New Years resolutions

I'm back from my holiday, the horses survived without me for a few days, and i survived a few days away from the farm and all the stress that goes with it.

The place i go every year with my family is picturesque, remote and to me perfect. With its beautiful beaches, rocky shores, forested and bush covered peninsula's and windswept hills to me it is the one place i can unwind, relax and be free, in order to completely recharge my batteries. each year my family gets together, from all corners of the country is to go there and relax, camp for two weeks and basically go feral. Just good old camping, no showering or fancy utilities, its just swimming, diving, climbing, fishing and lying in the sun, followed by good wholesome camp food.

After the last few months of stress, heartache, and lack of sleep, i finally feel back to full mental strength again, and ready to take on the world. Unfortunately i decided to take up running again (i havnt done any since i finished school four years ago), the result being that after four days of early morning runs on the beach, followed by swiming in the surf, today i can barely walk.

Anyway back on subject. This holiday gave me time to think about this years goals and resolutions. Also, it gave me time to read a fantastic book, that relates very well to wild horses.

My father in a rare moment of sentimentality, gave me a book that he'd read as a child, and still remembers 60 years, and hundreds of books later. He found it, in a second hand store, its tattered and worn, and inside shows the names of every person, who had borrowed it from a school library in the past. It's called Elephant Bill. If you find it, read it. It said something that made me think "to be able to understand the nature of the domestic animal, you must study the behaviour and constitution of the wild animal first".....and i think this holds true to horses as well as elephants and probably all animals.

You can never see the true normal behaviour of an animal and understand how it learns, if all you see is the animal in a completely artificial environment, a riding school, competition stable etc. anywhere they are inhibited from being normal social animals and a herd lifestyle, then your not seeing the true behaviour a horse.

Now for New Years resolutions and goals

• Break in both wild horses, Matai and Fern to ride before September
• make the terrible decision of which one to sell and which one to keep at the end of the year
• Get around to filling out the paper work and registering all 3 of my wild horses
• Try to be better at putting up monthly photographic updates on the wild horse's progress
• Get at least Matai to a couple of competitions before the end of the year
• actually learn to use my stopwatch while riding xcountry on my eventing horse
• Actually use my diary to organise and remember dates for more than just the month of January
• Try to get my entry forms for horse shows in on time more often than not...
• as always try to continue to improve my horsemanship and riding and progress forward

OK so someone please remind when i stray from these new resolutions and i will strive to achieve them this year.