April Lessons

April.19th
This lesson was a group xc school with about 4 other horse and rider pairs. It was cold bitter day but luckily the rain held off. Carino came became quite tense when we all had to begin to trot around the fields. He spooked, bolted and hopped especially when other were behind him. So for a good 10 min. I just worked on trying to get him to move forward and relax. He eventually let out a few big snorts and all was good. We began jumping and he was great. Even when he was unsure about a fence he was still forward and willing and jumped everything I asked him to in the front field. We then moved on to the banks and rock cradle that are on the trail on the way to the big field. We were all asked to go up the small bank in a line. It was a very small bank and as we approached he didn't look at it and seemed confident, however the pony in front of us took a look and few weird steps which then caused Carino to think maybe I should do the same. That was a bummer but now was for going down, similar thing happened down but he wasn't as willing. I just waited him out and kept asking and it just took him a min. we did it a few more times and no problem. We jumped the rock cradle and that was no issue. We then went into the big field. He was great over the ditch, tires, barns, barrels and logs. Had some difficulty with the up bank on the first attempt and a small log set on a peak of a hill making appear as a drop. But it only took him one little look or stop and then it wasn't an issue. The best part however was the one thing I was worried about was jumping into water but he did that with no stops! Right over the novice log into the water. It was a little bit of over jump, height and width wise and i got left behind just a tad since I leaned a little to far back in fear he was going to stop. But the fact that he did it made the whole lesson!
April.28th
I had a 1/2 hour private with Erin. It was pretty gross weather out that day so we rode in the indoor. We used counter bend at the trot and canter in order to try to encourage Carino to reach and push for the contact. It really helped us and It was the first time I really got a real and understood the canter Erin was trying to have us achieve. Even if we only got it for a circle at a time those moments were great! The following week I was unable to jump due to bad weather and no jumps being out so I worked and worked on dressage and of course mostly on that canter. I began to use counter bend whenever I felt he wasn't into the contact and it has proven itself to be the best tool for us. Our canter improved dramatically in just a week and I couldn't wait until our next flat lesson to show Erin.