Jump lesson with Mom watching

Tonight, pre-eclipse traffic, we jumped a cross-rail, vertical, white oxer, red oxer, and then a four stride line vertical to oxer.  Duke was good.
John started us with work on the flat for bending, feeling him chew the bit, moving him in, moving him out.  It is still a bit out of my grasp, although I feel when it is correct.  He suspected I was probably nervous for dressage at the show and conveyed that through, which would be a good feeling to recognize and then try to reduce.  He also said the warm up was for warming up, and that our second few fences (before we went in to show jump), Duke had settled down.  He said with a 6 yo, OTTB, I'm going to have variability in what Duke needs at different times.  He said when he was riding him for the week, he thought he figured him out, then Duke would throw a curve ball.  (My words.)
So we worked on the flat, getting him nice and bent and listening, with half halts on the outside and the sponge squeezing hand to get him softer and chewing.
We started jumping with the cross rail, with John alternating which direction we landed after a few jumps each direction.  The left turn was kind of tight, but Duke held it together.  John changed it to a vertical, same thing.
Then we rode to the oxer that would normally have been a bending line, but straight at it, and despite five or six attempts, I couldn't get the line right, but John said it was ok because that way I knew that we could jump it if we came it at not directly head on, so I'd be more relaxed at a show if I couldn't get the line right.  Then he showed me where to ride and the line was no problem, and then the jump was a breeze.
We moved over to a red oxer that I assumed he was going to drop, but he did not, and Duke came in once low and flat and launched over it.  John had me get him back to the canter as soon as I regrouped but give him a good half halt a few strides out, and he jumped it delightfully, rocked back on his haunches.  John said that I gave him the proper half halt on the launch, but he blew me off, and so he wanted to get it again right away so that Duke learns to respect it when I tell him to half halt, it doesn't matter if he agrees, he needs to half halt.
Then we ended with the four stride line, and John had me sit up on the way there, half halt in the turn, and then sometimes bend to the outside, sometimes to the inside, to get there.  We had a couple that were decent, but not an A+, and then a couple good ones.
Once during the lesson Duke put his head down, and that was the one time John had me halt, then walk a 10 m circle, then trot the circle, then canter the circle before we could go back to jumping.  Other than that, we mostly did a half halt and a bit of bending to kind of check him.  He is really good about coming back, I just have to set him up.  John said that there's several things Duke still has to work on, and so for now it's ok to accept just one or two, like on the flat he said it's ok to have a little more on the forehand if I can get him bent, and then later we'll get bend and engagement.
He said he thought Duke did well at the show (me too), and that Jimmy Wofford says it takes about a year to get to know a horse.  It was a good lesson and mom got a few photos, but I do wish I could have stayed down there another week with him - he said he wouldn't have offered if he couldn't have fit me in, and there was more he could accomplish with me, but I told him I thought maybe we could come back in October when his show season had settled down.  It did really help to ride with him a bit each day.