I’m changing up how I plan my 2023 season. Usually I have a ‘big’ end goal and work back from there, I plan out my ideal Plan A rides and have a Plan B for each one spread out over the whole season. This year I still have an overall goal: Complete Estrid’s Novice Qualifications but I’m not aimed at a final ‘big’ ride. I’m also not planning to go to any rides in particular. This year I have selected one ride a month that has a 40km Novice class and if we make it to that, excellent, if not, onto the next one. I’ve also done this with Pleasure rides, so I have a list of one a month fairly close to me and we’ll use them as options rather than targets.
Ideally, I would like to have finished Estrid’s Novice qualifications (3 x 40km) by the end of June. The past few years the ground has been very hard from July to September so I’d like to be able to avoid having to compete then if possible. If the ground is still good then I might do a few extras if budget allows.
I would like to do around 3 pleasure rides with Tissy and also I have a slightly bigger ‘bucket list’ ride in mind, but that all depends on whether I get an entry and how Tissy is doing after this winter. Roo I have aimed at a bit more of a mix of things, obviously continue to bring him back up to his previous strength and fitness and then I’d like to do more cross-country with him and a few early Pleasure rides.
With all that in mind for the first 12 weeks of this year, Estrid and Roo will be trained 3x a week and Tissy will be having 3 months off. Estrid will do one schooling, one pole work and one hack and Roo will start with one pole work, one hill work and one hack.
My biggest decision to make is whether I keep Estrid barefoot for her Novice 40km rides or I put shoes on her. I guess we’ll just see how she goes! Lastly, I need to budget for the whole thing, so I usually work out entry costs against my goals plus fuel and then divide that over Jan – Sept to put away into an account monthly as my pony spending account. Whos know’s what will happen in 2023 but I hope that whatever it throws at us we can stay positive and have fun.
Beth Endurance 