Lesson on 11/24

I had my first and only November lesson yesterday. I wasn't looking forward to it because I only rode about 6 times since my (maybe only) October lesson. It went ok, but Bob might have been going easy on me.
We worked on:
1) Moving hips. Bob says my upper body stays pretty still, but I hold my back too stiff and that's why sometimes there's air between my butt and the saddle during the canter. And it's not leaning back, but making my lower back like a spring that makes it stay in the saddle. I tried riding without stirrups, and he said not to hang on like an Indian (don't wrap my legs around and cling). A practice for moving hips only (not legs or upper body) is to put a book on the edge of a table and push it onto the table with hips only. Bob said to think of that when I'm riding. He also said to practice by putting my hand on my hip and feeling it move - that I hold it totally still which means Mercury can't reach forward and makes me behind the motion in the trot and canter which makes it hard for him to balance. This is the same as the legs swinging exercise - when his left shoulder goes forward, I squeeze with my right leg to make his step longer.
2) Bending. We worked on "voltes" and serpentines and bending Mercury BEFORE we start the turn. Mercury "cuts corners" by not bending and moving his body like a plank around the corner.
3) Not spooking at the stupid door that we have been past about 10,000 times. We tried a bunch of different things for this. Ignoring; pushing him past fast; using my leg and whip like another support wall; going past it over and over. This is just stupid. Bob says sometimes he thinks the horses are just being assholes; sometimes they're not paying attention; sometimes they spook themselves once and then just get in a vicious cycle. He said he had a horse that spooked for ten years in the other corner. Every time.
4) Feelings. He says I have to stop analyzing and start feeling. Some things I seem to be getting better at, but he said to think about work, tell a story, sing a song; keep my brain preoccupied so I can ride. He said to think about it like training myself to feel instead of think.
5) Mercury's teeth need floating. Bob is going to check them and try to do it himself. That explains the head shaking when I put on the bridle, the riding with his head in the air, and the bending his head to the right that he's been doing.
6) It's my responsibility to set everything up and keep it consistent. Mercury doesn't know any better, so he just does exactly what I ask him to do. I have to bend him, and keep him between my legs, and keep his head down. We talked about using the martingale as an aid, not THE tool, and how I'll need to start riding him without it to make sure he is learning to use his own neck, not to lean on it.
7) Mercury's progress. Bob says he is a willing, just untrained horse. And I was thinking about how last year, every time we cantered, he'd race around like a maniac and then he couldn't trot normally afterwards. So he has made some progress. And he does seem to be catching onto the head down thing. He is just LAZY, lazy, LAZY.
8) Half-halt warning before I ask for changes. More half-halts to keep him moving properly.
I think that was about it. I am hoping December I will get regular lessons again, if work will slow down. Jan-March are going to be busy too, but they should not be as crazy busy as November was. Because I need to get moving to be ready to show beginner novice starting in the spring with NWEC. Then I think the next shows I'll go to won't be until July/Aug/Sept at Lincoln Creek. I'm not going to Happ's this year because they don't allow dogs and I don't have the money to board two of them all weekend.
Bob also said Mercury could probably go training level but not preliminary, because prelim really requires pushing off with the back legs and he doesn't think Mercury's legs are strong enough. I'm going to take that as an indirect hint that I, one day, will be able to ride Prelim, even though right now I still feel all over the place. Bob says he thinks that's because I'm feeling better, so I can feel everything that's wrong, it just isn't all fixed yet.
I'm going to have a hard time losing for a few years at low levels though. BN and Novice have TONS of riders, and we'd have to be a lot better than we are now to be in the ribbons. I liked winning stuff last summer.

I chose Mercury over the puppies

It became clear really quickly after Kevin moved out that I couldn't actually do it all. "All" consists of working (especially with two big cases in), riding Mercury, going to the gym, and taking care of the animal family. After angst and deliberation and a lot of tears and stress, the puppies are going to new homes and my life is going to be lonely and easier.

I didn't have a lesson this weekend, but when I was riding today I started to make a list of accomplishments and things to work on.

Accomplishments in the last year:
Legs don't swing as much
Body not tilted as far forward (i.e. sitting more upright)
Body doesn't pendulum when change gaits
Smoother transitions for both of us (the canter down to trot has improved; trot to canter today needed work; trot/walk has improved)
Hands are more still, though not still enough
Mercury is more on the bit and moving more forward
I have really increased my awareness of my body - I can't always correct it, but I can feel a lot more things that are wrong. And I FEEL them, not know them.
I can also feel Mercury better - I can feel better how to move him and how he is moving.

Things to work on - macro level:
Sitting trot
Still hands
Jumping (everything)
Holding things together for longer