Whether you’re a competition rider or a leisure rider equestrian goal setting can help you get more out of your riding experience. Goals, if created properly, can help to keep you motivated and moving forward with your development.
The key is to create goals that are realistic, but that will also push you to strive to be the very best version of yourself. Getting the balance right is key. If you set your goals too high, then it will probably be counterproductive, as they’ll seem too far beyond your reach. You probably won’t even try because of frustration and overwhelm. On the other hand, goals that are achieved too easily will hold no real value. So it’s important that the goals you pick are the right ones for you and not what someone else thinks you should try to achieve.
Do you know what your riding goals are for the next 12 months?
Why do equestrians need goals?
We all know how time can fly. We rush through our days, which turn into weeks and before we know it months have gone by. If we’re not cognisant about our goals and working to keep them top of mind, we often don’t work on these goals. ‘What you focus on grows’ and if you don’t focus on your goals, they won’t grow.
Creating goals is an effective way for us riders stay on track in all aspects of our lives.
The first step before you start formulating your goals, is to take time to think about what you want to achieve and when you want to achieve these things. It’s often a good idea to have long term (years), medium term (weeks) and short term (days) goals.
1. Reflect on the past year
Look back on the past 12 months. What has worked well for you? What didn’t work? Did you accomplish something that you were proud of? What do you think needs to be improved? What were your big lessons? Answering these questions is a great way to check in with where you are right now. With this knowledge you can go onto develop your next set of goals.
2. Choose the right goals for you
Your goals should be a reflection on why you ride and they should fit with your dreams. If your dream is to do an competitive endurance ride. Then setting a goal to show jump a 1 meter course isn’t the best suited. You’ll be more motivated to achieve your goals if they are reflective of what you want. Similarly is you ride purely for fun, then you wouldn’t want to set a goal by which striving to achieve it would make your miserable.
3. Base your goals on your abilities
Take a look at your riding performance. Try to be as objective as possible when considering your strengths, your current ability, performance level and what areas need attention! Keep in mind that higher goals—those that take you to the edge of your comfort zone—lead to better performance. (Remember the adage “Nothing ventured, nothing gained”?).
4. Keep goals specific and measurable
“I want to do well at my next competition” may sound like a worthwhile objective to strive for. Yet “well” is a broad, general term that’s subject to interpretation rather than objective evaluation. Instead, aim for something clearer and easier to assess: “At my next event, I want to finish the cross-country phase within the time allowed,” or “In my next schooling session, I want to ride forward through the corners.” You’ll know immediately if you achieve these goals.
Make S.M.A.R.T. goals.
One great strategy to help you accomplish your goals is to make them “S.M.A.R.T.” This stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timebound. Here are some examples:
– Specific: Effective goals are precise. Specific goals help you really focus on what you need to achieve. A goal of ” “improve my jumping” is rather very vague and ambiguous. Making this more specific, would be “jump a double clear at 80cm”
– Measurable: In order to know if we’ve achieved a goal we need a way to measure them. Measurable goals could be improving your dressage %, jumping a bigger course, riding cross country within the time. These goals allow us to assess our progress. Bear in mind dressage scores, for example, have a degree of subjectivity built into them, so an average taken over 3 events might be more representative.
– Attainable: Setting goals that are attainable counteracts the risk of ending up feeling demoralised when you don’t achieve them. Ask yourself if your goal is achievable given the resources that you have and if it excites you enough to be motivated to complete it. Goals need to be attainable at a push. If your horse is already struggling to jump a metre, it’s questionable whether he’ll be able to jump 1 meter 30 within the year, but you could set a goal of confidently jumping a course of 1m 15, if this is within you and your horses ability.
– Relevant: Is the goal relevant to what you want to accomplish? Why are you setting the goal that you’re setting? If you’re a dressage rider, then it wouldn’t necessarily be relevant to set a goal to do with jumping. Make sure the goal is in alignment with your personal values. Will striving for this goal be in conflict with those values?
–Timebound: For goals to be effective they should have time-related parameters built into them. This means that you know how to stay on track within a designated time frame. We all know that life with horses is unpredictable and subject to change, so give yourself the flexibility to adjust your timeline if you need to. Having a time frame will help you keep motivation up.
6. Positively frame the goal
Your brain acts on everything it hears you say and also isn’t great on negative, in fact, the subconscious mind doesn’t process negatives. “Don’t look down” becomes “Look down”. So a negative statement tends to become a self-fulfilling prophecy. It’s important to frame the goals with positive language, so your brain focuses on what you do want, rather than what you don’t want.
7. Break them down
So you are able to focus on your next steps, rather than becoming overwhelmed with the big goal, it’s important to break goals down. Your main goal is your Outcome goal. This is then broken down into smaller milestones. The things you need to achieve in order to achieve your Outcome goal. These milestones are your Performance goals. Then each Performance goal is divided into further smaller steps, which are the Process goals.
8. Review goals regularly to ensure you’re on track
“What gets measured, gets managed”
Peter Drucker
Regularly checking in on your goals and measuring where you are in the process, is great for maintaining motivation and ultimately helping you achieve your goals.
9. Celebrate your successes
Typically we are pretty bad at celebrating our successes. We quickly move on to the next task or goal and forget about what we’ve just achieved. We need to celebrate even our small successes to motivate up and give us a little hit of dopamine (the happy hormone!). Acknowledging your accomplishments can really help to build your confidence and commitment toward achieving your goals.
Do you set goals? Have you tried to break them down?