Independent aids

We had an amazing lesson today (on Christmas, which was nice for me because it was so quiet at Caber).  John had me start by getting Duke round in the walk, then we went up to trot, then we worked on crossing his front legs over and making the circle smaller.  This was outside leg up next to his shoulder (to push it in), inside leg a little bit back (to keep him from collapsing in), outside hand in kind of a half halt, and inside hand a bit of an open rein.  The bend was to the outside, until we got his legs consistently crossing over, then we slowly bent him back to the inside, and then did a leg yield back out to the full size circle.  This was really delicate maneuvering - I had to keep a feel for where the shoulders were in space, and then use my outside leg as soon as he tried to stop crossing over.  We did this both ways, and then we did it in the canter too, but in the canter, he needed more half halts for balance and control (he kind of wanted to zing around the circle really fast instead of bunching up), and then the feeling was of his front leg crossing under the center of himself, not over.
We had a couple of good trot to canter transitions, although not great, and moderate canter to trot transitions.  John said that we make it right to the end and then Duke pauses in the contact a bit, I let go, and he collapses.  He said it is just one more tiny aid, and then we'll have it.
For the canter, there is a lot of keeping my seat down and my hips moving.  I do ok until I am thinking about each hand and each leg, and then I forget to ride with my seat, and things kind of stall. But especially with the trot to canter transition, if I have him properly bent, round, and with enough impulsion, and I do both legs, my seat bone, and then hips hips hips, we tend to get a pretty nice transition.
After that, we worked just a bit on the stretchy trot, and here, John wanted me to stretch him off of my legs (holding my hands up and pushing him down, not pulling his head down with my hands), which I thought went really well.  For this one, John said his nose needs to tilt just a bit to the inside, but he said not to work on this one too much at home by myself because I'll get frustrated.
My theory is that John taught me the aids, but I couldn't really apply them properly until I got my hands (and legs) more independent.  They're not there yet, but they have improved this month, and I feel like that was a big hurdle in a lot of this.  When I use my left hand, my right hand mimics it (and vice versa) and a lot of these movements are so delicate that it gets lost if I am sloppy and using both hands.  He needs a half halt on the outside and a squeeze (or a give) on the inside, and that is a very different aid than both hands half halting.
I thought Duke did really well.  Although when I got home, I turned him out, and for the third time, the little shit ran away from me when it was time to come in.  Even though it was dinner time.  He didn't carry on like a maniac, but I left him out there while I fed the back horses, and then he let me catch him right away.

Next year's goal is working on "feel"

John told me my goal for next year, regardless of competition schedule, is to work on "feel".  And by feel, he means recognizing, responding, and reacting to Duke's change in movements.  So he might be going around a circle, and then bulge his shoulder out, and so my job is to work on feeling that his shoulder is bulging and then using the appropriate aid to react.
For today, we worked on getting Duke more round and connected in all three gaits and the transitions between canter and trot.  This was, like our prior lessons, an opportunity for John to tell me the aids at the appropriate moment, so I could feel the response, which is - still frustratingly - pretty impossible for me to articulate.  I don't know if I'm not going to "get" it until I can explain it, or if it is because it is about feel, and so can't really be written down.
We worked on the 20 meter circle, then on 10 meter circles with changes in direction.  For transitions, my goal was not to move my hands or let Duke go above or below the bit.  Then John had me lengthen his canter with my hips, and then bring him back without pulling back on the reins.  Duke did all of this really well.
Even with not being ridden much this week, he was really a trooper and tried hard to figure out what I was asking and then do it.  He is a fun horse to ride.

Forward progress on our connection work

John broke his arm last week, so we skipped our jumping lesson (and will skip it again next week while he's getting his cast on).  Because I couldn't ride the Friday before my lesson, I rode flat instead of jumping.  This works out well, I think, so that Duke will get at least two weeks off without jumping, but maybe not get the month off in January.
We worked on 20 meter circles, with John standing in one place on the outside, instead of in the center of the circle. Possibly, John didn't have to give me quite as many moment-by-moment instructions (although that might have been because he wasn't feeling great and not my amazing riding skills improving).
I managed to do better at connecting inside leg to outside hand, timing the counter bend when he was stiff, and making our transitions a bit more connected and less above the bit.
It was, like all of these posts, much, much harder than that, but I'm really struggling with how to put it into words instead of feelings.  I felt like this week riding him, we did a little better than we had been, but less good than the first few days after John rode him.

