Happy happy joy joy dressage lesson

Today Charlie and I had a fabulous dressage lesson. We started out with a suppling exercise - leg yield from the quarter line towards the wall, shift it to a shoulder-in, and then shift the shoulder-in to renvers. We only did renvers counterclockwise (since my right bend is fine and doesn't need any further encouragement). This is extremely hard to do without sitting the trot, and Mike says our bodies kind of fake it, which is why he made me (try to) post it. Then we added a canter at the end of the long side. Mike had a great mental image to help with the clenched up right side, which was to open my rib cage on the right. He had to keep reminding me, but he said that he could see it collapsed, which actually means my left side is the one clomping down heavy (coming straight at a mirror, my left stirrup is longer than the right - he said I also cinch up and clamp on with my right leg). Doing the suppling, plus Charlie and I were clicking, meant we got to move right on to some really nice moving. We did an exaggerated exercise next on a 20 meter circle where I took the reins up about 8 extra inches and then asked Charlie to trot without throwing him away, so that I could feel how he lifted his shoulders up into the trot when I don't flap everything loose. Then we worked on the canter, and did a leg yield type move along the long side, then turned it into a 20 meter circle, then into a 15 and 10. This got Charlie's shoulders really elevated, and I'd think 1-2-3 walk or move out of it. When we trotted after doing this exercise, Charlie was really moving through his hind legs, and so he wasn't perfect in his shoulder "poof" but he definitely had a lot more vitality and energy coming through - he felt lighter in my hands, unbelievably, because he's already delightfully light. It was an elevated light, which makes me sound like a hippie. The big takeaway is that I'm still satisfied with far, far less than what Charlie is capable of, and I don't think to ask for more on my own. He got a little resistant, but after one good smack with the whip, he kind of let out a sigh and was like "fine, I'll work hard too". We were both sweaty by the end and got a break in the rain to go on a really nice walk in the field and a short loop on the trail. This also felt like a eureka ride - I think I'm finally starting to chip away at the wall that we've been at. Most of the corrections I made today were to ride with my back and stomach as my brake or to think "elegant" (long and tall) instead of with my hands. I think you need a) enough impulsion and responsiveness to the aids to get the hind leg coming under, and then b) use your back for your half halts and down transitions instead of your hands to keep the energy from going onto the forehand. I think my problem with a round frame has been not doing those two things consistently. It was a really, really fun ride, and I felt really good about it. One of those beaming, grinning, happy lessons.