Total, unabashed relief at having a lesson

It has been a few weeks since I've had a lesson, and I was going into serious lesson withdrawal.  My list of questions went down one side and onto the other, and I was sure in the three weeks off I had ruined Charlie because of his crazy eye and cross tie antics.  I had not.
John patiently went through my list of questions.
First, he said that Charlie is gaining weight, and yes, it is in his neck.  (And yes, his coat is shiny and glossy and he has a sparkle in his eye, but the glossy coat is from the corn oil.)  They gain easiest in their neck, and then their butt, and then they will start to convert it to muscle on the top line and in his leg.  John said he could see a bit of weight in his butt rounding out too, but he wasn't worried that it hadn't instantly made him a beautiful top line.  He said this is just three weeks on this diet, and so if he still doesn't have a top line in four more weeks, then he can come to Caber for a few weeks of work, but John thinks that I am riding him properly and he just needed enough fat to convert to muscle before we can start to see him building the muscle up.
His theory is Charlie probably was a bit sick from the surgery, and it just took a few months to catch up with him, and now it is going to take a few months to turn it around.  He was not worried that Charlie wouldn't be able to handle Rebecca (in more than 8 weeks).
BUT, John did say to go ahead and cut out the rice bran pellets when I'm done with the bag, since they are about 50% fat, and that is basically what the senior active is.  He said Charlie doesn't need both.  And he said to be very careful with the water in his grain.  He said if Charlie doesn't eat all of it, especially when it is warm, it ferments very quickly (within a couple hours), so do not forget it in his stall and go to work or leave it overnight.
He doesn't think is it the senior, but the amino acids in the body builder that gave Charlie his crazy eye.
Second, for the little nicks on his right hind foot, John said there is a pastern ring he can wear.  He said bell boots have the potential to cause more problems, because they get wet, rub sores, etc.
Third, for his show tack, they have little loops I can buy for his flash, and John will try some of his bits over the next few lessons so I don't have to buy 30 bits.  He said that we might not need a different bit, because it was to get Charlie off from lugging on my hand, which the new diet might do anyway.
Fourth, he said if Charlie can only go 30 minutes, it is probably because that is how much sugar he has, then he hits the wall, and where a horse with fat could pull on the fat to keep going, Charlie doesn't have enough fat right now.  He said he'll probably be ok for a show, because I only ride him 6 minutes, and so long as I time my warm up to not be over 20 minutes, Charlie should be ok.  I said I was worried he would be wild at the show, and John said that was fine, I could ride it now, and anyway, it would be preferable to Charlie lugging around and us trying to get him jazzed up for 30 minutes in the warm up.
Then we rode, and Charlie just floated around like he loved working.  At the end, John gave him a big pat and a kiss.
We did some 20 meter circles and then 10 meter circles and then into the canter back to a 20 meter circle.  Then we did a bunch of leg yields, and some canter, across the diagonal, then on the rail back to trot.  Then some 10 meter half circles at H or M back to the rail and then pick up the canter.  Then some 3 loop serpentines but only for half the arena (which took me like five tries to figure out how to get the shapes right).
The big takeaway is inside leg is at the girth UNTIL I want to use it to push his haunches out, then it slides back.  John showed me at the girth (which I have a bit of an open knee) and then behind the girth to push his haunches out.  He said if I use behind the girth as my go aid, Charlie can't know the difference between go and move your haunches over.  He said "don't make it too complicated" which is exactly what I was doing with a prior lesson where he had me keep my outside leg on the girth but use my inside leg back.  I was trying to do that all the time instead of just doing it when I needed to push his haunches out.
For the leg yield, it is to bend him (but I always forget which way - the way we are going?) and THEN ask for the leg yield and THEN use the outside hand to keep his shoulder from popping out.  And it is outside hand, not inside, no matter how much I want to use inside.
On the circles, it was some more work on bending him but then using inside leg to outside hand - thinking outside hand like a side rein pushed against his withers - to keep him round.
Charlie got quite sweaty, but was nice and forward the whole time, and it was really nice that John could see him moving so well, that I didn't ruin him, and that we are still progressing.  John feels like once we get the weight back on, Charlie is really going to be going well.
But sadly, I just went to check which California event has the P 3 day, and it isn't there anymore.  :(  I was going to try to double up the T 3 day this year so the second one in CA would be the practice run for the P 3 day two years from now.
I feel like about a million pounds is off my shoulders now that I can check in with John and didn't have to keep worrying I was making a mistake with Charlie.  Which is an interesting life observation, since that's how I feel about work too...