World's best left trot (starry eyes)

John said that MAYBE next year we can do 1/2:1/2 at the shows, where he rides Duke then I ride him.  He said we'll see, but that the downside is he'd turn Duke into the type of horse he'd like to ride, and then have to ride him all season.  That actually probably wouldn't be too bad with the new job.
He said that to ride prelim, I have to join USEF. Which means I have to watch their videos.
He said that if I'm buying Duke a new girth, get him one with a belly guard, just to avoid injuries.
And then for the lesson.  Duke moved great, and he felt amazing.  I could feel when he softened and bent and started using his topline.  He seems to want me to use the upper part of my calf to squeeze and then keep him from moving away from my leg by using the outside hand in a little bit of a reciprocal squeeze.
We worked on 10 meter circles, where John had me counterbend, then cross his front legs (so he was moving towards John) and then allow the correct bend, and then, without changing anything, to leg yield back out to a 15 meter circle.  He picked up the canter on the 10 meter circles, and we had some decent (not amazing) canter/trot transitions.
But it was the lifting up and using his back that was just so amazing, like the left trot was just so amazing to feel that I had trouble listening to John for a little while and just wanted to ride around and around doing it.
For the canter, I didn't think cross his legs, but have his outside leg come under the center of his body (front leg).
Duke was sweet and obedient during the lesson, but when I went to get him in his pasture this morning, he ran away from me and acted like it was because he's so attached to Ellie.  That annoyed me.
I felt like I rode this better and more consistently than some of our prior lessons, but I still need John's help with each specific aid (outside leg back and on now-now-now) to get Duke to respond correctly, and I can feel it when he does, but I'm still struggling to put it into words in this summary.
Christa told me that John is harder on his upper level students and expects more, and I think that's what's going on.  He's taken it up a notch and it's all new to me so I'm struggling to keep up.  But if this goes like his other lessons, eventually I'll make it rote and then we'll work on the next thing.

Duke spent a week with John

And now he's a fine-tuned machine instead of a dull blade.  It was really impressive.
Duke is a good communicator, so I could feel how he wanted me to ride him, with my upper calf instead of squeezing my whole leg, slightly tilted forward on my seat bones, and hands out of his mouth.  Duke carried his own head (and didn't wiggle it around), balanced himself, stepped more underneath himself at the walk, and was well balanced and forward at both the trot and canter.  When I got everything just right, he would also lift up his back, so I could wrap around him.
He was, however, also sensitive, so if I jerked around, or lurched, or pulled on his face with my hand, he'd brace himself and stiffen his neck to protect himself.
We did some work on the flat, and then went over the middle fence (without the three cavalleti).  It was nice to watch a couple of his other students first, to see that I'm not the only one who is having a hard time making the bending line.
John said that Duke tries hard, and that he gave one lesson sitting on him, to teach him about standing still.  He said he thinks Jane might have done that too, cocked a hip and put the reins in one hand, but that Duke was really good about it.
He said that Duke has a good personality, and sometimes powers up, and that twice John missed the jump, and so Duke was like "look, dude, I got this".
He also said that he thinks Duke knows when he's got it right, and expects to end.  He said they were working on shoulder-in, and when Duke finally got it, he was all like "ok, let's get out of here."
He said that Duke can't be manhandled or overpowered into doing something - that he has to be convinced he wants to do it, although he does want to please.
And he also said I've gotten good at - well, better at - riding him balanced.
I was thinking about it, and compared to last year, I think we've both improved, which is good.  I don't think John has ridden him in about a year, so it was good for John to feel what I've done with him on my own (although he can also see it from the ground).  Since I always think I'm going to ruin a horse, this was good news as well.
But what was most amazing was how good and sensitive and forward Duke felt.  It was just amazing that John could make him so fine-tuned, and that I can squish it out of him.  It's a good standard to have felt, so that I can expect more and ask more of him, and be aware of how well he can move, but I need to be more precise with my aids and balanced.
We both agreed that a light bulb went off for Duke maybe three weeks ago about balancing on those 10 meter circles, and that it helped quite a bit.

