The other day I was reading back in my training journal. I was in a bit of a rut and I realized how important my journal really is and what it brings me. I have accomplished more in horse training in the past 8 years, thanks to the use of my journal, than in the 25 years before that.
I used to have a \’diary\’ in which I wrote about my training, but it wasn\’t helping me. My training journal became a very effective training tool when I changed how I was using it. Here is a little blurb based upon January 9th 2017, ten months ago. It shows why I like using my journal. You will understand why I recommend it to all my clients.
Why writing down your goals is so important
The short term goal I wrote down in my journal in January this year was \’cantering on the long reins over one long side of the arena\’.
![\"_traininglogbook](\"https://hippologic.files.wordpress.com/2017/11/traininglogbook-hippologic-sandra-poppema.jpg\")
My pitfall is -and maybe you do this too- is that I have a tendency to move the criteria of my goals all the time. The more progress I make, the more I \’stretch\’ my goal. I keep adding tiny details to it when I almost accomplished it.
The result is that I never feel \’successful\’ because I keep changing (adding to) my goal. Sounds familiar?
This doesn\’t set me up for success, at all! I feel like a failure because I can never reach my goal. It is like the horizon: you can always see it, but never reach it.
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Pitfall #1 in horse training: people feel like a failure and give up.
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Success tip #1 Write. It. Down.
Is important to set your destination (not be the \’horizon\’) and divide it into smaller, achievable steps. It is important to describe it in detail. In other words: set clear criteria that you can measure. Suddenly it will be clear when you can check off your goal!
Write it down! That is so important! You won\’t remember, you will add things to it if you don\’t write it down. Believe me, I am doing this for 8 years and I never been so effective in my training!
I teach my clients this all the time and I see how much it helps them to look back at their goals from three weeks earlier. Then they see that they did make lots of progress and they start celebrating and patting themselves on the back and feel good! It\’s awesome to see when that happens.
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Write down your goal and criteria for that goal before you start training!
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Quote from my training journal:
\”When I practised long reins last Friday, Kyra cantered along one side of the arena! I didn\’t realize how awesome this was. Instead I caught myself thinking: \’This is not enough. She has to canter more collected.\’ I also caught myself thinking: \’She tried to get off the rail. I still haven\’t reached my goal.\’
Then I stopped myself and thought: \’This was not my short term goal: collected, and in a straight line and…, and… and…\’
My goal was: Cantering along one long side of the track. Well, mission accomplished! We can do this now! Yeey us!
It was weird to realize that I reached my goal! Indeed, it was not yet a whole track in canter, but I did reach an important step towards that bigger goal!\”
Success tip #2: Celebrate!
When I read back in my training journal I realized that cantering on the long reins on a straight line had been a struggle for us for over a year! So I decided I could use a little celebration to motivated me to keep going.
In order to celebrate I made a video and shared my success with my best friend, I dedicated a blog post on it and I shared it with my accountability partner. I got lots of praise and checked off my goal with a big green check mark in my journal! Wow, that felt good!
Time for the next step
My next (short term) goal is to work on \’a collected canter along one side of the arena\’ so I don\’t have to run along. I will be satisfied with one stride, then two and so on, until be can do one long side of the arena. That is what I wrote in my training plan.
Another goal is to do this at the other long side of the arena (context shift), a separate goal is the other lead in canter and so on. Until everything comes together in a collected canter for minutes and including exercises as a circle.
Be specific!
Writing goals down before you start is so important. The more specific you are the better. I tell myself that the criteria I didn\’t wrote down or added later don\’t count as criterion to celebrate!
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Make it a habit to write your goals down first!
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By working on this one goal (\’catering on the long reins\’) I provided many smaller, short term, goals for myself. That is what I like best about training: one thing leads to another.
Success tip #3: Keep track
Another important thing is that helps me succeed in my training is to keep track of my accomplishments in my journal. I do this by making videos and pictures of our accomplished goals. I tend to forget what our starting point was, which is very human. My videos and photo albums with our accomplished goals are very tangible and keep track of our journey: Kyra, from feral filly to success story.
![\"Training](\"https://hippologic.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/training_journal_horse_training_hippologic.jpg\")
The feeling of accomplishment is MUCH bigger and more satisfying when you see where you really came from (your starting point) than when you only look at your latest achievement, which is always only a small part of the total of your bigger accomplishments.
When I am frustrated that things aren\’t going as fast as I wish I have to remind myself that Kyra was a real wild horse and the first horse I started under saddle with positive reinforcement. I have to remind myself that I emigrated halfway the process and that this influenced our flow.
When I am frustrated the best thing is to take a look at my training logbooks, videos and photos of all our accomplished goals in order to feel better. When I do this I become always are very eager to go to the barn immediately and work on our next (tiny) goal.
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It\'s always the tiny goal that leads you to your biggest achievements!
- Sandra Poppema
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Read more about using a training journal successfully:
![\"_Kyra_en_ik_hippologic\"](\"https://hippologic.files.wordpress.com/2016/02/kyra_en_ik_hippologic.jpg\")
Sandra Poppema, B.Sc.
My mission is to improve horse-human relationships by educating equestrians about ethical and horse friendly training. I offer coaching to empower you to train your horse in a 100% animal friendly way that empowers both you and your horse.
Such a useful post!!
Do you also keep track of the lessons you’ve had that might have helped you towards your goal? Let’s say you had a teacher who gave you a very useful tip towards your goal, do you also write that down?
Hi Bernadette, thank you for your uplifting words.
I write my goals down, then I write down what I am doing and what the results are. I I get stuck I read back what I’ve done and talk to my accountability partner, instructor and anybody else who can help me get unstuck. I keep track how I got myself unstuck too.
If I hear useful tips or have light bulb moments I definitely write them down too! Even when I see other people have light bulb moments in clinics! In this way you train yourself to think out of the box and get more ideas every time.
Do you use a training journal already? What is your most useful insight you got from it?
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