Jonathan Elliott clinic - day 1

In brief:
Willig was full of himself. He was finding things to spook at in the indoor arena after I lunged him, and when I jerked on his face, he reared so high I actually thought I was going to slide down his back. It's the most impressive rear I've ever ridden (actually, I was a lot more worried he was going to fall over backwards on top of me).
We started on show jumping fences - several lines that varied. What I describe as Willig rushing is not such a big deal to Jonathan - he wanted to fix me (I ride with my hands down at the withers instead of out up on his neck, which feels really bizarre to me) and because I anticipate him running on the other side, I clench my hands and then he fights me as we approach and go over. What I did with the "rushing" was make a trot circle on the other side of fences with a nice bend from my inside leg before walking.
This accomplishes an unprioritized goal, which is to keep my head up. I never look down at the fence anymore because we're zooming around, and so my posture is, I think, better. I am doing better letting him push me up instead of overjumping, even though the good lord knows I look pretty pitiful over fences nowadays.
However, when we were almost done with the show jumps, Willig went bananas and started refusing this one fence (that he already had jumped just fine several times) and then we tried. And tried. And tried. And TRIED to jump it. Willig was willing to run over Jonathan instead of jump it. And so then Jonathan said that Willig didn't respect me in the big canter (he jumps just fine - he just won't listen to me), and so I need to do things like bring him down to a trot, then ask him to canter again more controlled. Jonathan thinks he's a good jumper, he just needs more direction from me.
Sigh.
What worked was if I looked at my spot - the next fence, a spot I needed to point him at, and "rode the line" instead of trying to ride him over the fences, we worked much better together.
So then, after everyone else had to wait an agonizingly long time for us to make it over the vertical, we went outside into the glorious weather. And Willig did great with some new challenges (jumps on top of "hills" going both ways), until we got to the off bank.
The last clinic (the one I fell off) we did a little bank in the show jumping arena, and it took him a few tries, but he got it. This bank, which seemed to be basically the same size, he didn't get.
I couldn't get him off of it. So once again, we tried. And tried. And tried. And TRIED. This time, Jonathan asked if one of his students could ride Willig (after we followed her, several times, to the edge, which her little pony just stepped off of, and Willig screeched to a halt), and I said "YES". So she took him around a few times, and then, to my horror and relief, he wouldn't jump for her either.
So then ANOTHER clinic rider had to try to lead him off with her horse, and he still wouldn't go, and then finally, he went off. She took him off it a few times, and then I asked if Willig could quit for the day on that. The other riders got to do one more course.
Tomorrow Jonathan wants his student to ride Willig off the bank once more, then he wants me to do it. He said that Willig just needs experience, that when he jumps the fences, he looks great, but he's timid because he's inexperienced. The student described him as something that sounded like "fun".
So, my take home message was:
- Hands up, short reins, but not death grip
- Head up! Look at my line and the next spot and ride him from spot to spot.
- Don't put him in situations where he spooks out sideways, and push him back under me with my leg when he does, instead of trying to move back on top of him.
It was a nice day. The jumps I was thinking looked big are actually quite easy to float over, when Willig jumps them. And since, once again, it's me who's the problem, now I can work on courses and riding lines at home to try to improve that.
Also, we got a sweet trailer parking spot - the weather is so great - I wish I was camping out there.
I brought my book (for work) and watched the end of the group after me and the following group. They both did really similar stuff to us, but some of the riders looked better. Interestingly, that's because it was a Novice/Training group, and then another Beginner Novice group. Unfortunately, I missed watching prelim and training/prelim, but I saw their leftover showjumps which were HUGE.
I'm pretty pooped. I'm kind of burned out and overloaded at work, which means I can't get stuff done at home, which means I can't get in enough riding or exercise. And I've been thinking a lot about Willig and whether he's actually improving with me.