Last week Monica was talking about how she has begun working on liberty and bridleless riding to beat the winter blues. While I am doing that type of thing with Prophet as well, we are also participating in a winter riding challenge.
In this challenge, participants are asked to complete horsemanship and riding time goals over the winter. Keeping motivated to ride in the Vermont winters can be a little challenging, even though they sure can be beautiful.
Here are the paraphrased rules (note that this is all in a Facebook group):
This group is a friendly challenge to motivate riders to stay in the tack during the cold months of winter! Keeping it simple, we’re not going to be fussy about rules. Here’s the challenge:
1. Complete 40 hours of horsemanship (whatever you consider to be improving your horsemanship) and 30 rides or drives (ground driving included as long as your harnessed up) in the tack by March 31. You may log up to 3 hours of bareback time.
2. Post a brief introduction and a photo of the horse on which you will complete the challenge. You may challenge yourself with more than one horse and modify the hours accordingly, but keep it challenging for YOU and declare your intention!
3. Log your tally of hours on the page weekly, so we can encourage and motivate each other!
That’s about it! It’s really fun to see everyone’s progress, especially on those cold days when motivation to ride is really waning. I am a very goal oriented person, so this helps to keep me on track. This challenge just started a couple of weeks ago, and due to the weather and Prophet being a little foot sore after his last trim (he decided to break off where his nail holes grew out now that he’s barefoot), we are currently only at 1.5 hours of riding time and 2 hours of horsemanship time. But, that’s okay! I am confident we will make our goal of completing the challenge.
Tonight as I was riding, I was thinking a little about the challenge and I even dug out my phone to take a quick video of our ride.
Even though there are not any penalties or prizes for this challenge, it’s a great way to hold yourself accountable. This particular challenge is for listeners of the horsie podcast network Horse Radio Network. However, you don’t need a whole group to challenge yourself and your horse! And, if you do, why not start one with your horse friends?
I suggest setting a goal for your own riding this winter. Keep track of your rides or groundwork or even visits to the barn. Challenge yourself and your horse to meeting a goal that makes sense for you and before you know it, those spring flowers will be in bloom (I hope!).
Happy trails!
Kerrie
You two are looking good! Miss you! Jody