Lowering the bar on New Year’s resolutions

Why set lofty, unattainable goals that you’re going to fail at and then feel guilty about? Carrot Top suggests a more appealing strategy.

From Carrot Top:

It is a truth universally acknowledged that New Year’s resolutions, made with the best intentions, must flounder two weeks into January.

Consult any motivational coach, book or web article and it will outline the importance of realistically achievable goals. I think this principal needs to be applied to our 2014 resolutions with radical force. Set your tasks low, complete them with ease, and use the confidence boost to go onto bigger and brighter things in 2015.

It’s like putting things you’ve already done on your to do list so you can immediately cross them off and feel better about yourself.

So forget ‘develop and stick to an exercise program’ and ‘qualify for such-and-such dressage level’, here are my resolutions for 2014. Please share yours in the comments below, and remember: aim low; avoid disappointment.

Pat more ponies in 2014

Who doesn’t love pony cuddles? Sad, soulless Nazis, that’s who. I think I should up my pony patting game in the new year. My little gelding is always up for a scratch but on some nights I just chuck him his dinner and leave. I need to invest in daily smooching time, for our mutual benefit.

Buy lots of books that I will never read despite my best intentions in 2014

I have the book lover’s curse of owning more books and magazines that I will never have time to read until I am old and bed-ridden (or criminal and in jail I suppose). However I already know that this isn’t coming to stop me from getting my hands on Modern Eventing with Phillip Dutton by Phillip Dutton, A Long Rein by Mary Hanna, and Riders by Jilly Cooper.

Watch more horse shows in 2014

Many skills can be improved by imitating the masters, and with so much competition footage being available online, it’s just lazy not to settle down in front some Grand Prix Show Jumping or a few Kur tests on a weekly basis.

Ignore other responsibilities to spend more time with my horses in 2014

This one should be a doozy. I can’t count the number of times I’ve set aside an afternoon for chores only to get bored after one load of washing and toddle out to the paddock again. Who needs clean clothes anyway, they only get dirty again.

Go Riding.

Carrot Top is a photo shy Australian who likes horses, riding of all disciplines, and colourful mis-matched socks. She and her mother each own 1 ½ horses (one cheeky young gelding, one wise older mare and another mare who frequently disproves the “crazy chestnut mare” stereotype). When Carrot Top’s family, friends, colleagues, strangers she meets on buses etc. have all tired of hearing about her horses, she turns to her blog Little Bay Horse. She was a horse-less horse-mad girl all through childhood, got her first horse at age 21 and has been making up for lost time ever since.