Breathe a little easier

I had to miss both lessons last week because of cold weather (snow, then ice), so I was eager for tonight's lesson.  John took care of Charlie first, and made sure he didn't get too sweaty so he wouldn't get cold on the ride home, so we quit a little early.  We were going to do the corner, but didn't.
I had my list of questions:
- Why does my back round on the far side of the fence?  It used to round all the way, and has gotten flatter and flatter, so this will probably go away.  Right now, I can only think of so much all the way through.
- Why are Area VII points different than national?  Because Area VII doubles champs and national doesn't.
- Why can't I do the 9' poles at home?  He doesn't know because I ride them fine with him.  Stop overriding them maybe.
- Why is Charlie throwing his head up in the transitions?  Because it's cold and he's stiff and to work him hard enough to get him round would make him all sweaty and John didn't want that tonight, it wasn't worth it.
- Why do I some nights have great lengthening and other nights great lateral?  This seemed like a stupid question but actually was a great one because John said the lengthening is how loose Charlie is in the warm up, and the lateral is how even I am.  So if I'm riding crooked, Charlie won't go as well.  I haven't been able to correlate it with how hard Charlie was worked, but it does - with hindsight - have to do with how hard I worked at the gym the day before, I think!

So we started with some warmup, which I like because it helps me think what I should do at home alone.  He had Charle much more round and forward, and had me do more alternating legs (like outside leg, then inside leg, then both legs), with a bit of bend to the outside.  (Which I don't think I'm doing enough at home.)
Then we did just the line of poles, then John made them longer (12' instead of 9') and Charlie didn't care.  Then we did them the other way, same thing.
Then we did them to a vertical that John quite quickly made into that same behemoth 4' thing.  The good news is (I think) we rode it much cleaner.  He said he wasn't going to tell me good because it would go to my head, but "better".  It felt a lot better than last time, when I felt completely uncoordinated up there.
It made my face grimace, but Charlie tackled it like a champ.
The only thing was he absolutely flat out refused to ever land on the left lead.  It was right - right - right.  John said use outside leg on the way in to the fence (when I was trying to land left) but it didn't make a difference.
John said he's probably a bit stiff on that side (the cold), and his right hind just doesn't want to push as much.  He said use that outside leg to remind him to use it, but not to make too big a deal out of it when it's cold and Charlie's going fine.
It was kind of frustrating because my reins kept getting longer over the line of poles, no matter how much I sucked them up after and how hard I tried not to let them slide.

Meg said she gave Manny a spur rub on the left, which is super interesting because I give Charlie spur rubs on the right, and Charlie hates landing on the left lead and Manny hates landing on the right lead.

I realized last week that what I like so much about John is he accepts me for the way I learn, and adjusts his teaching style to get through to me, instead of demanding that I learn his way.  He's a really, really good instructor.  He's very adaptable for the student/horse combination (and current issues), has good solutions, doesn't provide too much at once, but first and foremost takes care of the horse.  I'm really, really grateful I get to ride with him.