Uncharted dressage territory

I was a little worried about today's lesson with Mike. Due to that rascal work, who appears waaayyyy too often in this blog, Willig had basically a week off. (He went on a trail ride Sunday because of the heat, but that was it because I had a half day trial on Friday.) I was sure he was going to be a complete doofus, but instead, he pulled out all the stops to make Mike say "wow".
First:
We worked on my heels. Mike found a "magic button" - if I go into my jump seat - whoosh - my leg goes into the proper position. So I ride around like that for a while, then post a few, then jump seat again, post a few. ...
I am going to stretch my heels at home more and also when I think about really cranking my toe up to touch my shin (which hurts, by the way, not a pleasant stretch up the back of my calf, but pain in the shin, so I think they're too tight and I need to do lots of off-stirrup-stretching), my heel actually drops a tiny amount.
Next:
We worked on getting his trot moving. Thinking about a trot that works to the point of lengthening, when there is that moment of suspension and hang. That's our new working trot. And holy cow - it's enormous. It flings me out of the saddle. Mike suggested one day I'll sit it and I laughed and laughed.
He can warm up, but then he needs to WORK IT. And his stumbling? Him being lazy. Once he was moving, he quit stumbling. So that explains that.
Third:
Then Mike took away the stirrups. Because it was only 87 out. Ha. Anyway - then we did a lot of work without stirrups. I told Mike that I actually like cantering without them, and he looked nervous, but that turned out ok.
So at the sitting trot - this is where miracle number 1 happened. If I sit on him like he is a trampoline - no more working on softening my belly so I'm not a brick bouncing on top of the saddle, but now using pressure so that the moment when the trot bounces me up, I think about pushing down into him with my seat, like when your knees are bent and you're about to jump up on the trampoline - and WOW! He was like "What would you like me to do?" It was wild.
And then we worked on controlling the trot - making him go up and down (like a merry-go-round horse) instead of faster. This was a little trickier - we went over the trot poles so I could feel the "lift" when he lifts his legs to go up, and then I'd try to slow him down and lift him up as we approached the poles and in between. We'd get a couple great steps, and then go back to him plunging forward onto his forehand. This one is a little harder to describe and I need to work at it a bit more. I can feel it when it's right, but can't quite describe yet what I'm doing.
Fourth:
Then we worked on the canter without stirrups and the same lift in the trot - it's on the "up" motion (if you're on a swingset, at the canter, it's when your seat hits what would be the top of the swing) you ask for both a half halt/up and a squeeze with your leg (like a cat kneading) and he starts to lift up into his back. It's pretty amazing. The same thing happens in the trot too, but it's much harder to feel and do - maybe because the steps are so much faster. So for both up and down transitions, I slow him down by lifting him up, and then another miracle happened - I FELT the difference between flopping forward into the trot and riding the trot the same way I was just riding the canter. I don't know why this hasn't clicked for me before, but I was like "OH! Duh."
Fifth:
Finally, miracle #3. Actually, sidebar. When I picked up my stirrups after all the stirrupless work - whoosh. Perfect leg. And it FELT perfect too, instead of the weird toes in, heel *pushing* down, strained feel.
We were trotting down the long line, and Mike explained renvers and travers. (I have read about them in books, but never done them.) Because our bend to the inside with the left has improved mildly (enough that Mike can say something other than "bend him to the inside" when we're going to the left) but not quite enough, Mike had me ride a renvers when my right hand was on the inside. This felt wacky - like a twisty pretzel. It made my tongue stick out I was concentrating so hard. And then, just as I felt triumphant - Mike had us look in the mirror. With a total concentrating twisted up leg and hand, Willig was .... perfectly straight. And miracle #3 happened where something in my body clicked and I was like "oh. Ride BOTH sides of the horse." I have never felt it like that before. It was amazing.
So it was, overall, one of those spectacular lessons that makes me so glad that I ride and totally look forward to the next ride and *swear* that work is not going to keep slowing me down. It was so fun!
Next lesson Mike says we'll start working on the slight twisty canter off the long side, in towards the center, and back to the long side, to start working on our lateral 1st level movements. YAY!