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!!