Happy New Year! 2024 not only brings a new way to screw up writing the date for the next month, but new trails in those ever optimistic equestrian resolutions. Every year I set a few and every year, well, let's just say that there's more room in the paddock for improvement. But here's not to giving up! In today's episode, I'm going to dig through the tack trunk of goals you guys submitted on the Facebook group. I am impressed. Y'all neatly sorted them into six categories. Riding, Showing, Self Help, Teaching and Training, Health Goals, and Breeders Corner. So let's pick up those range and steer our ambitions toward success, because you're listening to Rochester Trail Riders. Riding Resolutions That's our first category up, and y'all set the pole high to elevate your time with your horse this year. Ready to ride some more? Push your limits and create lasting memories. Here's what you all have pledged to achieve. Kathy B says, Ride. That's it, just ride. Well, Deborah R. followed that up with, Ride more. Anya says, Butt in saddle. Hopefully she means the saddles on the horse. That would help. Jamie, you came in and said, not only are you going to try to ride more, you have a goal of 10 miles a week. Good luck to ya. Kim, she says, to heck with those 10 miles, I'm doing a thousand trail miles this year. And she wants to compete the Genesee Valley Greenway as a whole. Guess what? She's my partner in Genesee Valley Greenway Part 1. If you haven't listened to it, Head back to that episode. Really awesome. Listen, highly recommend. Rihanna, she says she wants to ride each horse once a week. Best of luck. I've done that goal before in the first, uh, week where it never got above freezing. I kind of failed. So best of luck to you Rihanna. This one, Susan, you tugged at my heartstrings. You said, I want to find more time to spend with my horse that I haven't in the past. I want to ride more and have my granddaughter ride more on her too. This is the last horse I'm ever going to own, and if I want to do horse related activities after she's no longer with us this year, I will have to lease a horse to make sure I soak up every moment and enjoy her to the fullest. I've been there. It's a tough place to be, but may you have many, many more rides on your girl and enjoy her with your granddaughter. Well, whether it was logging more hours, covering distances, or simply enjoying the bond with your equine partner, each of these resolutions is a stride toward a more fulfilling year in the saddle. By the way, I'm going to try to do this in one shot. My dog is over here itching. So, I don't know what you can hear in the background. Here she goes with another ear. All right. Oh my God. Oh, yes. A fulfilling year in the saddle. Well, to help you with these goals, I have come up with a bunch of Rochester Trail Riders challenges for you. They're going to have a quarterly challenge. So we'll have a winter, spring, summer, fall kind of challenging. I'm going to have a yearly challenge for I have also, I'm setting up these master trail challenges. So if you ride Five of the parks are all of the green ways or, uh, all the parks I got set up for, what is it? State parks and forests. And then there's like a master where you've done every single one of those. So I've got a ton of master badges coming up and a ton of challenges for you guys to do. And I hope it inspires you to get out and get moving. So if you haven't. Check out RochesterTrailRiders. com and check out the challenges tab and to learn more about everything I got signed up because guess what 2023 stunk as a year for me. I'm feeling motivated. I feel great and I hope to share all of my enthusiasm with trail riding with you guys and to get you guys motivated and out there. But you know what also you guys are interested in? So we're going to step into the Spotlight for a minute. We're going to show our little, uh, shining ring there on our showing resolutions. And this time it's all about the polish, the practice, the pride that comes with presenting our equine partners to their best light. That was a mouthful. Whether it's overcoming previous obstacles or venturing into new challenges, many of you are gearing up for a year of growth in the show ring. So here we go. Kim, you're going to start it off. You want to compete at a show where she has to braid her horse's mane, which shouldn't be too much trouble to get, because she also wants to compete in a show or a dressage. She wants a dressage test that does not have the phrase counterbent in it. Um, let's hear Erin. She wants for her daughter to show her own horse this year instead of a leased horse. While Elizabeth wants to compete in side saddle. That should be fun. Rianna's back. She wants to do cross country schooling and show and eventing. Sarah Wright has some world's ambitions this year. She wants to compete in her first, well, no, she wants to compete in three F. E. I. three star competitions and be in the top six of each of those. Good luck to you, Sarah. Amanda wants to compete two of her horses in an event. Jess just wants to keep enjoying the driving shows with her pony, and guess what? So do I, so I'll see you at those shows, Jess. And that wraps up our show resolutions. Remember, hold on to the essence of why we compete. It's for the love of the ride and the bond with our horses. The true reward is the journey, not just the ribbons. Best of luck to everybody in the 2024 show season. Well, we're going to turn inward for our next category and embrace self help resolutions. It's time to enrich our equestrian experiences, fostering joy, embrace new adventures, cure the bond with the, or nurture the bond with our horses, not cure it, I'd prefer to nurture it. And these goals you have submitted remind me that the personal well being is the backbone to our equestrian success. Makes you wonder why I even bother with the script, right? Well, I'm done. Deb says she wants to enjoy more, stress less, new adventures with friends. Heather is coming in with enjoying her horse more regardless of riding more. See her more. Donna wants to spend more time with her Lucy whether she rides or not. Seems to be a common theme. And Lisa says she wants to hire somebody to do her chores so she can be more present with training her herd and attending some clinics. Erin says she wants to canter consistently and enjoy rides without anxiety. Ugh, good luck. Cantering is an anxiety for me, too. Rianna wants to do some clinics. Kim wants to school cross country intro courses safely and happy. Rianna's back again. She just wants to have some fun and ride with friends. And Susan says she wants to diligently work on her training and riding skills. Great time to