Training Diary - ideas?

Denbob

Denbob

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Lovely people of HHO!

Out of nosiness/looking for inspiration, do any of you keep a training diary for your horses? Especially those who aren't competing regularly.

I'm not looking to reach the big leagues with beastie but I think writing stuff down with a plan in mind for the week/month/season/year (i.e. short-term and long-term goals) will help me focus, stay motivated and highlight any weak points/stop me getting too repetitive (which I am guilty of doing!).

Is anyone willing to share what has worked for them or alternately what hasn't?
 
I got a leroy and bongo training planner for 2018 - that's a nice way to record things like this. I don't compete regularly but it's been useful to record our training and activities. I'm not always good at self-reflecting but I hope it will be something I will look back on to see our progress (or lack of!). One for the Xmas list :)
 
Was going to say Leroy & Bongo as well!

I use Equilab as well to track my rides and it tells me how long I've ridden for, how much walk, trot, canter etc. and also how much on right vs. left rein if in the school. It also gives you the option to rate your ride on a scale of smiley faces for yourself and your horse and make notes on the ride.

I found it really useful to keep track of how much i'd done in each ride, particularly when bringing my horse back into work. He's been in full work for 5 months now and I still use it every ride- it's really useful and it's free!
 
Another vote for Leroy & Bongo , its worked for both the horse and me. I've just worked out how often I've hurt my back this year by going back through it. Also good for keeping up with farrier bookings vaccination dates etc. Packing list bit was a bit short for me but then I do take everything including the sink! The goals bit was nice to although there's one I'm a bit sad to still see there but I can see how we are now lined up to achieve it next year.
I think the 2019 ones are available sometime in November.
 
I simple just use a diary/planner. I briefly write down every session I do each day and I can roughly plan the week ahead, although I allow myself to change this as and when life/weather/my useless body get in the way.

For instance this evening we had an ok-ish session- first couple of canters weren’t great but did improve. I noted this down but also that it was howling wind and she’s not been in the school for a week, so I’ll let her off!
 
I use a normal diary to keep a record of my rides, I put things like what we did, if it was something new, how my horse behaved etc. Will look into Leroy and Bongo diary for next year!
 
I just use a large desk diary and write down what the horse has done and anything of note. I make notes from lessons in that or a separate book, so it is more a record than a training plan forwards. I have these going back many many years probably to the late 1980s and my show jumping days. When I was showing my previous horse I kept a note of who he showed under, whether he went well for the ride judge etc. I keep my dressage tests but don't really refer back to them but perhaps know that we need to work on x or y if that is letting us down and look ahead to see what tests we are doing to see if we need to perhaps practice something as generally am not abl
 
Thank you all! I was thinking about a normal diary but I've tried that before and couldn't quite stick at it as we were doing very little, maybe a posh diary for Christmas will keep me motivated! :)
 
I have just started a bullet journal . As well as stuff for me in front I've put horsey stuff in back . Ive made a grid to record dressage test results. Highest scoring movement , lowest scoring movement ,judge comments and a section for what I need to do for homework . I wear a polar watch which records our hacking so can monitor speeds through the paces / distance /times. I have a section dedicated to lesson write ups. In lesson write ups I'll write one high point/one low point and what I need to focus on. I am a lover of lists so this helps me enormously. I am also very very forgetful so having something to refer to helps me massively. Try a bullet journal if you struggled maintaining a diary , I lose interest in a diary but designing something that contains everything I want has been fun and I am motivated to keep it up . Best of luck with whichever method you choose :)
 
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