Flat work and attempt 3 at the cavaletti

John started us today with some great flat work.  He had us work on 10 meter and 15 meter circles, and the instruction was to connect Duke.  As with the prior lessons, sometimes I had to use the outside leg, and sometimes bend him a bit to the outside.  John said that when I feel his shoulder start to pop out, that is when I use my outside rein and outside leg.
What was different about today's ride was that, for a brief moment, I used my inside leg to my outside hand - on purpose - and Duke responded - on purpose.  I felt it!  I did it!  I can do it!  I'm not going to be stuck at this level forever.
John said that some of our crappy circles would score a 3, and then we rode them better (after he gave me all the aids and Duke worked his sweet little heart out to get there), and then I could feel his back lifting and his hind legs engaged.  It felt great.
But - sadly - despite the glimmer of hope, it is still hard for me to do and hard for me to grasp.  It takes all my concentration to do like two things, let alone the six that John has mentioned (and I'm guessing there's an infinity more underneath those six).
From there we jumped, but John noticed that my spurs hang low, and so he got an extra spur strap, and used it to lift my spur up and then fastened it around my ankle.  With the spur up, I HAD to keep my heel down, but then I could use either my calf OR the spur, and so I got a much stronger response from Duke.  John said that especially in the new boots, with the two little spur holders, instead of the back one, the spurs get droopy, and then you have to lift your heel to use the spur.
So we did the cavaletti to a little vertical both ways, and another miracle occurred.  This time (our third time), I could finally see the line going to the right (the longer direction).  John described it as I could see where I wanted to ride, instead of seeing where we were going.
What HE was doing, however, was making it harder (which I didn't notice, because I was so excited about seeing where I wanted to go and making it more precise), which was to counter bend, bend, use outside leg to keep him on the circle, get him over the center, and not at an angle.
He said right now I'm mad because I go over the fence about where I want, but I land like a foot left of where I want.  He said in the future I'll be mad because I'll get within an inch of where I want for take off, and an inch where I want to land.  That will be a cool thing to be mad about.
Duke, bless his sweet heart, worked himself into a lather trying to figure out what I wanted and do it.
Oh yeah, on the 10 meter and 15 meter circles, John said that for the trot, I had to cross his front legs over each other (when he was stiff) and for the canter, to think about pushing his outside front leg into the center of his body (since it can't cross under).  These helped him - I would describe it as - square up his shoulders and then balance and then lift his back.
It was a good lesson.  Duke is staying for a week while I go to Cincy.  John said to go to the Kentucky Horse Park and then drive up and down the road in front of it and look at the horse barns, which are amazing.

* Levels

10 meter circles and leg yields

Today's lesson was a mental challenge to keep all the aids going independently.  John had me ride 10 meter circles, get Duke properly bent, then keep the bend off of the circle, leg yield over to the wall, and then do it again.
The easiest part:  to leg yield to the wall, if his hindquarters are drifting, use the outside rein to square him back up.
The rest of it:  inside hand even with outside hand, not pulling down and back; use my outside elbow behind my hip if I need to; while outside hand is half halting, use inside hand to bend, but not too much; use hips evenly to keep him moving forward (especially at canter or sitting trot); use inside leg to push him into outside hand so he doesn't fall in but stays bent; and etc. etc. etc. beyond my ability to keep up.
If I counted out loud, I could keep my hips going, but then I couldn't also keep in my mind not letting the inside hand slip down.
Every once in a while I would get everything lined up and then I could feel Duke's back up, and it was amazing.  But it was hard to keep all those aids in mind.  John said getting the hips and legs to be  rote is the key, and then I'll still have to think about my hands.