remind you that the stable should be a sanctuary and not a store. And not a source of stress by focusing on enjoying the journey and embracing the opportunities and ensuring that we are mentally and physically in sync with our horses sets the stage for a fulfilling year. What a great commitment to fun, friendship, personal growth, and both on and off the horse. Like a well executed lead change, let's transition over into a collaborative dance of teaching and training. Here, you guys made resolutions of strengthening the bond between human and horse, young and old. Jean brings us in and says she wants to teach her minis r Here we go. Roxy and Dixie. How about Rosie and Dixie? So Jean wants to teach her minis Rosie and Dixie some tricks. My stale new Pete, by the way, knows how to smile, say yes, no, count, and a whole bunch of other fun, good things. Best of luck. Trick training is one of my favorite things to do. Jamie says she wants to teach her son how to drive a cart. And for you ladies out there who say there's no guys in the horse world, need to come to a driving show because that's where they all are. Guys will play with horses if a vehicle is involved. So, thanks for bringing an in Introducing, uh, the driving world to your son, Jamie. Kim wants a consistent left lead canter. And Rihanna's back. She, uh, says she wants to get her OTTB comfortable on the trail and out of the ring. I feel that pain too. She also says she wants to continue her full training. And Suzanne says she wants to trade the Babe Beast. This one came with a picture of her horse just like up and rearing at a fence line. So it sounds like she's got her hands full. Sarah is back and wants to train her new high hopes, Mercury, that she calls Freddy, by the way, to learn how to drive. And Jess says she wants to be, she wants to get her new mini driving as well. Excuse me. Lindsay E says she wants to watch her niece enjoy time in her pink saddle on their horse dock. So it looks like we got some new blood in the saddle and Kate says she wants to teach her. She wants her to. Someday, I'll get there. She wants to teach her horse how to self load. Anybody who's been with me, I don't get on a trailer. My horse gets on the trailer. I'm outside. Good job, and well done with that one. Um, just going to do that by working on at least two TRT method lessons. So, best of luck, Kate. Boy, man, these resolutions, they really want to make me enjoy the spirit of paying it forward. I want to impart some wisdom on the next generation of equestrians. Probably why I'm doing this podcast. I also like to continually refine my skills on horsemanship and these resolutions set the stage for legacy learning from foals to first halter to a toddler's first saddle. Good luck to you all. This next category is where I plan to focus my efforts this year and it's all about health. That of my horse and myself. 2023 was a year I'd want to forget. So much loss on my farm. My herd went from 14 head Down to seven at the close of this year. I mean, some wear sails or re homes. Well, the ones that left the largest impact were the sudden death of my broodmares and a stillborn foal. Me? I coped by being depressed and calorie consuming. I was pretty much a sloth and I started out my journey with this podcast back in August of 2023. And if you listened to any of the trail episode, you're totally going to understand my struggle of physical ability. And it sounds like I'm not alone because several of you have similar goals this year. Jessica, she wants to get her hips replaced so she can ride without pain. Uh, Patience says, man, she already got that new hip, but she's hoping to ride this spring and enjoy the scenery more. Uh, Bryce says, help my horse recover from Lyme and start retraining for the trail. Ugh, Lime's a hard one. I'll do a whole episode on Lime later this spring. Tabitha says she wants to become a better athlete and be in better shape so she can be a better rider. Better, better, better, better, better. That's a lot of betters. Well, better get on that. Oh, Jess, she's back. Check this one out. Jess says she wants to get fit so she can go on another international horse track. I guess she went on a three day track in Scotland this past spring, which was a life changing event for her. She was so out of shape for it. So best of luck. That sounds like a great adventure. I wonder where she's going next. And for me, I'll wrap it up. My goal that I have set for myself is to work on my flexibility and strength training so I can be a better rider. Oh my god. I just burped. Sorry about that. Well guys, I was really humbled by the words of support and I was humbled by the words of support and encouragement y'all left for folks who posted in this category. Man, cheers to the power of community and the strength we draw from each other's stories. And guess what? I was delighted to see a few breeding resolutions in the mix. While I am slowly sunsetting my breeding site of my farm, it's good to see others picking up the torch. Shout out to a fellow Mauresian breeder, Jamie, as she resolves to get her stallion phantom trained and breed four Mauresians this year. First, those that don't know, Mauresian is just a Morgan Friesian cross. My stallion, Pete, is still available to outside mailers. It's a shameless plug. And, uh, but I don't have any of my own brood mares anymore to breed. However, I don't know if my husband listens to this podcast, so don't tell him. I'm going to sappy. So I spoke to some vets and some fellow breeders and, um, yeah, after I actually talked to my better half here, my goal is to do one last full, I think I haven't. fully submitted on this one, but my mare Cotton is still around. She's currently mostly blind. I still have my stallion Pete and it would be really awesome to have my last trail horse that I will ever have in my life be the foal out of my beautiful mare that I just adore and my own stallion. So we'll see how this goes. I might get one more foal coming onto my farm, which actually Brings us to the end of our talk today. I mean, I wanted to share a snapshot of resolutions that kept our equestrian spirits kinda high. It's a journey through the ambitions and heartfelt goals of our Rochester Trail Riders community that keeps us going. My god, my dog is itching again. Stop! What are you doing? Bring home a tick? Ugh. If you found value in these stories or just enjoyed my ramblings, please consider subscribing or following us for more episodes. Your engagement is pretty much what I need as a pat on the neck to keep me going. So as always, respect the trail, make sure your brain bucket is strapped on, leave no trace at your trail or site. Until next time, happy trails.