2019 Year in Review

2019 - what to say about this year? I always get my hopes up about a new year and then my plans don't always align with what life throws at me.  2019 was a year of rebuilding and moving forward, after our crappy 2016-2017 and tentative "things might be ok" year in 2018.

In March, we spent 2 weeks in Hawaii and it was fantastic.  It was a big trip for us to celebrate our 20th anniversary (May 2019) and to celebrate the hubby's recovery from cancer in 2016.  Maui has kind of ruined every other beach vacation location - Cuba, the DR, Mexico?  Pffft. I'd rather save up and go to Maui.    We'll see if we ever get back there - the cost and the logistics of a trip like that are hard with the little farm of creatures that I seem to be collecting.

An attempt at an artsy photo.  West Maui

Then, also in March, I sprained my ankle.  Or so I thought. Turns out it was actually fractured.  Which explained why it hurt like hell for months. Ahem. Anyhoo, the lesson here is to trust your gut that something more is wrong and insist on an x-ray.

I spent a lot of time watching the horses from the window.  Fred and Copper had fun playing.

March through June were pretty quiet and low key, as I couldn't do much. I volunteered on the board for small show club and that slowly fell apart as no one would pull their weight. I resigned in September from that club and do not regret it one bit!

In June, I took Fred to a schooling show, but my leg wasn't up for the task. 

September was a bit melancholy - I had been pondering what to do with Spencer - retire him, sell him...?  A solution presented itself with a therapeutic riding center falling in love with him. He went to live there in September and is doing ok, by all reports I've been getting. I miss him a lot, but he is helping people that need it, so that makes it a bit easier.

Farewell,  for now.

In October, I got a new cat! Archie was about 7 months old when we got him and he is fitting in well.  He is super affectionate and playful and maybe a little bitey (!) and I'm so glad I got him.  Does anyone know the # of cats that make you a crazy cat lady? Asking for a friend... 

3+1 = numb legs... lol

Fred also had a rider up and was backed in October.  Things haven't progressed to far in his under saddle training due to life, but I'm hoping to pick up where we left off over the winter.

October was also the month of the new (used) truck and many, many purchases, including paying for a stud fee to breed my friend's mare!!!!!!!!!!!!!

November rolled around and I went to Disneyworld for a week with my Mom and cousin. We had fun, but the place was PACKED with people, so that made things a bit tough. I enjoyed a lot of snacks, bought silly hats and got to see a lot of giraffes, so that sort of made up for it.

December is usually pretty quiet in my world. Mostly because it is dark and cold and we are all just trying to survive the weather and the holidays. 

Snow and cold make for pretty sunrises

 Christmas is almost here, so I'm listening to my odd playlist and wrapping presents. I have to work over the holidays (not Xmas day and Boxing Day tho), but that is ok, since I had 2 big trips this year. 

eclectic Christmas playlist

I also take some time to start planning for the new year, without putting a lot of pressure on myself to drastically change things.  I have to say, I'm kind of excited for what 2020 will bring. My hubby and I are finally starting to feel like we have our lives back and my anxiety is slowly fading away.  I feel more like myself than I have since 2016 and that in itself is a very good thing.

Q4 Plans

I feel like I'm doing pretty well with plans and goals for the latter half of this year.  I'm aiming for consistency right now and hoping to actually have some achievable items on the books for 2020.  

There is always room for improvement and as well all know, life can throw a wrench in the works, but I'm feeling a bit more motivated and focused than I did in the first half of the year.  

heh heh so true...

Horses Q4

Fred:

• As the weather allows, work 2-3 times/week - lunging, ground work, poles, riding (!)
• Maintain weight going into winter and develop some topline

Copper:

• Try to keep his weight down and keep him healthy

Barn/property Q4

• Sort winter/summer horse stuff in bins so I can actually find things when needed
• Stretch goal - sort gear by horse as well!
• Clean and sell tack I'm not using
• Set up new shelves in barn
• Clean windows, tack room, etc for winter
• Get trough heater going, since winter is definitely coming...

