Beth at Northwind

I rode with Beth for the first time in probably a year, and the first time with Duke.  She liked him.
We started with my position, and she said that although the shimmy is gone (and my core is stronger), I am rounding my shoulders much worse than I was before, and that tendency, combined with Duke's build which makes me tilt forward, is a bad combination, particularly because when I tilt a certain amount forward, I start swinging my lower leg back to counter balance.  So she had me start with the "two plates" idea, one on the front of the pelvis, one between your shoulder blades.  It is pulling the shoulder blades down and together, but NOT arching my back, and then matching the angle with the lower pelvis, which feels kind of like tucking my tail bone up and under.  Putting my shoulder blades together is really, really hard to do, and she suggested that I focus on it at the gym.
From there, the next big jarring movement was my hands going up and down (and losing the contact, the same thing John said yesterday).  For this, she suggested pulling back a bit with my shoulders (and elbows) rather than thinking steadying my hands.  By improving the connection, I moved my hands less, which made Duke feel less like I was dropping him, which made him steadier, etc. etc. good upward cycle until I'd forget.
We started with walk, and instead of the rushed, hurried walk with a lot of swinging hips on my end, she had me think of him stepping underneath and up, and then slowing his walk to the speed I wanted by using those two plates.  This worked very, very well (again, until I forgot).  I could also slow him to a halt this way without using my hands, and it allowed him to be more balanced so he could improve his transitions up and down.
From here, we worked on transitions where he didn't jut his head out and go downhill on the forehand.  This was again, the thinking up and under with his hind legs, and not dropping the contact.  For the down transition from trot to walk, I just slowed the trot but kept posting until he was walking.  Beth says that is a really great exercise to do for him - slow trot to walk, walk a step or two, then trot again.
At the canter we did a bit of bending to the outside to balance him, and trying to keep the feeling of the connected seat bones with the tilted plate pelvis.  His canter wasn't his best today, but he stayed focused and tried to figure out what we were asking, and that made me happy with him.
Like most Beth lessons, she focuses on smaller minutiae, but it is interesting because she sees the same thing as John.  Her approach is much more focused on "tiny" core movements, but I can get the same lifted feeling in the withers and the same feeling of spring and bounce like I can after John has walked us through the steps.
I also really liked the reminder about my core and shoulder position, and the idea of keeping the connection by holding more steady with my shoulders (she called it holding hands with him - having that feeling of connection instead of loosey goosey), and she also suggested thinking my fingers were linked through the bit and I was telling him which way to go by moving my fingers directly in the bit.  Duke did a really nice job responding so I could get immediate feedback on changes in my position and aids, and she said that thoroughbreds were nice and sensitive that way.
She said that I'm riding with my leg almost too far forward, and during the trot, my leg is still curling up a bit (lifting up and behind).  My right leg needs to be a little more off of him - it is still sitting tight and tucked up, and it is a feeling of being held slightly away.