What are you proud of this year? What are your ambitions?

Managed to get a horse with problems to have loads of lessons with a wonderful trainer, managed to get him over his many issues and compete. Best result 66% at BD medium. Taught him changes with trainer and hope to compete BD Regionals and Petplan next year. Just got to keep him OK! Despite all the negative spiteful people where I live I we have got there! Oh, plus so much help from the world's best vet!
 
Seriously proud of the baby 4yo I bought in August for being so easy to break (thank god) and just so amazingly clever. I've never been on a horse than has just picked things up so quickly!
Bought her unbroken and she's already been to a show and gotten 65% in into, and jumped 80cm under saddle.
And proud of myself for making the mad decision to buy my first breaker and it be a lux z 16.3 warmblood :D'
14993459_1107799939297065_1990602082892665063_n.jpg

Ambitions for next year- Hopefully do a few prelim/novice classes, pass my B exam and get my stage 2 :D
 
I am proud I have kept my horses happy and healthy while pregnant! I fed them dinner while in labour! And my 5yo pony let me lean on him through a contraction!!!!

I am proud and grateful my old boy has soldiered on after we thought he would have to be PTS due to brain cysts. He still has a lumpy head but is happily retired I a field with his mates and got to meet my baby.

I am mega proud of my mare who had 7 months off but has behaved impeccably when I started riding again.

They have adapted so well to be brining my baby to the yard everyday and me often having to rush.

So no mega competition successes or much riding! Hope next year I will manage to get my 2 5yos going again and try endurance with my mare.
 
I'm super proud my 7yo who I bought as an unbanked 4yo had her first season at BE, including a win (although that was unaf) and finished with a brill clear at a 100.

I'M proud of how much she's FINALLY grown up, and bar one outing where she wasn't right (was very sore when physio came a couple of days later), has a faultless xc record and is proving to be incredibly bold.


Next year I'm aiming to establish her at be100 and hopefully novice
 
I love this post, good luck and good fortune in 2017 How lucky he is tohave found you.
Sukistokes2 said:
This year I found my unsuitable pony a lovely loan home and brought myself a new dressage horse, well that was the plan. I came home with a neglected Clydesdale and haven't look back since. He was well underweight and showed no muscle at all. He didn't steer and even the dealer couldn't corner him in canter but it didn't matter I just felt safe on him. In nine months we have come a long way and I am so proud of him. On Sunday he was weighed and he came in at 706 kgs so we are getting there. Hie teeth were so bad the poor dentist came over all emotional and nearly cried when he thought of the pain he must of been in. He had a hook which must of been regularly hit by the bit, no wonder he wouldn't go straight. I have lessons and do intro with him.We have gone from the low 60 % to over 70% :D I hack on my own for miles, he is bare foot and thriving on it, his feet are so much better. Slowly he is learning to trust and as he does he is revealing an intelligence that is simply blinding. So I'm never going to set the dressage world alight but the challenge of working with this remarkable horse and of bringing out the best in him is going to keep me going for a while.
Our ambition for next year is to balance the canter and try a prelim. To do our first sponsored ride and have fun.


This is two weeks after he came to me

Coming in the top ten for intro in July at our first Champ show.

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Oh I think I know you? Perhaps we'll meet in Gloucestershire again in March? so pleased you are riding!
el_Snowflakes said:
Sound very positive- well done 👍🏻

After 4 months off at start of the year (no riding/horse duties) & having to consider giving up riding altogether due to health problems, I'm proud to have pushed through & won our first novice test on my 20 year 'young mare.I'm also pleased I took the opportunity to learn advanced movements on Grand Prix schoolmasters in summer which has really set me up to be able to train my own horse. Next year I look forward to competing affiliated BD & moving towards elementary level. I also hope to spend some more time training in Gloucester as there's not much available here in scotland!
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Well after a few years of being a 'pet' pony owner my lot are beginning to do stuff! The section A has been broken in and has a little rider, he isnt an angel but the two of them have a Thelwell type of charm and are bouncing along ok. The show pony is in her last week of being broken in and will graduate with her first ridden show next weekend and the section B has been turned away at a stud for a final blast of being a youngster before being broken in next spring

Next year I hope that the section A continues not to have broken any kids bones, the show pony will be aimed at SFAS if she continues to progress well and the section B will hopefully stop being so gangly and be a good boy at school

Its been a good year for the ponies and I hope next year will be as good :) Hopefully cheaper though, I've bought five saddles this year so far!
 
I'm proud that I've finally managed to consistently manage to hack my horse on his own, and we are progressing in the school, we still start with 5 mins of grumpiness but he finally gives in a works nicely for about 20 mins, so on wards and up wards :)
 
Asha said:
OP - I get where you are coming from with regards to getting on after your horse bolted. My lad would sometimes bronc/put his back up when you got on ( doesn't do it now, all xrayed etc nothing wrong with him) it made me scared to just get on anything, other than my ole girl. Ive over come that fear now, and its such a relief.
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It is awful and I felt so stupid for being scared of that. But really it's the most dangerous part of riding as you just have to hope the horse will stay there because if it doesn't you are in a dangerous position.