Personal Q4

• No Zero Days plan – test for Q4 and implement fully in 2020.  Thanks to L Williams again for sharing this – it has really helped me!
  • draft 2020 goals
• Continue saving to vet fund - set aside $50/pay to start
• Consistent exercise of some sort
• Continue working on ideas to help anxiety (kinda vague, I know!)
• Plan meals and try to limit eating out
• Savings for shows and some house repairs in 2020
• Meet 2019 goal of 40 books read (low hanging fruit)
• Volunteer somewhere - but not for a horse show/club - done and ongoing! This is sort of cheating, since I started volunteering for the therapeutic riding centre where Spencer now lives before I finished this post.

Work Q4

• Read work-related news articles in French (fun topics like organized crime, terrorism, etc.  lol)

Q3 Goals update

Today is my birthday as well as the end of Q3, so this post is actually timely.  ;-)

44 more candles today...

I didn't really set many goals this year so I was mostly winging it.  In July, I did a post where I outlined some plans for the rest of year.  I thought I'd do a little review and see if I can get things on track for Q4.  I think I'm going to try the "no zero days" concept for goals/life that L Williams posted about the other day. It really resonated with me.

Horses Q3
Fred:

You has fud?  Copper, probably.

• as my ankle allows, work 3-4 times/week - lunging, ground work, poles, maybe working towards being backed - I've just started working with him the past 2 weeks
• continue to get weight on him and develop some topline - Success! Lots and lots of hay is starting to work!
• find basic feed program that works without all kinds of supplements - Success! Hay, one type of grain and some oil seems to be doing the trick right now.
• ponder plans for 2020 for showing, etc. - Success?  Plans have been pondered, nothing decided.
• take baseline height/weight for kicks - Success - long story short, Fred is huge and likely still growing

Spencer: think of a solution - done - he is on trial at a therapeutic riding program. And the latest update is that he is amazing and didn't need any special training to do all the games and activities they do with the riders.  

Copper: kept his weight down and keep him healthy - No bueno.  He is a mega chonker.  Need to remedy this.

Barn/property Q3

• Try and maintain fences, lawns and gardens as best as possible with gimpy ankle.  I'm taking some pressure off myself on this one.  I'm just going to do the best I can as I feel able.   I'll give myself a moderate pass on this one - having a major drought for most of the summer prevented stuff from growing!
• do not purchase any new horse products - like mane conditioner, halters, brushes, combs, or even tack (unless urgently needed - like flyspray or medical items) - This is a pass if you don't count horse blankets and technically I won't have them in my grubby paws until Q4.
• try and use up current supply of "stuff" - this one is a bit vague and hard to measure. LOL
• sort winter/summer stuff in bins so I can actually find things when needed - Fail - I need to bump this to Q4
• clean and sell tack I'm not using - Success - I sold 3 saddles and bunch of other stuff. More needs to go though.

Personal Q3

• bank appt (this is low hanging fruit - it will give me something to check off!) - Done
• Start saving for a vet fund set aside $50/pay to start - Done
• dr's appt's (3 in July! yuck) to get back on track - Done - low hanging fruit.  Got the go-ahead to start walking/doing more with my ankle. 
• find some sort of exercise that is easy on the ankle -  FAIL.  Ugh.  Maybe Q4 will not be a wash here.
• work on ideas to help anxiety (kinda vague, I know!) - Moderate success here
• plan meals and try to limit eating out - Meh.  More to be done here for sure.

Work Q3

• listen to the radio in French - Fail - need to reassess this one
• read work-related news articles in French (fun topics like organized crime, terrorism, etc.  lol) - Success - we've had some big stories in the news lately, so lots of coverage to read in French. 

2019 Mid-way check in

Wow - this year is blowing by!  It seemed to drag on this winter, then we went to Hawaii (woot!) and then I hurt my ankle and well...you guys know the rest.

