First jump lesson of the year

During the dark, dreary days of winter, Willig was mostly jump-free. I can only think of two times I jumped him (though there could have been a couple other efforts that I forgot) - once inside over a simple vertical (2'), which he did consistently with no hitches, which led me to take him outside last weekend, where he was a total jerk-face and tried to buck me off several times. I already had a lesson for January and a lesson for February with Shannon scheduled - as much as I can squeeze in because of a big vacation in March and a little too much going on, so his misbehavior and my massive, massive disappointment and frustration, was well timed to talk with Shannon at the first lesson.
We chatted a bit, then she set up two jumps (two of the plastic blocks that become 2' when vertical) with ground lines on either side, the "usual" distance apart (which I need to look up from a prior lesson). So I rode him in a circle, first over just one, then over both, then she converted one from a cross rail to a vertical, then the other, then one turned into an oxer; and of course, both directions.
While it wasn't perfection, it was pretty smooth, and kind of the "same old same old" instructions - stop jumping ahead & just wait for him; keep my reins shorter and my hands farther up his neck; sit deep and up when approaching the fence; and if he's on the wrong lead, that's his own problem - it's a circle and I'm looking, so he needs to figure out how to land.
Then, against my desire, we went outside, where Shannon set up exactly the same exercise, and we did it outside. Again, without a hitch. Towards the end I got a bit tired, and it was a bit uglier than inside, but it wasn't a big deal.
So the take-aways:
- Don't push him where I want him to be instead of where he is. Ride him inside - if he's good - end with a few minutes outside of the same thing, after he's tired. Build his confidence by successfully doing little challenges instead of making him stressed.
- Shannon pointed out that we're better to the left, because my outside hand is my right hand (the dominant one). Interestingly, that's started to show up cantering also, so I must be doing something with my right hand going to the right (or my body) but I have no idea what.
- Do NOT let him get away with his ping-pong head. He doesn't get to decide where to look, and even when we're just standing there or I'm leading him, I need to be consistent with "pay attention to me and watch scary things out of the corner of your eye".
Overall, it was a nice lesson, a good confidence builder for both of us, and gave me the structure that I need to start working him over fences again.
Another post (I'm so tired, all the time), I'll talk about my "plan", which is to put him up for sale while concurrently working him much harder and more consistently over fences, to see if he can make the same kind of progress there that he did with the dressage. (We don't think it's the fences or the jumping, just the stimuli outside.) Also, Shannon said I can ride her horse to be reminded what it's like to jump where it isn't a terrifying sweat-fest.