Full work! And releasing a braced jaw.

Charlie was a bit lazy this week, but he was basically floating around John's arena like a dreamboat.  We did some spiral circles, leg yields, forward/back at trot and canter, and trot and canter lengthenings.  Overall, he felt great.  His trot to canter transitions were very prompt and smooth - eliciting a couple "yes"es from John - but our down transitions still need some work.  The lengthenings feel really rough - like we are just plunging forward instead of getting all the power from the hind end, but there is definitely a difference between the forward and back.
My homework for this week is to work on a soft inside hand and an outside hand half halt when Charlie starts to brace his jaw against me.  The purpose of it is just to get him to loosen and react, instead of riding around and around in a circle with Charlie's jaw braced unchanging.
I'm really pleased with the prompt canter transitions.  John told me to put my outside leg back during the lengthenings and I asked why and he said Charlie likes to just bend instead of actually lengthening, so this helps prevent that - also my inside leg gets tired from the nagging so I need something stronger.
John said we can do full work now, serpentines and everything, and that 45 minutes is probably about the right amount to be riding him.  Next week we should finally jump again.  Hooray!!

Almost back to full work

We started riding a bit with draw reins, and had to skip one week with John due to some horrible weather (flooding, followed by lightning).  John had texted me and told me not to ride with the draw reins too tight, so I showed him about how I ride with them and he said that was good.  They're just to encourage Charlie to use his back muscles and try to decrease the amount of time we need to get his back muscles built back up.
Judith and Ric got a couple videos of Charlie, and I think he looks really good.  She said she thought he looked really good at first, but then got tired, and she felt he didn't look as put together as last year.
We worked on getting him engaged through his hind leg.  We did some spiral circles, but only down to 12 meters and back out.  Then we did just a bit of leg yield.
The main thing was getting him round, and then asking him to go forward.
John said NO canter lengthening yet so that he isn't putting a lot of weight on that back leg.
We also worked on a bit of counter bend, especially to the left, where I pulled my hand back to my thigh and then kept it there.  After that, I lifted my right hand (going to the right) and then pulled it back.  It was to get Charlie to stop tilting his head and instead to bend through his neck.
John thinks we'll be ready to jump in the first or second week of January.
I also had a horrible clipper job this year, but I did exactly the same thing as last year.  John said my blades were probably dull, and on top of that, Charlie was probably the dirtiest and most dandruffy he's been after a few months of not being ridden and that dulls the blades.  I might also have not been cleaning them off enough during the clipping.  Or it could have been user error…
It was a great lesson.  I'm really excited about getting back into it because I feel much more balanced and I feel like the break was a bit of an opportunity to break some bad habits.
John also said that at Wilco I can rent a truck that sprays out the lime (and yes, I should put lime on the pastures), and that it only takes him 4 hours to do his whole place with the truck.  He suggested I send a soil sample to WSU and they can tell me what the soil needs.
The other instruction was when I give the aid using my spur, to make sure I am wrapping my leg down and around Charlie, and not lifting my heel to use it.

Charlie rides (with John) again!

Today was our first lesson with John since the fall at the end of August.  Charlie was awesome there, but there was hysteria all around when we left.  I put Calo in the grass and Angel in the small turn out, and that was not acceptable to either of them.  John said that they'll get used to it, but that I can help by separating Charlie and Calo every once in a while just so they know they go back together.  He said it is worst the first time, but that is why people usually end up with three horses.
He said that Charlie looks consistent whether on a straight line or on a circle, so to  keep working this week and he can probably go back to full work next week.  What I can work on this week is a few circles - no more than 3, and then back to straight line work.  I can also change his gaits inside the gait (bigger trot, smaller trot), and I should work on using my outside leg (left leg) when we are going to the right to do haunches in for about twenty seconds to start trying to strengthen that weak inside right leg.
John also thought that Charlie might have done the initial injury to his leg earlier in the season, then something about the fall (or the twisting and running afterwards) finally snapped it the rest of the way.
He said that because the skin got stretched out, that's why the leg looks just a bit bigger than the other one.  He said, if we need to, we can sweat it down, but it might go down on its own once Charlie is back to work.
His plan is to do some intensive work with Charlie in draw reins to accelerate the process; he doesn't think it should limit our ability to go to Rebecca or compete this year (getting his back muscles built back up).
His other suggestion was the same as last time - don't let Charlie get away with ignoring the aid (like he started to do the last two days).  He gets the aid, and if he ignores it, a big smack with the stick, then the aid again.  We're going to try to break that bad habit.
Peaches may be interested in using Charlie for her C3 rating.  I hope she does; it would be perfect timing for trying to go up to prelim at the end of the season.