Grand Canyon & jump lesson

John worked with Duke while I was in the Grand Canyon while Judith did Rim2Rim.  After John was on him a few days, Duke was much softer in my hands, had a ton more forward push from behind, and was more fine tuned to the aids.  I expect it made it a bit of a challenge for him to be ridden by me, with my crude aids, sometimes in the wrong places and wrong times.  I could feel the difference immediately, but it was most notable at the canter, where he had a big push up into his back and was more forward.  I will try to remember this feel, to remember the range of flexibility that Duke has in how he moves, and how I don't need to accept just a little bit of push.
John says we'll take that movement and then start to put him on the bit, and that will make a big difference for his movement next year.  John's style is to get the big movement, then put him on the bit, and my style is to put him on the bit, then add the movement.  He also said that we need to work on the right hind - that his right canter needs far more work than his left canter (and I agree, it feels so different, although both ways feel so much better than a few months ago when he arrived), but that right now, it takes lots and lots and lots of delicate aids, and then Duke gets tired after just a few steps.  So John said we'll work on this over the winter, and as he gets stronger, it won't require quite so many aids at once and he'll be able to hold it longer.
We jumped outside after warming up inside.  For the inside warm up, I bent Duke to the inside, using a big wide inside hand, but then moved his ribs with my inside leg.  I needed to push the left hand forward, to give him enough space to bend to the inside, and then we moved him in and out, between 10 meter and 20 meter circles, but asking him to lead with his rib cage.  John says to work on this at home, overbending until he gives, then softening, then having him keep moving.  He said that he looks stiffer from the ground than he is in your hand, so we'll also work on that.
Outside, we started over a cross rail, first to the left (at a trot, then canter), then to the right, then a vertical.  Duke was more forward, it felt like, but I think it was just that he had more canter from being ridden by John.
From there, we went to a long 4, which was a gate to gate, which was a bit of a challenge.  Duke wanted to "weave" - which isn't quite the right description - and if I used too much left leg, he used it as an excuse to charge off on the far end.  I had a hard time getting the long four, but John said that was because we would come in - for example - on the left side, then weave around in the middle and then launch.  He had a pole on the left on the second fence.  After a few tries, I got him lined up more in the middle for the first fence, and kept him on that line to the second fence, and then it went better.  John was happier because he squared up his shoulders to the fence, like I asked him to, instead of focusing quite so much on not touching a rail.  He said he'll be easy to tune up on being careful of the rails, but it's harder to get him to be square to the fence.  We turned around and did it the other direction, which was a lot easier since that was on his left lead.
From there, we turned and did an oxer which was just to the left of the first gate - to see how he'd do thinking he was going to do the gate and then realize it was the oxer.  He jumped it gorgeously.  Then we turned right and did an oxer to vertical two stride, which was ever so slightly downhill and was 4 1/2' short.  For both the first oxer and that vertical, Duke lifted himself up and over with his back, which felt great.
John said that we did a few things well as it went along - instead of launching him, I let him figure it out, and those last few fences were ridden very well.  I felt that they went well, but I think it was more luck and Duke; I just tried to wait for him regardless of the distance, instead of worrying about trying to get each one perfect.
However, I have finally - after five long years - mastered petting the neck after a good fence, and I do it with my left hand, which is holding a whip, which is a racehorse's signal to take off.  So in addition to being proud of himself, I'm basically telling Duke to bolt on the far side.  John said he doesn't want to discourage praising the horse, but to either put the reins in my left hand and stroke with my right, or scratch his neck with my fingers.
John wanted to do the long line since the footing is probably going to be too wet by next weekend, and to help gauge which gymnastics we'll need to work on this winter.
Although Duke has gained a lot of weight and some muscle, John said not to cut back on his food yet, that he'll start losing weight and we want him to go into the beginning of winter just a little fat.