time every day deleting them). Yep! I keep unsubscribing from things as I get them. I love it!
• Find a good organization to volunteer with once a month. Have not followed through on this. Feeling pretty guilty about it.
• Clean out my closet/dresser and get rid of clothes that I don’t wear, are worn out, or are no longer in style. I’ve gotten rid of a few things…okay fine, by “gotten rid of,” I mean I took a few things out of my closet and made a pile, um, next to my closet. Still want to go through the rest of my stuff and then actually clear away the pile.

ADDITIONS

• Plan my wedding and have fun doing it. Avoid stress as much as possible during the planning process. So far, so good! Date, venue, church, wedding party, photographer – all lined up. Next, a caterer.
• Write in my 5 Year Journal. I got a new one. It’s pretty. Each page is for one day, and there are 5 places to write a few lines, so over 5 years you fill it up with a little bit about what happened each day. A friend of mine recently told me that her grandma has been doing this every day since 1937 and I think that’s amazing, so I started again.