Re: Diversification/Dreams

[Sue Brown <sbrown@wamedes.com>]

>Some of you may think this is nuts...but I think it will be
>good.  February 27th, I'm taking my horse to his first team
>penning clinic.  After that, we are joining a team penning
>league for 4 weeks.  What do I expect to accomplish out of
>all this?  Well, I'm hoping that I will have a more rounded
>horse, who realizes that there is more to life than the
>trails.  

Horses get sour when they get bored...and having a bunch of different
things for him to do not only helps with being bored, but also gets him
used to thinking about varied experiences.  I love a well rounded horse!
They're so much more accepting of unusual occurrences and changes in the
routine.

After I get my new saddle paid off (yeah, we've all
>heard that before), we are going to take dressage lessons.
>I guess, that is all being done to make sure we realize we
>can make the dream...making the best endurance/ctr
>horse/human horse team we can be.

Sounds like you two will do just fine...and you'll have a nicely trained
partner to keep you company.
>
>Brings me to my second part....what are your dreams/goals.
>I guess, mine is pretty simple...I lived in Las Vegas for 12
>years, 3 months before I moved to MN, I got interested in
>endurance riding.  So now, my goal/dream is to trailer to
>Las Vegas for the Mount Charleston ride.  As of this point,
>I've set the year to achieve this as 2001.  

Good luck!!  Where in Minnesota do you live?  I grew up there (60 miles
north of Duluth from ages 5-18) and lived there for 30 years total...15
years between the Twin Cities and Rochester.

I guess, I'm
>interested in what goals others have set for
>themselves....have they achieved them?  What did that feel
>like?  or are we working towards the goal and how you plan
>on achieving it?

I function in a world with lots of "mini"-goals.  I've found this works
better for me than having a couple of huge goals somewhere off in some
distant future.  I'm pretty impatient and have a lot of varied interests so
this way I've got some goals that I've just started working towards, some
that are midway, and some that are nearing completion.  

One of my bigger goal accomplishments this last year was getting my ARICP
teaching certifications, get a new job that would give me Fridays and
Mondays off if I choose, and start competing in endurance.  (All goals
accomplished and were done well enough for my standards.)  I now have goals
on the burner for this year (lots more competitions, new truck, finish the
classroom construction) and next year (additional ARICP certifications,
studying with a couple of well known clinicians, and finish the new office
and workshop construction.)  I have many other little goals (daily, weekly,
and monthly) scattered over the same time.  Occasionally I have to rework
my time frames when I reach a goal more quickly than I anticipated...and
that's a real rush!  Some of the best "feel good" medicine around! 

Sue


sbrown@wamedes.com
Tyee Farm
Marysville, Wa.