But over it now thank god. My 'dangerous' horse helped me through it. Different horse to the one that broke my leg. My one now has walked off once as I tried to get on and I got my foot stuck in the stirrup and has to hop alongside him (very comical I imagine). Oddly that didn't scare me as he did nothing but look at me oddly.
 
I am proud of pretty much everything the bonkers black pony has done this year and the fact that I've learned to never give up listening and learning. He has gone from unridable and dangerous to incredibly gorgeous to ride and a happy person on the ground. It makes me realise how much pain he must have been coping with before. Now anytime people talk about naughty horses my gut says there is always something underlying, which is a good lesson for me. He got his first win at trec level 2 (pairs) this year and came second at his only arena trec this year, he is pulling his weight and showing how amazing he is instead of losing the plot and letting the team down. He hacked around the Burghley sponsored ride happy as Larry, polite and bitless, whereas a year ago I sat in tears watching other people riding round and thinking I'd have to have him put to sleep.(photo taken by my partner so not stolen from anyone!)
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Ambitions are small, just enjoy every day that I have a sound, happy, safe horse and find the fun in every training session. Yes it would be nice to be working on tempo changes and pirouettes and jumping XC but I've learned to love just messing around, riding bridleless, working at liberty, all that sort of stuff.
 
What a lovely thread. So nice to read about all these achievements and goals.

It is so easy to forget about what you have achieved. I'm proud of the fact that this year has been one of firsts for me and my mare. We've managed to get reliable canter transitions on both reins. Complete circles on both reins in trot and canter (this took some effort!).

I got a trailer, and we've been out to the beach and to our first ever competition together. We won our first rosette at our second competition, but more importantly she was so much happier second time out.

Next year I want to start doing dressage tests - my trainer thinks that a solid novice test should be achievable next year. Small steps for some, but this is new to both of us. I also want to get her out to the beach more to have fun.

Good luck to everyone for achieving all your goals.
 
Getting my lovely horse well after v v difficult recovery post colic surgery.
As another poster has said - signed up for the wobbleberry challenge eek!
 
I totalely lost my confidence on one of my ponys who has mental issuses, i have another unbacked youngster who is 6 years old that i wouldnt start to back, as i was to afraid, i tried to sell him but my husband wouldnt let me, at the begining of the year, i started to back him with a friend on another of my horses that is a good babysitter. and hes coming along lovely he seems a lovely genuine horse, i know he will have his moments, but im just so glad i didnt sell him.
 
love this thread :D

Lots of things on a personal level, but mainly so proud of little Kira. This time last year she'd just about mastered the art of cantering around the arena without stopping. Yesterday she did this
[video=youtube;PBHEKPIsSNc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBHEKPIsSNc[/video]

and she will be ready to have a crack at her first medium in the new year. This year she's done everything I've aimed for at BD...there have been highs and lows but she really wants to do the work and I am enjoying training her so much.
Never wanted a 14hh cob, never expected to fall for her like I have, never expected her to learn so fast, especially as we spent the first year basically napping everywhere and being generally horrible. Chuffed to bits with her.

Ambitions.... well I've learnt many times over that it's dangerous to cook up too many aims because horses don't share them, and things go wrong. But tentatively planning some old-lady showing for Millie next year (a venture into the unknown for us both) and for Kira... Ele regionals, medium AFs and perhaps adv med towards the end of the year, we'll see. Hopefully do some music classes too. :)
 
I am proud of making the step up to BD and of my little bog pony for gaining 18 points in 4 tests. For a horse who was always labelled as "just about tolerates dressage so he can get to the fun bit", I'm so proud of how he's taken to doing only DR this year and learned to enjoy it. I'm over the moon with how he's looking and feeling, and how much stronger he is. I'm just frustrated that my changing body shape is making schooling difficult for me, as he's finding everything so easy now and enjoying himself so much that he really needs to be doing more challenging work. I never thought we would ever do BD and I'm so proud of how he's held his own against some far more experienced horses, coming home with a placing every time and even managing to win money in our last outing!

I have zero horsey ambitions for me next year as all being well, he's off out on loan in a couple of weeks. He's off to a fabulous PC home where he will be doing eventing, DR and SJ team stuff as well as some hunting. My ambition for him is that he stays sound and has an absolute ball for the next couple of years :) And that I manage to get out to see him at a few local competitions!
 
I had loads of grand plans which due to work and racing commitments never came to fruition (I still am no nearer to sitting my trailer test and buying a suitable vehicle to tow the trailer I have, which looks as though it is going to get sold). However, I am extremely proud of the success we had with our first homebred filly who competed in all of the top 2YO races this season, regularly placed and won on her last start of the year in possibly the most sentimental of races for my OH (our closest Derby at our home track where he has grown up racing and had never previously trained a winner of the race). She took us all over the country and competed against the best horses in front of the biggest crowds and never let us down. She also became the first 2YO winner from her dam, with her 2 sisters in Canada only winning once they got to 3.

