Calo improvement!

Yesterday I had the best ride so far on Calo, even though I had been struggling with a llama head and tiny steps up until the moment John walked in.
I had four practical questions for John:  which vest to get (2 point), what harrow to get (not the ones I had flagged but one with multiple circles), when can Charlie canter (one lap at a time, once he's up to 15 minutes of trot), and is it ok to use small circles to slow Calo down when he's rushing (yes, or shoulder in).
We worked on a more prompt canter transition, and John said that Calo's ability to get into the trot from the canter without sprawling (for more than a couple steps) showed he was improving.
We did some stuff that was hard for me, but it was nice that Calo was being so cooperative.  The canter work focused on getting him connected from the inside leg (keep it next to the girth!) to the outside hand (use it when he is drifting out!).
For bending, I have to be ready to put on my inside leg, because Calo is going to naturally fall to the inside.  But then I have to RELAX that inside hand.  I can ride Calo between my inside leg and outside hand and I don't have to hang on the inside hand and make my arm tired.  I just use it to bend him, and then soften it again.
We started with some nice trot, which really only needed a bit of inside bend.  Then we did a bit of leg yield, which Calo did quite nicely, stepping under himself.  So then we spent the majority of the lesson working on the canter, especially the right lead canter.
We put Calo on a circle, bent him to the inside, and then I pushed his shoulders in by moving my hands to the inside (to the right, for a right circle), while keeping my inside leg on.  This made a slightly shoulder in on the circle.  From there, I'd ask for the canter by sitting up, and putting both legs on (inside leg forward, outside leg back, inside hip pushing down).  Once he was going, we'd work on inside bend again.
John said that last year we made a lot of improvements in show jumping, but what we need to focus on next is the canter aid - that my aids are kind of weak but Charlie knows them so he knows what I'm asking.  He thinks if I can sharpen them (and sharpen Charlie's response) it will help with the dressage scores.  He also said that feeling how to ride from inside leg to outside hand will help me with Charlie, who likes to do half the movement to see if I'll keep asking, and help me learn that I can let go of that inside hand and still get the movement.
It was, as always, a great lesson - incredibly educational and I felt like we made even more progress.

John rode Calo today

In today's lesson, we started by doing a 10 meter circle, then keeping the bend and switching to a 20 meter circle going the other direction.  We did this a few times each way, with a gradual change to the correct bend on the 20 meter circle.
After we wrestled our way through some canter, John suggested that he ride him.
He made Calo look beautiful, but they were both pretty sweaty at the end.  He had to use lots of hand to soften Calo, but then he switched from being an inverted U to over bent with his chin on his own chest.
John said that for the right lead canter, it would be best to have him do shoulder-in, and then ask for the canter from shoulder-in.  Otherwise, he swings his haunches really far in, which throws his shoulders out, which makes him even more unbalanced than he already would be, which makes him throw his head up and rush around for a while before he can round and try to canter like a normal horse.
Peaches was watching and she said that Calo probably isn't strong enough to hold much of the trot or canter over his top line, especially after so many years.  Peaches also suggested that he needs the hands, but with enough leg to keep him moving up into his hand, and then making sure to give forward, like pushing him into the bit, once he softens and gives to it.
It was really cool to watch John ride him; he got Calo to step underneath himself and to soften and come over his top line, but it took him a lot of work.  He said not to get frustrated, that Calo is a frustrating horse to ride because he ignores a lot of the aids, but just to keep asking until Calo responds. Peaches also suggested that it will probably take a few months until he gets strong enough to really be able to hold any of the top line work.

Calo's third lesson with John

I forgot to blog his second one, but it was basically progress on his first lesson.  He got better and better each day until last Sunday, when he just conked out and we had a huge battle each ride for the next three days, until my right arm got so tired I just lunged him and then took a day off waiting to ride with John.
Then during today's lesson, he was basically back to the progression-Calo.
John said I need to work on inside leg, but it is hard because he tries to move to the outside instead of bending.  Then I need to do squeeze and release (sometimes pulling hard and open) instead of just a steady pull, to try to break the "lock" in his neck and get him to bend.
John said Calo is fairly unbalanced in the canter, so it throws him off to bend and have someone one him (why he can canter just fine on the lunge line).  He also spent about the first 15 minutes just being anxious, so we just did trot stuff to soothe him so that then he could work.
John said it is ok to let him lunge forward, then just to regroup him and try to make him bend again - not to try to make him keep moving in frame.  He also said that I needed to control the tempo of the trot more.
I asked him whether he should stay, and he said yes:  he doesn't eat much, it won't matter if I miss a day because I'm busy, and more hours in the saddle is always good.  So I'll talk to J&M about him staying longer.
It was a good lesson, but I was annoyed with Calo for not being anywhere as naughty as he was the last four rides.  I want him to be as bad with John so I learn the tools for dealing with it at home.
We'll see how much more I learned from this lesson, and how much we can progress until next Tuesday's lesson.