Cavaletti to vertical - take 2

Today we worked on the same three cavaletti to a vertical (3'3" at its highest).  Once again, going right it was easier to go over the cavaletti, but harder to line up over the center of the fence, and jump it on the 20 meter circle (instead of kind of angled); and going left it was harder to go over the cavaletti, then easier to go over the center of the fence.
To go right, I had to counterbend Duke for a few strides, then bend him back as we did the final quarter of the circle (if fence is at 12, after 9), but I went and walked it after the lesson was over, and tried to move my shoulders to see what it was.  John said that Duke bulges his shoulder out to the left (why we're counterbending) when we go to the right, but he doesn't bulge his shoulder out to the right when we go left, so that's part of it.
But going to the left, John had to stand so I would ride around him, and then he put out ground poles to make the shape of the circle, and then it was easier.  So going left, I was cutting WAY in to make the circle.
I think - maybe - these two differences have to do with the way the exercise is set up.  Going left, you go over the third cavaletti then there are 7 strides to the fence, and then 20 to the cavaletti.  So there's an obvious "line" from the last cavaletti to the fence, but then I lose the shape in the empty space that is 20 strides.  So it's hard to get back lined up for that first cavaletti.
And going to the right, the fence to the first cavaletti is only 7 strides, so again, an obvious line, but the third cavaletti back to the fence is 20 strides, so I lose the shape of the circle.
Huh.
So I think at home, the way to work on the shape of the circle would be to put out ground poles and then try to ride over them on a circle in the correct arc.
Eventually, going left, John took the cavaletti and moved them all about 6" "closer" to the first one, which changed the angle ever so slightly (instead of the middle cavaletti lined up with the corner of the arena, it was slightly off set), and then it got way, way easier to ride.  John said that the line just looks different - it looks more like a straight line instead of the arc of the circle, so I don't mess around with Duke trying to get the correct bend, I just ride through it.  Even though the distance is exactly the same.
John said that when Duke does the funny hopping skippity jump instead of just cantering over the cavaletti, I have to just deal with it (I was starting to get really frustrated, and I'd pull him off the circle and then walk and then fuck around with the trot for a while then fuck around with the canter for a while before I'd try again), I have to just confidently go to the jump anyway.  He said at prelim, especially corners to skinnies, the distance is usually just a little off, and that Duke is very good about going anyway, but I am going to have to put my leg on and ride it, even at the odd distance.
Duke got super sweaty, and was tired about half way through, but I think he liked the challenge.
John also said that it's different to ride that vertical at 3'3" and 3'7" - that the height starts making the turn and angle more significant.  I think maximum height today was 3'3", but since I struggled with the cavaletti and the right turn to the fence, we definitely weren't ready for the next hard step.

Sitting trot and transitions

We did a lot of sitting trot work today which, to my utter amazement, I did sort of kind of ok.  As in, I wasn't as absurdly stiff as I expected, and I could increase Duke's trot and still sit it.  It wasn't a work of art, but neither am I.
John had us work on forward and back in the canter and trot, and then transitions in the proper frame.  Inside leg to outside hand, and then bend from the inside hand is the short version.  But for god's sake, I don't know why I'm struggling so much with this.  John just gives me the necessary words, and then the very next lap I need all of them again.
He said that his goal in the lesson is to have me feel it, so I can remember the feel.  The feel is very distinct, but I can't put into words what makes it happen.  When I can connect those two, I think things will progress.
We also talked about bending aids, and why sometimes the aid is an inside leg (he's usually falling in over his shoulder; i.e. making the circle smaller) and sometimes an outside leg (I am usually bending his haunches into the circle with this aid) and sometimes the rein (John tries to tell me when he wants me to only bend his neck; he said we used to only bend with the neck, but now I bend his body and then use the neck).
We also talked about the inside seat bone for the canter aid, after I experimented with it in between my last lesson and this one.  It is not a forward and down, but a forward and up - John had to show me twice - it is like the motion of a sitting trot, but then a swoop up.  John said you can use it either to start the canter (when his hind leg is coming under?) or to finish the canter, if he is almost picking it up but then stalling.
I am also having a lot of trouble with my hands.  My outside hand wants to go forward (instead of elbow to hip) and my inside hand wants to drop down and back, which is weird that they're going two different ways, since I can't use them independently.
Riding Duke felt great, but I'm frustrated because I feel like I can only connect the dots when John is there, and I just freakishly get one step or so when I'm on my own.

