Dressage without stirrups

John had us get right to it with some sitting trot, and then just a few blissfully ignorant minutes in, he had me drop my stirrups.  We probably did 2/3 of the lesson without stirrups, although it felt like eternity.  The whole riding my bike thing before the lesson does not result in me having the freshest of thigh muscles.
Anyway, I felt something very, very interesting.  Going to the right, especially at the canter, my entire body scrunches up and leans inside.  I have never felt that without stirrups, and I bet they're mitigating it a tiny bit, but I think this is a eureka moment.  It was brutal, trying not to lean in, and even when John said to make myself long between my hips and my ribs, he had to say "you're doing exactly the opposite of what I just told you to do" which made me laugh because I was trying to do it.
So Charlie moved like a dreamboat, good old Mr. Reliable, but I would scrunch so much my shoulder would be pointing into the center of the circle at John.  It was pretty remarkable Charlie could keep going on a round circle at all.
The other interesting thing was that Charlie was carrying his head really high, but also really round.  John said that's ok, as long as his poll is at the highest point.  He said Charlie probably felt really light in my hands (yes) and very easy to transition (yes), but I was surprised why his head was so high.  Normally, he is long and low and flat.  I will have to ask John next time why he held it high.
So John wanted more bend to the inside, by moving the bit around - not pulling but moving.  And then more forward, from asking with my seat, not my legs.
Charlie was very responsive, and it was a nice lesson.  Once I could pick up my stirrups, it felt like we ended too soon, but when I got off, I saw Charlie was sweaty underneath (which he never is when I ride him by myself at home) so clearly he got a workout.
Then I chatted with John about the points, came home and checked the spreadsheet, and realized that yes I had overlooked something - horses and riders in multiple divisions.  So Charlie is not horse of the year - a super duper upper level horse is (also for sale for $65,000, a two star horse who is 13), and I am not rider of the year - Jordan who is on the leaderboard in like five different divisions probably is.  Bummer.  But I'm going to hold out hope that Charlie gets reserve horse of the year.  That would still be pretty cool.
The other interesting thing is that he didn't have a chance of winning it at novice the year we did super well.  Not a snowball's chance.  Pretty much no horse does but the upper level ones.  If I did the math right, first place is 73.x, Charlie was 40.5, and third place was 40.