30 Day Blogging Challenge Day 19-Show Goals for 2017
Well here we are at day number 19 in my 30-day blogging challenge! This is 19 days down, 11 more to go! When I look at this and relaize I have written 19 posts, which is almost 19,000 words about me and my horsey life I am pretty proud of myself for sticking with this for 19 days! I hope I haven’t bored you too much, because I have given you a lot of information about my life with my horses, as well as my strengths, and my weaknesses. I wanted to offer a little more to you about myself, and thanks to the incredible blog She Moved To Texas, I found her 30-day blogging challenge and decided to emulate what she had done. And today is a new day, so a new topic. I am going to share with you my show goals for 2017.
Last year I had big ambitions for Ethan. I had planned on showing him last year, but he hurt his leg really bad so that didn’t happen. And then for the rest of the summer I had huge plans of the shows I wanted to go to with him. Thankfully, I came to my senses and understood that was not a good idea. He is still green, and by pushing him to go to a show too soon, I would be setting the both of us up for failure.
But, it’s a new year, and some new goals to set for the upcoming show season!
I have thought about showing him from the moment I bought him. This is what I really want to do. And I want to be successful. So my goal for showing this year is going to be to start small, and build upon that.
Planning to Show
First things first, I need to get Ethan (and myself) in shape, and used to whatever we could anticipate at a show. That means lots of groundwork, flat work, arena work, trail work and road work.
The first step is knowing when the first show will take place. This year, the first show I would like to take Ethan too is on April 15. It is a small schooling show, and to keep things fun, I am looking at entering him into the cross rails hunter division. I have no idea of how he will do, but I feel this would be a fun first show with him.
Now that I have picked the date, I have it marked on a calendar, and I now that I have just over 10 weeks to get him ready. I feel this will give the both of us plenty of time to prepare. I am a huge planner. I don’t like surprises in general, and I especially don’t like surprises that have to do with a very large animal with a mind of his own.
If All Goes Well
So the first show of the year will be a schooling show in April.
Depending on how that goes, will determine the rest of our show season. But, if it goes well, and it should with planning, this is what I am planning for Ethan for the rest of the summer:
- May 15-18th Colorado Horse Park
- June 10th-11th Colorado Horse Park
- June 25th Parker Trail Riders show
- July 30th Parker Trail Riders show
- August 26th – 27th Colorado Horse Park
Why Even Go to a Show?
That will give Ethan 6 shows for the summer of 2017. I don’t think this is too ambitious, but we will see as he progresses. And I am not planning on going to all of these shows with the intention of winning lots of blue ribbons, although that would be nice. But I am doing it for the same reason I have been doing this blog challenge for the past 19 days. I wanted to see if I could. I wanted to dedicate my time to something that I felt strongly about. And that is what I have done with this challenge. And I look at the upcoming show season the same way. Instead of thinking about doing it, I want to do it.
We will have to revisit this at the end of summer, and see how Ethan and I did.
How about you? Do you set goals for the upcoming show season, or do you just go? I would love to hear how you plan for your upcoming show season. Share your tips, tricks, and what you do to plan for your show season with all of us in the comment section below!
