May 8th and 15th

6/8/11
We had an awful flat lesson that was originaly planned to be a half hour but turned into an hour. Carino was quite tense and not pushing into the bridle. I was very frustrated and we spent the whole hour just getting him to somewhat decent quality work. Our dressage hasnt felt like it has completly got back to where it was before that lesson. We have a flat lesson coming up and I might sign him up for a training ride to try to get these random new kinks gone.

6/15/11
We had a xc school with Erin on Kai, Sarah on Riff and Jenn on Coz. Carino was very good through out the whole school and totatly enjoying himself and in xc mode. We only had two refusals at jumps and they were novice fences, but when I re-presented him to them they were no issue. That day was the first day he didn't refuse a bank up or down with me, however the down bank is still a big question for him and he makes a big effort and lunges off. So we walked down a billion times until it was boring and he just stepped off. We galloped through and up out of the water over a bank with no problem at all but jumping into the water off a bank became a problem. Eventually Erin got on him and got him in the bank, I got on Riff and got the feel of dropping into the bank on a horse who just steps down. And then I got back on Carino and he had no issues going off the bank into the water. Jumping off banks into water is just something I am going to have to do over and over until he becomes comfortable with it like all the other questions. However, jumping off a bank into water really isnt a beginner novice question...