Cavaletti to a fence

Tonight we did a new exercise.  John had three cavaletti set on a circle (so the insides were closer together than the outsides), and we rode them first at the trot, then at the canter.  My job was to bend Duke around my inside leg, get him lined up properly, keep my leg on, but then let him figure it out.
After we did that both directions, then we rode the cavaletti to a ground pole, over a vertical, over another ground pole.  First we went to the right, and I had a hard time with making the correct line to make the center of the fence be a circle with the cavaletti (even though I could totally see it).  When we changed directions, it was very easy.  Afterwards, John said that's because from the left, it was a seven stride line to the fence, but from the right, it was a 20 stride line.  That was pretty fascinating.  So my eye can see 7 strides, but not 20.
This was a straightforward looking, but not simple, exercise.  It highlighted how important it is to be precise.
From the right, John had me counterbend Duke, but if the jump was at 12, I did this at 9, so by the time I got to 10, I was bending him back and using that to bend us through the turn.  When I lined up the bend ahead of time, the cavaletti and the jump were smooth sailing.  If I messed up the angle of the circle or the bend, I could tell instantly.  It was a good exercise.

Draw reins & trailer

Well, I got my trailer bent funny in the driveway, and John had to drive it in and then help me back out.  That was ... well, inevitable.  I guess I'm surprised it didn't happen sooner.  He said because Ford have a huge turning radius, and it takes a while for the trailer to move, that I'm overcorrecting, and instead, I should do little movements and trust that it's going to turn.  I tried parking it like that when I got home and it worked like a charm.

For our lesson, we worked with draw reins, because John said to ride with them every once in a while, but I'm too chicken shit to do it on my own.  Duke was great, and worked hard, as always.  We worked on bending him through his body (not just in his neck) to break up the stiffness.  This is sometimes with my inside hand (and leg), and sometimes with a half halt on the outside hand (and both legs), and sometimes, when he doesn't give, bend to the outside.
We did 10 meter trot circles, started 10 meter canter circles, then let him do 15 meter canter circles.  He got tired after the first set of canter both directions, but John had him keep going, and he didn't act up.
The transitions were hard - John made us redo them if he stiffened and put his head up in the air, so we had to do each one several times before we got it right.  He seems to pick up the canter better if I push the inside hip down and forward when I'm asking for the canter (with inside leg forward, outside leg back).  Transitions down, however, just feel like a crap shoot.  I am asking him to bend with my inside hand, but sometimes he throws his head up (mostly) and sometimes (rarely) he doesn't.
When he lifts his back up and is going round, I can squeeze him with my whole leg, it feels like I can wrap around him.  But when he's hollow in his back, if I squeeze with my upper leg, it just makes my lower leg swing.  John said yes.  I also have a hard time making my hands be independent; if my left hand gives, my right hand wants to also.

During my lesson, it's amazing, but like I've said the last few blog posts, afterwards, I just cannot repeat it (and can barely describe it) by myself.  John said to give when he bends (but I can't always feel it), and he kept having to tell me to take up the reins (especially with my left hand).
I think the last couple times though, I have done a little better the next couple rides by myself, so maybe it is slowly sinking in.  I hope this is another one of the learning stages where we're stuck on a big step up, but once we make it, we'll have a new view.  (And not the limits of how well I can ride.)

Two different types of bending aids

In our last lesson, we worked on bending Duke with the reins.  Tonight we worked on bending him with my leg.  John said that with a horse like him who thinks, it is best to mix it up.
I was trotting around on a floppy rein to warm up, like John and Ashley said (or so I thought), but John got on and rode him and showed me (which was awesome).  Instead of letting him do whatever he wants, it was pushing him forward, even letting him run just a little bit, then using outside aids to firm him up, then using inside rein and leg to bend him, and then pushing forward again, and then the second pushing forward pushes him up and round into the reins, and he naturally goes up and over his back.  It was kind of amazing.  So John rode him and described it to me a few laps, then I got on, and it was cool.
And then we did canter, and I don't know why, but I am just struggling with any roundness in the canter.  As in, I can't even describe what John told me, even though he said it just as simply (and even more recently) than the trot aids.
It is sitting down, keeping seat moving, legs on and off, breaking up his neck, but the aids from my legs to my hands just defeat me.
From there, we did some jumping through a grid, which was a ground pole, cross rail, ground pole, vertical, ground pole, and eventually the cross rail and vertical became oxers that were cross rail/verticals, and then John put placer poles in the middle to make us go straight down the chute and not drift.  Duke was great - he just powered through although he likes to land on the left lead.  My big instruction was to look ahead through the turn, then put enough leg on to get us through, which was usually leg over the first fence and in between the first and second fence.
John said he likes Duke, that he's got a good head and tries hard.

