Jump lesson with John

We had a mid-morning lesson in our unseasonably warm weather.  Marc Grandia and some of his students (including Triangle) were also at Caber schooling.  We got quite sweaty, even though we were done by 10:30!
It was a good lesson.  To begin with, yesterday when I practiced the dressage test, I noticed that our stretchy circle was much improved (without me actively working on it!).  Charlie's balance is better, so the "ball" that is the center of balance is staying under his shoulders instead of going forward under his nose when he stretches down.  Half way around the first circle, I realized he wasn't racing forward on his forehand like we've been battling.  I also noticed that our canter to trot transition at X - while not perfect - is now a canter to sitting trot transition and not a canter to flying in the air posting trot transition like it was last year.  Those two things made me feel a lot better for about 10 seconds, until my second thought was that maybe we were doing something so much worse than last year that they feel better when they're actually quite worse.  I'll know by next Friday. 
In my lesson with John, he suggested that during the trot warm up, I do some small serpentines, just to get Charlie used to working off of my leg each direction and paying attention.
Our main takeaway from the fences was twofold:
First, use the outside rein to steer him to the fence.  If I hang on it, and we drag around the corner, we don't have enough time to get the "go" back to the fence.
Second, use that "go".  If I have enough forward energy, we can add a short stride or launch, but if I don't have the energy, it is a flat launch that risks a rail.
I could NOT get the lead changes at all, and John said to try once (use outside rein in a half halt) and then just ignore it and focus on the go, during the show jumping part of the test.  This was kind of depressing because I spent a lot of time this winter working on changes, but I haven't done it recently.
Although it was a pretty good ride, I was also then immediately down because I use my big long whip - the non-regulation dressage whip - and I got a lot of my forward "go" from that whip.  This is so I don't lock on with my legs, and I've been working myself off of my legs onto the whip.  But that whip does me NO good in a jump test, when I have my little jump bat.  I have to ask John about that on Wednesday.
It was only a pretty good ride because I felt all discombobulated and jerky, unlike how I felt when we went and rode at Rainbow last weekend.  I think it is nerves, especially with all the people around.
We started with a little cross rail and then a vertical.  Then John went straight to what is hardest for me, a hard right hand circle - an oxer and a vertical, each maybe on a 30 meter circle.  I bombed it several times in a row, with Charlie scooping his legs up to deer leap over the fence while I kept missing the lines, and then John told me to use my outside rein to steer and it all cleared up.
Then we did a few small courses, and the same thing - as long as I kept him forward, especially out of the turns, we did ok, even if he had to deer jump a couple.  It made me really appreciate Charlie - he is definitely the better of the two of us.
John set up a few 3'3" but nothing bigger I don't think.  We also did a couple combinations at an angle - coming in over the first fence and staying on a straight line so the second fence was an angle (or vice versa) - one show jump, one cross country combination like that.
I realized part of why I like John's lessons so much are he lets me make the mistake, tells me what to fix, lets me feel how the fix worked like magic, then explains why the fix works magic.  It cements using the fix in my head so much better than if he told me ahead of time how to ride it because I can feel it working.
I asked him if he'd tell me if I wasn't ready to go training, and he said yes.
I also asked him about the wind puffs and he said when I've given Charlie a hard work out, that night to wrap his legs to help with that.