Alright! We are officially out of the holidays, and I have to kick myself in the butt, it’s time to burn of the extra hibernation layer I have managed to build up over the holidays, and start prepping for next show season. I say next but really it’s going to be my first.

I have been working towards showing since I got my first horse Mac, but I have been waiting until everything is ‘perfect’, and since my idea of ‘perfect’ has been evolving over the years, I have never made it to that level, since I keep raising the bar.

Now it’s time to just jump is and get myself and Mac out there, I have procrastinated enough.

So as I don’t have the greatest set up to start riding in the ridiculous weather we’ve been having, how to I start prepping? Well I can’t ride, and can’t really lunge at this moment, so I can start with basic ground work, it’s not much but it’s more then nothing. Then I can start with what I would call ‘non-essentials’ such as grooming, and tail prep etc. If I make grooming a more integral part of my daily routine it won’t seem like an extra that I strain to fit in during show season, it’s just part of my habits.

One big decision I have is which horse to start with, I can train them both at the same time, but I can’t bring both to the show barn at the same time. On the one hand i spent most of last year on Mac, so it’s whether to give him a break, and just do ‘home’ stuff, or to continue the momentum I gained from that time. On the other hand Maggie started off as the centre of attention last year, and then got put on the back burner to leave me more time with Mac, so do I leave Mac on the back burner to try and catch up my training with Maggie?

How do you decide where to start on a project? How do you prioritize? And how do you let yourself try, without being ‘perfect’ first?