Keeping a riding journal isa great way to see your improvements within a certain time frame. You can keep a riding journal online, or in a notebook. Next thing you'd want to know is, what to put in your entry. The list is endless! A few basics are how long you rode for, what you did (obviously), things you thought went good, and things you need to work on. Tell about how you and the horse were separately, and how good you worked together. Did you lean too much forward in your dressage? Did your horse misbehave? Be sure to double check and make sure whether it was really the horses fault, or if your riding affected the horses performance.
A few other things you could mention are short term and long term goals. An example of a short term goal is: get better at leg yielding. An example of a long term goal is: enter horse show, for whatever discipline you ride. Set a time by which you would like these goals to be accomplished. See if you can accomplish the goals in the time you set, and when you've accomplished them, make new ones! It's always good to have goals, whether you want to have a show career, or you're just riding for a hobby.
Some extra things you could add are, the weather (it does affect your riding) and the tack you wore. It makes a huge difference whether you ride in a snaffle or a gag bit, or whether you ride bareback or with a saddle. I like riding bareback (or with the bareback pad), for it helps my balance, and it really helps me feel the horse. I can also sit the trot better. If you're not used to riding bareback much, then it would be good to try every once in a while and write how it goes in the training journal. I barely ever ride without the bareback, Robin is just too slippery!
I've recently started a riding journal of my own, and I really like having it. It's a good way to see how far along you've come in your riding from the very first page, to wherever you're at. First you'll of course need a notebook. Decorate it however, but that's not the important part. When starting an entry, you can chose to head it with many things. You can out a date, the number of the entry, a title for it, like in a blog, or anything else you can think of. I personally put the date, the day, and the time I started riding.
A few other things you could mention are short term and long term goals. An example of a short term goal is: get better at leg yielding. An example of a long term goal is: enter horse show, for whatever discipline you ride. Set a time by which you would like these goals to be accomplished. See if you can accomplish the goals in the time you set, and when you've accomplished them, make new ones! It's always good to have goals, whether you want to have a show career, or you're just riding for a hobby.
Some extra things you could add are, the weather (it does affect your riding) and the tack you wore. It makes a huge difference whether you ride in a snaffle or a gag bit, or whether you ride bareback or with a saddle. I like riding bareback (or with the bareback pad), for it helps my balance, and it really helps me feel the horse. I can also sit the trot better. If you're not used to riding bareback much, then it would be good to try every once in a while and write how it goes in the training journal. I barely ever ride without the bareback, Robin is just too slippery!
I've recently started a riding journal of my own, and I really like having it. It's a good way to see how far along you've come in your riding from the very first page, to wherever you're at. First you'll of course need a notebook. Decorate it however, but that's not the important part. When starting an entry, you can chose to head it with many things. You can out a date, the number of the entry, a title for it, like in a blog, or anything else you can think of. I personally put the date, the day, and the time I started riding.
