Jumping a behemoth

We started today over a stack of three cavaletti, and then John put us straight to work going through the grid.  He then alternated the grid with the corner, from both directions.  If I looked up and over the corner AND counted strides, I could get the right distance (mostly), but if I looked down at it or forgot to count, we'd come in at an odd distance.
John had me put the reins in one hand and the whip in the other, and then smack Charlie and cluck at the same time through the grid twice.  After that, Charlie got a LOT more respectful for the cluck or the whip.  (Although he gave little "screw you" bucks through the grid.  Little ones.)
Then John made the oxer on the end of the grid ginormous.  I asked him at the end how big and he said "not that big" but I think it was over 4'.  (Which probably means it was like 2'9".  Ha ha.)
Charlie jumped like a champ, but my position was pretty bad over the huge grid.  I had to look ahead and watch the back rail from the first corner, or else we drifted.
It was awesome.  We were in the air SO LONG and it was so easy - even with terrible form - to get up and over Charlie's back because there was so much time in the air.  Charlie is so great.

Then we ran through my questions:
- 4 poles on the ground 9' apart, why did Charlie goof it up?  Even if he kicked the one on the end, it was no more than 1' off.  John said the purpose of the exercise is to make it easy for Charlie, and so yes, he "should" be able to adjust that 1', but that's not the point of the exercise.  He said pile some dirt around the base so they don't move so easy.
- 10 meter circle; we spent a lot of time on how I wanted a perfect circle but the measurement wasn't right.  John said to just walk to half way and then go up and down.  He said it is better to work off one cone (in the center) and not make the four.
- Charlie's weight; John said he will tell me if Charlie gets too fat, and if he is cleaning up all his hay, give him more to eat.  I increased it.  He said when Charlie goes into hard work with him (in Dec/Jan), he'll lose 150 pounds that week.  He said Charlie needs the weight to put the muscle on top and that his neck is already starting to fill out a little.  I increased it to 1 1/2 scoops strategy am & pm; 3 flakes Timothy am & pm; and he gets 2 flakes local pm.
- I asked him why my left leg sticks out all the time.  He said it is probably coming from my hip.  He said try to think of clamping the dollar bill - not under my knee, but on the part of my calf that connects to the knee.  He said you can ride without your knees touching (and made me do it at the trot, then in a two point), and in fact, it kind of prevents you from pivoting around your knee when you jump because when you close your leg, it closes the whole leg instead of just the knee.

Charlie got quite sweaty.  I haven't clipped him yet, but hope to tomorrow or over Thanksgiving.