Sweaty butt (for Duke)

Our dressage lesson today was similar to the start of our jump lesson from Thursday, but was much harder.  And equally difficult to translate.
When I rode Friday, after the lesson, I remembered that one of the things John told me to do was to send Duke forward and back within the gait.  So if he was trotting, to slow him down to almost a walk, then go back to regular trot.  We did this at both trot and canter.  We did it again today.
We started with five minutes of trotting (I had been sitting around laughing) that John said was just throw away work - not to worry about getting him round, but just let him trot and loosen up.
Then we started working on a 20 meter circle, with a few changes of direction.  John did minor corrections here, a little more bend, a little outside leg.
From there we moved onto a smaller circle and John focused more on the precise aids - outside leg now - now - now, outside leg back, leg yield him out of the small circle onto the larger circle without changing my hands, taking up my reins (they slide out long and loose) - not looping the rein when I give, but just giving a little - but giving a little whenever he softened.
A few times we had to counterbend and then come back onto the correct bend, and then he had us switch sides of the arena and work on the right side.  Here, he had us working on a 10 meter circle, and then he had me canter on the 10 meter circle (as Duke's first right lead canter for the day!).  To my amazement, Duke did it.
John tightened Duke's noseband, which I have been leaving one hole looser, and he said that leave at least a hole for the show.
Duke had sweat under his chin and foamy sweat in his butt, but he seemed relaxed and happy.  He's a good worker and tries hard.
I could - sometimes - tell what John was about to say, and I tried to use my "cross" aids (inside leg to outside hand) without John having to say it, but it took a lot of concentration just to keep up, and I'm not sure that I feel yet when I need to give the aid.  I can feel the difference, after John tells me to, like I can feel when I put my outside leg back and use it with the beat of his steps, how he gets round and soft in the bend, but if I was just trotting around by myself, I would never think "oh, now is when I should move my outside leg back".  I am hoping that with time, this will start to sink in, but I imagine that whenever we start something new, it must be kind of frustrating to teach me, and just watch me struggle and struggle and struggle until I finally get it.  Please, please, let me get it.

Gymnastic

John started with some work on helping Duke to soften instead of jutting his head out (or up in the transitions) all stiff.  This is that same tricky - too many things happen at once - riding that I can't really describe, but I can feel when we get it right.
My best effort:
 - Reins should be short enough that when I ask for bend to the inside, I don't touch my own leg with my hand.  I did a lot of squeezing with the inside hand to try to get him to bend to the inside.
 - When he flat out refused, we'd bend him to the outside and then back to the inside.
 - Half halt still needed to happen on the outside, but I need to do a better job keeping my elbow connected to my hip.  I tend to push forward with the outside hand, I think especially when I am trying to use my inside leg.
 - I'd use outside leg pushed back to get him to put his haunches in, and then use it at the girth to keep him from drifting outside the circle.
 - I'd use inside leg to bend him.
 - I'd use both legs to push him forward, once he got soft and round.
 - For the canter, on the left lead, I was also putting more weight on my left seat bone and pushing down.
 - For transitions, I'd try to keep that inside bend going through the transition, so he didn't stiffen and toss his head up.
Duke got soaking wet just doing this part of the lesson, and I had to ride around most of the time with my tongue stuck out.  In fact, I have it stuck out typing trying to remember the feel of the movements and how to describe them.  Duke was moving great, and he felt fabulous, but my reaction time is still a little too slow for me to put all this together on my own.  What I think the take away was, though, was that I need to expect more from him and ask more from him, and not just be happy with what he offers.
Then we jumped.
We started with a little itty bitty vertical with a ground line in front of it, and one of the floppy jumps, John said that's the issue with show jumping at the shows.  I ask for the half halt, he blows it off, so I don't commit, and we come in at the wrong angle/speed.  John said to look through the turn, decide what I want, and ride it.  And so I did.  And it worked.
So then we did a cross rail, vertical, then an over that grew, and changed directions on the far side.  We haven't done this particular exercise since last winter, so it was interesting to see how we've changed over the summer.  I had to think heels down, back flat, and BOTH legs on, and I cut the right hand turn too short a couple times, but I think it was better than last winter.  One time Duke was a little slow, but other than that, he pretty much went through like a champ.  He likes to jump.  For this, it was me half halting before the turn to the fence, looking to the fence before we started to turn, and then closing my leg to ride through, and then over the oxer, looking the direction I wanted to go.
It's kind of frustrating that I still need to be told the basics (heels down, back flat) but if anyone can ever get it through my thick head, it'll be John.
It wasn't raining, so we got to do a quick walk around the back to cool off; Duke even had sweat under his chin.

