I don’t know about you, but I am a goal setter and I love the process of learning. I am lucky that I have my horses at home with a large outdoor riding arena in which to school them. Recently, I had the opportunity to board my horse at my trainer’s barn for a few days while my son was at horse camp and it got me thinking. I have boarded in the past, but it is easy to forget how much I enjoy having someone available for feedback, “eyes on the ground” and riding companions. I know my son loved camp for the sheer joy of riding with others who share his passion.

Many of us don’t have the benefit of a regular trainer or riding buddies. I trailer, weather permitting, over an hour each week to my trainer’s barn for lessons and afterwards make notes on what I am working on. Knowing that I don’t always have my trainer available, I find it really important to set goals. They don’t have to be lofty goals, but simply something that keeps me striving to improve myself or my horse, usually both. It is easy to become dependent on a trainer and many riders become paralyzed without constant input. I find that I need to be a “thinking” student. When I learn something I take it home and really work on it. I refer to my notes, think about my schooling, and develop questions to be answered when I see my trainer again. Edie finds the following helpful:  “I always advocate a written lesson plan just like a teacher would prepare for a school class. In that plan (which can be flexible or changed as appropriate), I like to have goals, things my horse does well, and things my horse needs to work on, and a systematic plan to get that to happen.”

When I don’t have access to my regular trainer, I try to reflect on previous lessons, or bounce my questions off other knowledgeable horse people. I read a lot and take bits and pieces of things that might be useful and play with them. It takes more motivation when I am on my own, because it would be easy to just plod along doing the same old thing, but never really getting anywhere.

Some people are in a rush to move up quickly, whether in dressage, eventing, fence heights, etc., but for me, it’s important to just take your time and fill in the “holes” and enjoy the satisfying process of learning.

In reality, we must be responsible for our own learning. I set small and large goals. A small goal might be to have my green, off-the-track Thoroughbred stay calm on a trail, or be soft in a “scary” corner of the ring. A large goal might be getting into a show ring for the first time or doing our first small horse trial.  Those goals keep me going. Sure, I am competitive and you may not be, but goal setting and learning keeps the process interesting, challenging and rewarding. Knowing that I can’t have my trainer sitting on my shoulder like the “good fairy,” telling me what to do next means I have to think about what I am actually feeling and doing; as a result, it enhances the learning process.

If you take your time and set small goals, you can build on each success and shape the end result into the larger goal. It is what keeps me going when there is no one at “the barn” to pressure me to get something done in a particular way. I try to keep to my plan whether it’s ninety degrees, such as last week, or below 20 degrees. I have goals to achieve and that is what motivates me.

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