For many reasons, 2018 has been dubbed Lisa’s Year of the Horse. I’m leasing Duke and this competition season, I’ve got serious goals – unlike last year when my sole competition-related goal was “finish one event.” But this year, I’ve got my sea legs in this whole eventing thing and I want to be more purposefully competitive.
The Goals
- Compete at Novice. This might be one horse trials, it might be more. I would really like to run Novice at least once this season.
- Qualify and attend Area IV Championships. This can be at Beginner Novice or Novice. In my Big Dreams it’s at Novice but in my Somewhat More Realistic Dreams it’s fine if it’s at Beginner Novice. Technically I’m already qualified as a rider at BN from the horse trials I won with Stryder. Duke is qualified at Novice from that same show piloted by my friend and teammate. So really, either I have to get Duke qualified at BN, or I have to qualify myself at Novice.
So, cool, right? But this post is titled “Goals vs. Adulting” so here comes the “adulting” part.
The Adulting Part
Long story short, 2018 is also The Year of Lisa’s Wedding. Which is amazing and half of the time I just go around in state of happy excitement because these are going to be toitest of nups. Toit nups.
Credit: Brooklyn 99 And yes. Fiance and I say “toit nups” aloud to each other on the reg.
I’m figuring out how to do both The Year of the Horse and The Year of the Wedding basically at the same time. And the wedding/honeymoon eats a big ol’ chunk out of the season. Basically the whole first half of the season, really, because I literally have “Don’t Get Hurt Before The Wedding” blocked out on my calendar. So while there are horse trials and stuff that I could technically go to, I’m not about to get myself a black eye right before I get married. Call me crazy, but I am not willing to compromise on this.
I just want the horse goals so bad. And I want to focus on and have a wonderful, memorable wedding day just as badly.
What this means is that I’ll only have a few shows to qualify before the Area IV Championships. It certainly can be done, but it does put more pressure on each outing. So in the meantime, I’m trying to remind myself that what I do right now in the off season has a major impact on my and Duke’s ability to do well when the time comes.
- Focus on fitness. I am keeping up with my 100 Days of Strength goal for the year, and have lost weight as well. I feel strong and more energetic. For Duke, he is starting a new regimen of a short lunging session in a Pessoa rig once a week in addition to riding.
- Make every ride count. I am focused and working to bring my best in every lesson. In my hacks, I take our exercises from lessons and work to refine them.
- Plan, plan, plan. We’re working out a schedule for the summer, and I’m working on my financial plans to make sure I’m in good shape to accomplish my goals.
This is not to say I’m not having a blast with riding or wedding planning – I am! I am a planner by nature so this level of organization and planning ahead totally fits my personality.
Centered in the Saddle 
goals vs adulting are the worst. in a way i’m kinda grateful to not have too many adulting problems right now…. rather, i just have lame horse problems. sigh. it’s always something tho, right? your plans sound solid tho – good luck with making it all work!
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Ugh I’m sorry to hear that! Lame horse problems are the worst.
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I’m cheating on my goals right now since I’m laid up until after baby….but really I have no freaking idea how to balance all this stuff! I think it’s just a matter of being really honest with yourself.
You goals sound so fun! I hope that everything works out!
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I wanna say that growing an actual new human being isn’t “cheating on your goals.” Just saying. Part of why I’m putting so much on this year is because I am fully aware that I have relatively few obligations at this point in my life, so the time to take advantage of that is now!
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Dude. Toit nups getting in the way of horsing is also my struggle right now!!!
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The struggle is so real.
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The black eye/injury part of it hadn’t even crossed my mind until you mentioned it.
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Sorry to introduce you to one of my wedding nightmares 😩 It’s possible but improbable (*knocks on wood*) to have an injury right before but that hasn’t stopped me from imagining limping up the aisle in my dress and a leg cast or something. 😂😳
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Currently living this.
TOIT NUPS
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The toitest of nups!
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I got married on a Friday, and the weekend before, I competed at a horse show. And I have 0 regrets about it. Then again, my plan consisted basically of wearing sun shirts to avoid farmer’s tan so… maybe I’m not the best role model? LOL
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Hmm interesting, maybe I should rethink my plans…jk, I gave myself a black eye just schooling XC last summer so…
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I got married last May and it was stressful, but I still managed to be ready to start showing in June. I worried I was pushing it going to our first recognized in mid-July, but once we got there it was fine. I kept reminding myself it’s all supposed to be fun and if both things mattered to me, I would figure it out somehow. Even if you have a few random days you just need a break from wedding or horse stuff, you’ll be fine. The last thing you need is stress on top of stress 🙂
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A very good reminder! It’s all good stuff and I plan to enjoy it all – even if that means taking a day or two to have a break!
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