Day 2 with Major Beale

I had an incredible workout today with Major Beale; so much of a workout that even my socks got sweaty.  Thank goodness that I've been increasing my workouts, although I still have a long way to go.
The high point of the lesson was the collected canter. 
The low point was my brain's incredible thickness in understanding an exercise that was a circle haunches in to a circle haunches out (basically turn on the forehand, turn on the haunches, although I might not even have that right).
We started with a lot more transitions and obtaining the feeling of Charlie being ready to go up a gait at any moment.  Even though I thought I'd been increasing my work at home from just plodding around in a lot of circles, I am not doing nearly as many transitions (or difficult transitions) as we did during the clinic.  I think that part of this is I'm so afraid that I'll do it wrong and make it worse, that I stick with what I'm comfortable with.
Charlie was once again an absolute champ, trying hard to figure out what I was asking him to do so I could do it.  I was a frustrating communicator today.
Then we worked on the correct bend - I am still riding Charlie bent to the right, so going to the right he is overbent (and bulging out through his left shoulder) and going to the left, he isn't bent at all.  So to work on this, we did some counterbend going to the right (bent left), and then going to the left, tried to just get him bending around my leg.  We also worked again on the right lead canter first standing up, shifting over, and then trying to feel that saddle under my right hip.  These were hard exercises because my body's feeling needs to readjust - I feel like we are bent all wild and my shoulders are going the wrong way, respectively, with those exercises, when in fact, he still isn't anywhere near correct.
Then we started working on what led to the high and low points.  I haven't seen anyone ride those particular exercises before, so it was also a good lesson on how I learn, in that it's a lot easier for me to mimic something I've seen, than just listen to it.  And it was new, and it was HARD - riding on a circle and then doing haunches in or out on the circle but staying on the circle is hard enough!!  My brain got totally clogged up trying to think of everything, although perhaps that is also part of the lesson - I don't think I should need to think of everything - instead of sticking my tongue out from concentration, I should just feel what the correct movement is.
Regardless, struggling through that led to some simply brilliant collected canter.  Charlie could leap up into it straight from the walk, and I could slow him down until it felt like he was almost cantering in place.  It was so amazing.  And I got the "poof" - the collection - all by myself!  So it IS possible!  Another year of working this hard and maybe we will be able to do second level.
I had no idea Charlie could move like that, or that I could get a horse to move like that (of course, Charlie has already been trained to do all of this, and it is also amazing he has known all along how to do it, and I have just never asked him to do it), so that was really cool.  Of course, it came at the expense of a soaking wet body, which was disgusting, but that is just more motivation to keep cracking the whip at the gym.
I also got my copy of Jeremy's book, which I can't wait to read and study up on before he is back in August.
My goal is to have my back flatter and to be enough more to the right in my seat so that he can focus on more work like that collected canter.