Your Horse-Related New Years Resolutions

Losing weight, learning a language, starting yoga, eating better – all the top new years resolutions, year after year.

This year, set new goals for your horse as well!

In this post, we’ve collected the top 11 horse-related New Year’s Resolutions you’ll be dying to keep!

Get Horse Papers Organized

Spend a weekend collecting all of your horse-y related papers: vet bills, bills of sale, pedigree information, etc.

Then get in front of a computer, or print out some paper calendars if you’re old-school and plan out all vet visits (generally once in the Spring and once in the Fall for vaccinations and once for a teeth floating).

Then plan out all farrier visits.

You can generally guess based on your horse’s past how often the farrier will need to come out (every 6 weeks? every 8 weeks? every 3 months?).

Next, on that same calendar, plan out your deworming schedule. Not sure if you need one?

Don’t worry! We’ve got you covered – check out our Complete Guide on DeWorming Your Horse.

Ride More

I know this one seems obvious. We all want to ride more!

But we rarely make a plan.

Sit down and commit to riding twice or three times a week.

However many times you ride a week now, add one.

Ride when it’s cold or windy.

Ride when it’s dark out (safely of course).

Ride before work, or after, or twice in one weekend.

Whatever your schedule allows because the most important factor to being a better rider is simply time in the saddle.

Take a Riding Lesson With a New Trainer or Attend a Clinic

Every trainer you ride with will have a fresh perspective, a new way of looking at things or explaining things.

Even more important than getting a fresh set of eyes on your horse and your riding is you!

According to this article on How We Learn, to have a concept become memory, we need to hear them several times and in different ways.

Even if a new trainer doesn’t have any new insights for you, having a second person reinforce the same things your primary trainer has said will let you know you’re already on the right path.

Ride Outside of Your Discipline

If you’re a jumper, try some dressage. If you’re a reiner, try some roping. If you’re a polo player, try some trails.

Getting out of you (and your horse’s) comfort zone is vitally important for creating a well-rounded rider (and horse!)

You may learn things you never would have before, or find a new discipline that you love!

Riding, no matter what discipline, is never time wasted, and you should always walk away at the end of a ride learning something.

If trying out a new discipline doesn’t appeal to you…

Expand Your Discipline

There are many, many ways to engage with your horse that don’t involve just grooming and riding.

Try adding some new ground work exercises, or trick work, or teach your horse how to stretch.

For the best ground work exercises, we love Straightness Training by Marijke de Jong.

Check out this video for great ideas for teaching your horse how to stretch:

I used to let my mare that was partially blind wander around loose in the barn.

Everything she could have used to get herself into trouble was put away, and the doors were closed, of course.

But I learned a lot about her, and she gained a lot of confidence, by having the freedom to explore and problem solve on her own.

Just like learning a new language by passively listening to the radio, you will learn things about your horse that you didn’t know, and probably couldn’t explain, but they become part of your intuition and gut feelings.

Learn How to Give Your Horse Massages

Similarly to learning new things about your horse by trying out new experiences with them, learning how to give your horse a massage will strengthen your bond, and give you a deeper understanding of their body.

This is the first of a four-part series on how to give your horse a massage:

Strengthen Your Core and Back

Okay – you knew we couldn’t leave this one out. While this tends to match up with typical new year’s resolutions, we cannot overemphasis the importance of working on your core muscles.

As you know, riding requires you to be able to perform isometric movements of our arms and legs – inside leg at the girth, outside leg behind the girth, right hand back, left hand forward.

Having a strong, yet flexible core, is the key to making that happen gracefully.

We love this beginner ab workout from Balance and Lift to get started.

Start an Equine Emergency Fund

This only applies if you don’t already have one.

How much you need in your emergency fund depends on how old your horse is, any previous known issues, and how much you and your family are willing to spend.

Minor injuries can cost as little as a couple hundred dollars, but surgeries and severe injuries could require several thousand.

Now is a good time to talk to your family about how much they’re comfortable spending on your horse, and budget to put at least 10% of your budget away every month.

Schedule a Photo Shoot With Your Horse

I can’t tell you how many important horses I’ve had in my life that I have little or no pictures of!

It’s down-right disgraceful.

With Spring around the corner, find a local photographer and schedule a photo shoot with you and your horse.

There are a few things I have no shame in spending a lot of money on – and photographers are one of them.

I have never looked back at any photo shoots I’ve paid for and thought that they were money wasted.

Even if a big, professional photographer isn’t in your budget, find a local high schooler, or a friend or family member who happens to be good with a camera and ask them for a favor – one which you’ll pay them back for in cookies or wine.

Keep a Riding Journal

I used to do this when I ran a polo club. It helped me keep track of all of my horses and how well they performed for each of my customers.

If one pair clashed, I would make a note of it and place each with better partners.

Or if a rider noticed something I hadn’t (for example if the horse felt stiff that day), I would make a note of it.

It’s so easy to ride once or twice a week for years and never really notice or appreciate the progress that you’ve made.

Stone by stone the mountain is moved.

Continue Your Equine Education

Obviously this is a big deal for us.

Your equine education should be never-ending.

There are always more books, more masters, more trainers, and more horses to learn from.

And knowing more only makes you a better rider, equestrian and horse owner.

We love Marijke de Jong’s Straightness Training, EasyHorseTraining.com, and EquestrianCoach.com for home training.

There are a number of books that we think have been crucial to our understanding and success as equestrians and we are currently working on putting together a library of recommended readings.

Be sure to sign up for our newsletter so we can let you know when it’s complete!