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.