Ambitions for next year with her are to step up and challenge the champion 2YO from this year in all of the 3YO races. We will be sending her away to be trained though as a professional trainer will have better facilities and more time to commit to her, so there's a small level of sacrifice involved as I would rather be training her ourselves. But it's what we need to do to get to the top so...

Ambitions re the other horses is to win with what we're training, which looks to be two seasoned horses of our own and also *hopefully* a gorgeous and talented grey prospect for a friend who has lost the buzz of racing. All I need to do is twist his arm and turn up to collect the horse in February!! Sounds so easy...

I'd love to get Star back going in the saddle again and work on her and my confidence over jumps, but time is a short commodity with me at the moment so she may be on an extended break a while longer before we tackle things like that, not that she'll mind!!

ETA this is the link to Ace winning her final start of the year at Corbiewood, the SHRC 2YO Futurity Fillies Division. As she went 2 seconds faster than the colts division she retained the overall trophy for the next 12 months, which is proudly displayed on my mantelpiece alongside her rosette collection and the replica trophy we get to keep!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kj2PDcKnMDc
 
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So those that have been following my threads will know this year hasn't really gone to plan.

At the start of the year I set out to find H a lovely new home where he could do more of the things he enjoyed (tick!) and then went on to buy my dream horse who sadly broke a month later, so any hopes of competing were firmly set on the back burner.

That said, I am super proud of where my riding is at right now. My position has gone from near foetal at times to a much stronger, more relaxed posture and my confidence seems to be growing and growing. None of this would have been possible without the help of my awesome trainer and the support of the wonderful yard I'm a part of :)

I'm also incredibly proud of my baby mare, who has remained completely chilled throughout her box rest and rehab and continues to wow me with how she just takes everything in her stride. Seeing the way she is with my (formerly) unhorsey OH just melts my heart, although I suspect he's currently angling to steal her from me as he is equally smitten by her!

I'm hoping 2017 sees Pops continue to recover from her DDFT tear and remain sound (fingers crossed!), anything above and beyond that will be a bonus but I'll just be taking every day as it comes where she's concerned.

2017 will also see me adding another horse to our little family, which I'm very excited about. I don't want to say too much just yet as I don't want to jinx anything but I am extremely excited about the opportunity and can't wait to learn all this horse has to teach me. Hopefully 2017 will finally be the year I will get to affiliate.
 
My ambition at the start of this year was to get 70%+ at Novice and to do an Elementary (and do it justice) on Mont, just a local unaffiliated one. We'd been getting high 60s at Novice for a good 6 months so it seemed a good time to try. With winter being so wet and the school being flooded I put it off until the Spring as we just couldn't put the work in. That's when our problems started :(. He's been lame on and off since April but always sound on the day the vet was due to see him. When we finally got him to the vet on a lame day, he had nerve blocks - which didn't block anything out. The entry wounds then got infected and we had a terrible 6 weeks of not being able to get rid of the swelling. Seeing him so sorry for himself was horrible. Fast forward 3 months and 8 days in vet school and we finally found out he has arthritis in his elbow. It's been injected and he's responded well. Last night we had our first canter since June 4th. Just 4 strides, but it was the happiest 4 strides of canter I've had in a long time! I'm so proud of him for dealing with it all so stoically.

Meanwhile, Arch has been dragged out of the field and been taken to stuff I was booked in to do with M. I've only really hacked him for the last 8 years - he'd been dragged to the odd prelim dressage when M's lost a shoe or not been right but done nothing for 2 years. There's no reason why he can't, he's just a cantankerous old git and M is so easy the choice was a no-brainer. However, since trying a Micklem bridle on him in July, we haven't looked back. We've had a great 2 days at camp - where he also stayed in a stable for 36 hours (with rides in between obvs) and didn't kill anyone (a b****y miracle!). He's loaded well every time - even on his own, has stood nicely on the trailer at events, even when he went with a friend who then went off and left him (unheard of in 11 years!). We've done lots of clinics, quite a few Prelims (with very minimal napping) and managed 2 Novice tests - the thought of lengthening the trot stride before was terrifying! We scored 62.8% in the first but the judge thought he was unlevel and said this cost him 3-4% . After M's woes he went straight to the vet who found nothing so we put it down to an off day (albeit one where he behaved perfectly) and tried again. This time we scored 64.3% with which I was thrilled. He also has a new sharer who is far more novicey than I originally wanted but she was very clear about that and is so keen to learn that I thought I'd give her a chance. He adores her and rather than take advantage of her inexperience as he would have done before, he looks after her so well. I think I'm prouder of this than anything else. It seems my Victor Meldrew has finally mellowed and grown up at 20 years old!

The plan for next year is to enjoy the pair of them and take each day as it comes. We're going to gently push M to see what he can do and make the most of whatever that is. If it's trundling around he lanes, so be it. At 21, as he'll be come January, he's earned an easier life. Although A is physically the stronger of the two at the moment I'm aware his melanomas could cause problems at any time so I'm just going to love them both as much as I can for as long as I can and not make excuses not to do things as I may not get the chance for much longer.
 
I am proud of the fact I am having lessons and getting my pony going this year. My ambition for next year is to do a walk trot test with her and maybe a little show jumping course.
 
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