I've been pretty lax about horse plans and goals since my injury.  I'm still waiting to see a sports med doc in mid July so I'll hopefully know more about what I can expect pain/healing wise moving forward.

via GIPHY

I feel sort of lucky that I didn't have a lot of time, money and effort put into horse plans that the injury would've forced me to cancel.   I'm not a big goal-setter type person, but I do need a bit of a roadmap to follow, or else I find myself navel gazing when winter rolls around, wondering what I did with my life.

via GIPHY

So, let's just move on past the first half of the year and focus on the time left in 2019 to still pull this year out of the fire and have a few things accomplished:

Horses
Fred: 

• as my ankle allows, work 3-4 times/week - lunging, ground work, poles, maybe working towards being backed
• continue to get weight on him and develop some topline
• find basic feed program that works without all kinds of supplements
• ponder plans for 2020 for showing, etc.
• take baseline height/weight for kicks

Spencer: this is a tough one.  What to do with an 18yo gelding that I can't ride due to my injury?  He is 100% sound and willing and able to ride. Do I try and sell him, find someone to lease him?  I'm hoping this will just work itself out and I won't have to worry about it too much.  I need a teenager to move in next door that wants to ride!  lol

Copper: kept his weight down and keep him healthy

Barn/property

Try and maintain fences, lawns and gardens as best as possible with gimpy ankle.  I'm taking some pressure off myself on this one.  I'm just going to do the best I can as I feel able.

Clean up barn and organize horse stuff.  Actually, I think I'm going to start a horse product shopping ban!  What???  I'm going to use what I have and only buy something if needed - like medical items or fly spray!  *Gulp*  We'll see how long this lasts!

Q3

• do not purchase any new horse products - like mane conditioner, halters, brushes, combs, or even tack (unless urgently needed - like flyspray or medical items)
• try and use up current supply of "stuff"
• sort winter/summer stuff in bins so I can actually find things when needed
• clean and sell tack I'm not using 

Q4 

• be able to find winter blankets that I put away in the summer
• ditto for the heating element for the water trough!
• store summer stuff in an organized manner so I can find it next spring

Personal

Sort out finances: I'm not going into detail here, but in 2016 my hubby was very, very sick and now he is ok.  Our finances took a big hit and we are now finally close to getting things sorted out a bit.

Q3-Q4

• bank appt (this is low hanging fruit - it will give me something to check off!)
• Start saving for a vet fund - 6 animals (3 horses, 2 cats, 1 dog) even when healthy, rack up significant vet bills for maintenance, shots, etc.  I'd like to have a bit of money set aside for next year so the bill isn't as much of a shock.
• set aside $50/pay to start

Heh heh - just replace twinkies with Popeye's!

Health - I need to get this back on track.  My weight and fitness have been up and down a lot lately, but 2016 and now this injury really caused things to tank.  I need to make this a priority.

Q3 - Q4

• dr's appt's (3 in July! yuck) to get back on track
• find some sort of exercise that is easy on the ankle - I'm thinking cycling?  Normally my barn chores and riding help with fitness, but since that is very limited, well, we need a plan B
• work on ideas to help anxiety (kinda vague, I know!)
• plan meals and try to limit eating out (Popeye's, I lurve you sooo much)

Work - yeah, I'm adding this here.  I need to work on my French language skills for work.  My level used to be really good, but it has also tanked the past few years.   Pure laziness on my part.  Not sure what these goals will look like, but for starters:

Q3-Q4

• listen to the radio in French
• read work-related news articles in French (fun topics like organized crime, terrorism, etc.  lol)

I think that is quite a list for now! I'm feeling a bit refreshed looking forward to the rest of the year.  I decided not to show Fred at any AQHA shows this year, so I didn't have the added pressure of trying to fit him up with my ankle not getting the rest it needs to heal.  Now that I've made that decision, I feel like I have some room to actually accomplish a few things this year.

How are your goals/plans going for this year?  Have you ever considered a shopping ban of some sort?   Learned/maintained second language skills?