Excellent dressage lesson on Charlie

After some wrangling with my schedule, I finally got a dressage lesson with Mike on Charlie. It was very illuminating and left me grinning and really looking forward to my next ride on him (until today, when I watched Shannon in a lesson and realized I'm a totally sucky rider and wondered why I even try).
First, a tip for George: when he's being heavy with his head, use my back to lean back, so it's my back muscles and the lever action working on him, not my flabby arms which will never win a tug of war with his heavy head. And when George squeals at me (which he rarely does) he is telling me a dirty word and he shouldn't get away with it.
Now, for Charlie. The take away was I'm not riding him hard enough. After 45 minutes with Mike I was soaking wet with sweat.
- Hold my hands higher (to lift his head) and have more contact. I ride him very very light, long, and low, and the contact isn't heavy, but definitely a presence.
- Use more leg - ask him to move until he's on the edge of breaking to the next gait. This is a little hard for me to judge, but as I get used to riding him, I'll know where this feeling is.
- The walk should have his hind legs stepping over his front foot steps by about 6-8". It's not how far down his head is (at his knees) that matters. He should feel like he's walking like Marilyn Monroe - with a swinging, rolling walk.
- A good ride feels like it's on the edge - don't be afraid to push it to the limit - that's where the 8's and 9's are. But be aware of what Charlie can do (his canter and walk can be 8's - his trot is more realistically a 7) - but if he's having a spastic day, it's better to play it a bit safer, like letting him go a bit long, low, but steady.
- My posture needs to be more elegant - sitting up tall with my heels down. Heels lifting up say to the judge that I'm nagging the horse.
- I need to ride him lifting into the canter - the elegant posture (and I saw Shannon do it today) collects him up and gets his hind legs underneath him. (I'm not sure how.)
- When I come down the centerline to halt, think piaffe the last few strides to get a nice, underneath, square, quiet halt.
- Also keep him bent "left" which makes him straight. (Something is really crooked in my right hip and it's messing everyone up.)
- Think canter to halt to get a nice down transition to trot, but also keep the forward momentum going.
- Every five to ten steps do a big kick to remind him his job is to go forward. No nagging every stride.
- It is ok to collect for a few strides to prepare for a transition. It is better to have a nice transition than to do a sloppy one exactly at the right place (for BN).
- Be done with what I'm going to mess with by the time I come around the corner. This was for the free walk to medium walk to trot, and the point was, as I finish the free walk, collect the reins up and get it back together BEFORE I start the corner to medium walk, to make us look neat and polished.
It was a great lesson. It made me feel like I could actually ride.