1/13 - Willig Lesson - Lunge, Ground Poles, and Prednisolone

We started today's lesson intending to have Bob watch me lunge Willig to see why he still doesn't listen and doesn't move forward. Since I couldn't get him to do either (in a spectacularly failing way), Bob came out to "get him to pay attention" and then Willig started to act up. We punched new holes in his cavesson, because it has been twisting and the outside rubs near his eye.
Then Bob set up a little jump (less than 2 feet) and lunged him over it a few times.
Willig did that pretty well.
Then I got on, and Bob set out four ground poles (the raised ones) where we spectacularly smashed around. Alice and Debbie were watching, and I got frustrated and started crying.
I asked Bob to do it, so I could watch to see what he did differently. While Willig tapped one every once in a while, he did not smash through them like with me.
I didn't learn what Bob was trying to teach me, but I did learn by watching Bob. He does his half halts much stronger than I do, and he says it's because he rides with a loose outside rein except for when he's half halting. I ride with constant contact, and a light half halt. So that was pretty interesting.
Bob doesn't think he was worked much over ground poles before. He seemed puzzled by them, but curious and with a good personality about figuring it out.
After Bob walked Willig around a few minutes, he asked him to trot again, and Willig almost bucked him off. It was the hugest buck I've ever seen. I don't know how Bob stayed on.
So then Bob had to ride him, do some trot and walk and canter to make sure he was behaving. He tried to buck again at the canter, but Bob was ready for it.
So I'm frustrated. The hives aren't going away and we have no idea what's causing them. Every time we drop the prednisolone down, they blast back into existence. And two people now have told me the human version makes them all aggressive and agitated, which I think is happening to Willig too.
I feel like every time I work with him, it's just more problems. I know I've progressed a lot from when I started with him a few months ago, but am I progressing fast enough, or am I ruining him in the meantime? It's helpful to see him act up with Bob, because Bob is basically a genius, so no wonder I feel frustrated, but it's a question of why he's acting up. Because I don't know what I'm doing? Because he's testing his boundaries? Because of the prednisolone?
And Mercury is still lame.
Chiropractor comes Tuesday, and I'm calling vet Monday about allergy tests.
So this week I am working on:
Lunge line - no "warm-up" time where I let him look around - he starts working with the first trot. When he ignores me or goes too slow, make the lunge line shorter so I am closer with the whip, and then go after him until he does it properly. Bob showed me what a "proper" trot looks like on the lunge line, so I need to try to remember that.
Riding - more riding, soft hands that are bossy and firm about commands, and keep the impulsion.
We looked at the 1st level tests, and I think Bob can probably ride that starting in Feb/March.