Psychosomatic hoof

For the last two weeks, I've been babying Duke's hoof.  I'd ride him - and by ride, I mean I'd walk and walk and then trot, decide he didn't feel any better, give him the next day off, and then repeat.  So I did that from Saturday through last Thursday (12 days), then Thursday evening he felt noticeably worse instead of the same.  So I put magic cushion on his hoof, left it for 24 hours, and then gave him a gram of bute twice a day for 2 1/2 days.
He felt a bit off at the start of the lesson, but as we went on, he felt better and better.  John said that he's not a particularly stoic horse, and so he probably was protecting his hoof, until he realized that it didn't really hurt.  He also said that Duke doesn't push particularly hard off his right hind (that's his weaker leg) and wasn't putting all of his weight on the left front, so posting that way felt like a push up - post - stall - push up - post - stall, which was EXACTLY how it felt.
But then we went on for Duke to work really hard and do really well, and that was cool because he's basically had two weeks off, but he wasn't super stiff or hot or unpleasant.
He had us work on using inside or outside hand, with inside or outside leg, and then give a little, for both trot and canter.  And unfortunately, that's the best that I can do to describe it, because this is the part that's escaping me a bit.
So if he is on a circle going left, I push him out just a little with my inside (left) leg, but when he starts to go too far, stop him with my right leg.  Then I use my inside leg to push him into my outside hand, when I clamp my elbow into my hip to make it stay still and steady.  I have a hard time using one hand or one leg independently (still), although I think it is better than it used to be.
Then I use both legs to ask him to go bigger, but I keep the connection with my hands to prevent him from just going faster.
John he should be able to jump again later this week, and Tuesday is Ashley at Northwind, and hopefully I can get her enough students there that she can come regularly.

Jack Le Goff's horse conditioning

Condition hot horses with long distances at slower speeds; easy going horses get shorter distances at faster speeds.
If not quite sound, replace speed work on flat with slow uphill work.

Condition is four weeks of legging up, then galloping.
  Walk/longe variation for 20 minutes for two weeks.
  Trot for 2-3 minutes, then 3-4 minutes six days a week.
  By end of fourth week, trot is 4-5 4 minute sessions.
  Don't jump or formal train dressage in four week period.

Galloping work for young horse:
  Monday:  Hack/dressage
  Tuesday:  Jump
  Wednesday:  Dressage
  Thursday:  Jump
  Friday:  Dressage
  Saturday: Gallop
  Sunday:  Off

Galloping work for experienced horse:
  Monday:  Hack/dressage
  Tuesday:  Gallop
  Wednesday:  Dressage
  Thursday:  Jump
  Friday:  Dressage
  Saturday: Gallop
  Sunday:  Off

Gallops:
  1 - 1 1/2 miles at 400 mpm
  2-4 minute rest
  If first set easy, do again

Gallops are double distance of competition.
Prelim usually 2 miles at 520 mpm, so:
  375-400 mpm for 4 miles
  Once recovers well, decrease distance, increase speed
  Gallop before competition:  2-3 trot sets for 5-10 minutes, 1 mile gallop at 450 and increase to 500, two minute break, one mile gallop 500 increase to 600 mpm

Intervals can go up to 4
Distance up to 2
Decrease rest length
Increase speed over 7-8 weeks
Don't condition more than test demands

Do hack work day after gallop; can replace gallop with cross country or steeplechase
 
Three-four weeks before major competition, compete.

