Do you want to learn how to create a bullet journal as an equestrian? Have you ever heard of Bullet Journaling? It has picked up steam in the last several years as a way of journaling “free form” rather than simply writing a journal log every day. You can choose what types of things you want to journal about and then you create the pages depending on your preferences.
Since you can use a bullet journal for your every day life, I figured why not start using it for my horse life? Hence this introduction to Equestrian Bullet Journaling was born.
Some people like to write out weekly or monthly schedules, others just like lists. There are mood trackers, meal planners, savings goals, budgeting sheets, habit trackers, and much much more. It’s also a way to let your creativity and artist ability flow because you’re the one that chooses how a page looks and what you want to write about on it. You can draw, color and/or write. Bullet Journaling using fun colors, designs and fonts to make your pages more interesting.
Bullet journals are great for:
- Keeping to-do lists (even when you have multiple, like barn, work, and home)
- People who enjoy using pen and paper (me too!)
- Habit Tracking
- Goal Setting
- People who like pretty paper, drawing, journaling, and/or using different fonts
- Getting more organized
Let me just start by saying that I am not very artistic, but I do find it soothing to draw and color things in, so I decided to try bullet journaling for planning and organizing my life. I have a lot of things swirling through my head every day, from ideas for my website, what I need to do when I get home, riding exercises I should try, to-do lists, recipes and much much more. There are endless options for what you can journal about so just think of anything you want to write down or keep track of and think of a fun way to make it colorful or artistic.
Check out my Bullet Journaling Pinterest Board for more bullet journaling ideas.
This is an introductory post about Equestrian Bullet Journaling, so there will be more posts about bullet journaling as I find more unique and interesting things to journal about for horse people. In this post, take a look at my lesson tracking, horse show schedule, monthly horse expenses, yearly goals, and savings page of my bullet journal! You can do all of these yourself and amend them to fit your goals and artistic nature.
First up is a lesson tracking page. This is where you can record what you learned and what you plan to work on based on a lesson or clinic you attended. If you have a few minutes to jot down your ideas right after your ride, you won’t have that “oh crap, what was she saying about my inside leg?” moment. Even if you participate in a clinic that is filmed, it is still a great idea to write down what you remember and what your goals are based on the information you just obtained. Then you can reference your notes and the video if you need to.
You could take this a step further and draw pictures of what you did in your journal as well. It is especially helpful to draw out exercises if you were given something new for dressage or jumping – then you won’t forget what you just learned!
Next is an example of a horse show schedule. These are all around the Denver metro area and this is a fairly basic list. You could definitely spruce it up a bit if you want to draw more, put them on an actual drawn calendar, or write down important notes and info for each show.
Decide what horse shows you are planning on attending this year and write them all down so you can have a list that’s easy to refer back to when you are planning other parts of your year.
The next page is my equine monthly expenses. I’ve talked about how important it is to keep to a budget (especially when money is very tight) so keeping track of how much you spend on your horse is also super important. There are a few different ways you could lay this out, but I like spreadsheets, so I chose a format like a spreadsheet.
Related Post: How to Create a Budget
When creating and trying to stick to a budget, it is very helpful to write down your goal, and at the end of the month do the math to determine if you met your goal. In this example, you can see that I exceeded my goal by $183.72. This is most likely due to getting Spring vaccinations, which are not an every month expense.
You can use the budget tracker for your everyday personal budget as well as for your equine budget. It’s important to keep track of your spending so you can better control it and keep a handle on your finances.
This page is for keeping track of your riding goals. These are my 2019 yearly riding goals, but you could easily write down your goals at any point in the year or even the goals for a certain month. Goal tracking isn’t just for riding as well. You could include personal goals, or even just your equine goals in general. Goals can include caring for your horse in a certain way, getting your horse moved to your home, exercising a certain number of times per week to keep yourself in shape, or anything else you want to accomplish. Putting pen to paper keeps a record of your goals and makes you more accountable.
The last page in my introduction to equine bullet journaling is a savings tracker. I could have drawn those horse shoes, but let me be honest when I say they would have looked really weird. So I bought this stamp from Amazon to make it easier and prettier. In this savings tracker, each horse shoe is $50 saved, so I color in and put the date on each one as I save $50 toward my new saddle. As you get closer to your goal, you get to see how far you’ve come, and it is motivation to reach your goal more quickly.
Savings trackers make saving money a lot more fun! You get to color in or complete a page as you save up for something. A savings tracker could be made for anything, such as: a new saddle, bridle, horse show fees, an emergency fund, a new horse, a truck, etc. Just decide what you are saving for and decide how you want your savings tracker laid out. Some people like graphs or charts, while others like this example where you color in shapes as your save.
Have you started your bullet journal yet? For my bullet journaling, I use the Leuchtturm1917 in the 5×8 size as well as a wide variety of the colorful Staedtler Triplus Fineliner pens. The Leuchtturm1917 dotted journal makes it easy to draw straight lines when I need to as well as keep my writing a consistent size. There are also numbered pages, an elastic band to keep it shut, and ribbon bookmarks to keep your important pages easy to access. They also make lined journals or completely blank journals so you can pick what style you prefer. You don’t have to use this specific brand – any journal will do. I do suggest getting something with durable covers so it holds up to everyday use.
Now go get started journaling, coloring and keeping track of your life! Oh, and don’t forget to go for a ride today.
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