A New Year and New Goals – A Daily Journal

My Journey Into the World of Dressage

Happy New Year! It is a new year, which means it is time for some new goals. And this year, I have a few goals I want to achieve. How about you? Do you do any goal-setting or planning for the new year? I have several big goals in mind for 2024, one of which is to journal every day on my horse-related adventure. There’s a reason for that too. And while I was sitting at my computer typing away the past few days, I thought it might be helpful for others to see what I was doing. Maybe? I don’t know. But I have an outlet here on my blog, so I thought it might be fun to share my daily musings with you.

January 1, 2024

Happy New Year!
So where to begin? How about the beginning of the year? January 1, 2024, seems to be a good place to kick off an entire year of what it’s like to begin a journey into the world of dressage, right?
I mean, who doesn’t love an origin story?

My Horses

So this is it. The origin story of myself and my horse, Jesse. Well, that’s his barn name. His registered name is WATCH PINE TO A TE. How do they come up with these names they give to horses? He is a registered quarter horse that I found of all places, in a horse rescue. He is not my only equine companion, though. Jesse has a friend who we like to call Al Capony.

Both of the horses came into my life after my prior two senior horses had passed and I’m not ready to be done with horses in my life. When we brought the horses home, I had decided their names would be Timon and Pumba. We have a real Lion King vibe going on in our house. We have a dog named Mufasa. But as we have gotten to know both horses, their ‘new’ barn names have stuck.

I feel that I am a very young 53 years old who is just getting ready to embark on a new journey. My dressage journey will have a bit of a rocky start though because I am at the tail end of my recovery after having rotator cuff surgery in October 2023. And although I am not cleared for riding yet, there is a lot I can do with my horse, and for myself as I get ready to be able to return to the saddle.

It is the middle of winter in Colorado. And because I work a regular 8 to 5 job Monday through Friday, my riding is limited anyway during the winter. This is why I opted to have surgery in October, so I will be ready to show by June. Or that is the plan anyway.
So while I get ready to come up with my plan for Jesse, I thought it might be an interesting way to document our progress, and what becomes of us after a year.

I have such pie in the sky plans and dreams.

Daily Equestrian Journal

But first, I need to get myself and my horse in shape for my plans and dreams. So I have to actually use the fitness plan that my husband got me for Christmas. (Thanks Dale!) It isn’t going to get me in shape by just having the program I guess I actually have to use it right?

So that will be one of the goals I set for myself is to use the fitness program my husband got me for Christmas. I will go more into my goal setting tomorrow. I think this is a good ending point for the first day of the year. So many days and so many dreams to go!