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Wednesday, December 2, 2009

2009 - a look behind

Darn it! This was scheduled to be posted on 11/30, the last day of the AERC 2009 season....followed dramatically by the 2010 goal post yesterday. *Sigh*. Somehow the status on this one got changed from "scheduled" to "draft". The best laid plans........

No sense in wasting a perfectly good post, especially as I am sick, so here it is! Recap of 2009.....2 days late.

The AERC 2009 Season is officially done! Which means I have no qualms about doing my 2009 goal review, and then moving on to 2010. (AERC seasons technically start Dec 1)

Here were my goals for 2009:

1. Sound horses all year
  • I'm not sure whether to count this as succesful or not. At 20 mule team 65 miler, I was not pulled, but felt she was borderline lame. She was given a month of easy work, with my vet telling me it was very minor. Do I count this lameness even though I was not pulled? At Tevis I was pulled lame - there was no lasting effects, nothing long term. Does this technically count as "lame" even though I was pulled?
  • Bottom line - I did well this year, but I could do even better next year. I'm estatic that I got through the year with no major injuries or rehab, but a solid year with sound mount IS possible and that's my goal.

2. Complete a multi-day ride
  • Did this at Death Valley. Exhilerating!

3. Complete a ride between 50 and 100 miles in length

4. Complete a multi-day ride with a distance of more than 50 miles per day

5. Complete my first 100 miler
  • This didn't happen this year, but I tried! It's a shame that there isn't any fall 100 milers. I feel like I could have done well (as in finish....) on in October or November.

6. Complete Tevis
  • I started but did not complete. (see story linked earlier)

7. Keep Minx happy
  • Well, we all know what happened with this one. It actually makes me feel very warm and fuzzy to see this goal - it reminds me how much I really did care about her attitude and feelings most of all, not whether she could perform in a certain sport for me. I still miss her so very much.

I think my goals were realistic and there was a good mix of achievement and failure (failure is important! Keeps me humble and grateful). Onto 2010!

2 comments:

  1. Sound horses all year is, IMO, a badly written goal. As stated, you would've failed it for a pasture accident. I suspect what you mean to achieve was "not override my horse into multi-day lameness", and you succeeded at that. The two times you felt like the horse was NQR, you stopped riding and no harm was done.

    (My husband's writing his work objectives for next year, so careful phrasing has been on my mind!)

    Otherwise - awesome achievements!

    ReplyDelete
  2. mmmm....very good point Funder.

    ReplyDelete

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