Inspired in part by discussion this weekend and in part by a post on another blog…

So, what are my riding goals right now?

Goal 1 (and it’s the big one): Confidence at the canter

I am pretty confident at the walk and trot, but canter is my big bugbear. The more I think about it, the more I suspect that maybe I didn’t have enough confidence at the canter to begin with – we pretty much went from walk/trot/canter the arena to jumping very low x’s within 2-4 months of beginning lessons. Cantering the arena is one thing; cantering a circle or steering much is another, and I distinctly remember as a child being frightened that if I made the horse turn in the direction opposite the one we were going at the canter, they would fall. (I know better now!)

I am able to canter, but I have to work myself up to it. I need to get enough confidence to stay at the canter and work on more than basic around-the-arena and circle steering. I probably need to work on my seat at the canter; I have issues with freezing and tensing up (yay fear) that mean I don’t relax well, which impedes my ability to follow the horse’s movement, which means a bit of a bumpy ride.

Goal 2: ???

And this is the other issue. I… don’t really know what I want to do.

Dressage has a certain appeal still. A part of me wonders if I didn’t switch to it because I had a horse take off bucking when jumping, and it scared me and my parents – although there was never any pressure from them, they were kind of relieved that I wasn’t jumping any more. I want to be able to do the neat things, and I know I have to do all the things that lead up to the hard things. And yet, I haven’t really progressed in so long… I don’t know. But I’m still interested.

Jumping has taken on a certain appeal again. I never did jump much higher than 2’… if that high (let’s be honest, I was 11-13 – I may be remembering them as bigger than they were). I haven’t jumped at all – well, not on purpose – in easily 12 years, probably more like 15. I want to at least try it; I don’t know if I’ll be OK with it or not, but it’ll be a change of pace, and I want a change of pace.

Eventing? Eek. Kind of scared of the cross-country portion.

Endurance? Meh. Not without my own horse, and even then…I suspect I’m too much of a wuss.

Western? Cows are only good for eating, I’ve disliked the barrel racers I’ve met in the past enough to be completely turned off… What does that leave? Reining? Yeahhhhh. That’d be humorous. *chuckle* As far as I can tell, reining is dressage for Western riders – bigger saddle, bigger bit, more speed and flash, but the same thing. Chalk it up to a maybe, I guess. I was always an English girl at heart, though.

Trail rides and puttering around without a discipline in mind? …I guess. I don’t know. I think I kind of miss not doing more shows as a kid. I like trail rides just fine, but I’m not sure it’s going to be enough, y’know?