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If you read our blog about beating the January blues, you’ll know we’re fans of making plans and having things to look forward to. In this week’s blog we caught up with dressage rider and trainer Emma Woolley to see how she is helping riders up and down the country set goals for the year ahead.
Over to Emma from Virtual Riders Target:
I'm very excited to announce the launch of Virtual Riders Target (VRT)! Over the summer a lot of riders that I coach had been left feeling despondent after competitions. I know from personal experience how demotivating it feels to have a bad show and receive negative feedback. What I say to riders in these situations is to figure out what they have learnt and how far they’ve come even if it didn't all go to plan on the day. You must take these learnings and improve for the next competition.
This is just riders who compete, there's a whole world of riding and tons of other activities that you can do with horses. The important thing is that everyone needs to enjoy what they're doing. That feeling of excitement when you wake up knowing that you're going to the stables - you just know it's going to be a great day!
This all comes about through having a good plan of what you want to achieve, whether that's to crack rising trot, clear your head on a nice long hack or jump a 1.30m fence! And most important of all, having great, supportive people around you who really encourage you to be the best you can be, and enjoy horses with you.
So, what is Virtual Riders Target?
Virtual Riders Target has been created to assist riders in goal setting, as well as providing a platform to help like-minded horse riders meet each other and create a positive network of horse fanatics. There are six different targets to choose from, suiting all levels of riders and horse enthusiasts. We know that it's not always just about riding, there's so much more that people love doing with horses such as driving, in-hand work/ showing and vaulting; there are targets covering these areas so everyone can get involved.
You can find out about individual targets, seeing which one suits you best and enter on the Virtual Riders Target website. There is something for beginners to happy hackers and competition riders.
How much does it cost to take part?
Entries cost just £12 per horse and rider combination, and once entered, you have the whole month to complete your target. Entries are kept open well into the month, but regardless of when in the month you entered, anything done from the 1st can count towards your target. You need to be able to prove to us and provide evidence that you've reached your target, for example on the hacking target use a tracking app (such as Huufe) on your phone to show the mileage, or for the training target get a picture of yourself in the lesson with your trainer. It's very easy to download pictures of your evidence on to the Virtual Riders Target website, once received and approved by the VRT team, a beautiful, bespoke medal will be on its way to you!
Our medals are a symbol of efforts and achievements you should be proud of. The VRT medals will be a new, unique design every month.
So far, we've met wonderful riders from different disciplines and aspects of horsemanship and really enjoy following their journeys. There is a Facebook page and Instagram account which you can follow to keep up to date. Of the entrants who have successfully completed their targets, we choose a 'Rider of the Month' to feature on our social media pages and share their story with the other VRT riders. This is proving very popular as it gives you a chance to tell everyone your story, and just how special your horse or pony is. In addition, there is a Facebook group - VRT Community where members can post and get to know each other. There are a lot of riders from different parts of the country including Milton Keynes, Surrey, Essex, Norfolk, Anglesey and Cumbria!
We're busy planning lots of exciting things for 2020 so what are you what are you waiting for? Join a new wave of virtual riding and set your riding targets for the year today, we're looking forward to seeing what you can achieve and welcoming you to the VRT family.
Happy riding, Emma x