Rest period of three weeks, can do light hacking but no mental work.

Aids for turn on the forehand

To the left
Turn head slightly to left
Shift weight left seat bone
Left leg, just behind girth, pushes around left front leg
Right rein and leg control movement and bring to halt

Duke off for today's lesson, but some good discussion

After we watched the lesson before us, Duke and I took about three steps at the trot before it was obvious he was lame on the left front.  So, that was that.  It was still interesting to watch the lesson for some of the jumps we jumped earlier this week, and Duke was so quiet and still the whole time, like a good boy.
I followed John around for a while afterwards with my pressing questions, but first:
- He said measure the toe length and compare it to the number we came up with a few months ago, then let my farrier know and then the next shoeing, make the farrier stick to it.
- Put turpentine on his hooves, works better than durasole or the keratase (I forgot its name).  Not watered down.
- 2 grams of bute today.
- Walk him only Sunday and Monday.

For Jumpernite and schooling shows, John said that depending on the course, the jumpernite could be useful, but not enough if isn't the things Duke needs to work on.
For dressage schooling, yes, that could also be useful, but we haven't started working on the rein back yet because it messes with their halt, so he doesn't want to work on it until we have to.
For attitude at the show, someone who is working with him a lot and then slacks off, there is a difference in their riding.  This was interesting, and I hadn't thought about it.  That John could get us up a level, but then we could back slide on our own.  It makes sense, I just hadn't thought about it.  But that yes, I'm a sore loser, and it's ok to go inside my trailer and kick the tires, but then I need to be nicer to the other competitors.
Ashley is working on making money, not going out on her own.  (note to self:  big difference) but yes, ok to be helping her get some students.
For cross country vs. show jumping, we talked about the speed, the distance a canter stride is, and how short show jumping is compared to cross country.  So if there's a screwed up step or two in show jumping, it is - proportionally - way more significant to the total round than cross country.  He said it's anxiety that shuts my brain down in show jumping (and makes me not breathe, and makes me tight, which Duke feels, Duke gets tight, and that makes it easier for him to knock a rail).
He said that it isn't just cross country where things are slowing down, that he can see in my dressage tests now (vs a few years ago) that I am thinking my way through the test - noticing a problem, thinking about how to fix it, and then starting to fix it.  A few years ago I couldn't do that.
John said when he started teaching me, he would use about 40 words a minute, so I had time to process what he was saying.  I was asking about this because of our last lesson where he told me he couldn't tell me every aid fast enough, so I needed to remember to do some of them myself, which is what prompted me to pull out my theory books (also because Practical Horseman had Jimmy Wofford saying that the elite students could ride, but couldn't describe the aids that you use for specific movements).  That's what prompted me to play up my strengths - I may not have good feel, but I can memorize the sequences of aids, and it is high time I refresh myself on theory, now that I've got a few more years of experience riding with him under my belt.
So we're going to try again for a lesson on Tuesday, and this was my wake-up call not to slack on Duke's feet.

Jump lesson with Christa and Anna

Duke and I got to share a lesson with both Christa and Anna tonight, which was pretty cool.  John talked about some of the SSHF show issues, and then we started with a cross rail, which became a vertical, and then we changed direction and went over a little oxer.  We each got rails on the oxer, but when John asked Anna why, she told him exactly; Christa and I both said "dunno" although the answer was the same for both - the difference was between being on the forehand and being engaged behind (uphill).  The distance rode exactly the same, but we got a rail for a forehand jump and no rail for an engaged jump.
Then John had us jump a bigger oxer, then the gate - 5 strides - bigger oxer.  This went ok, which was frustrating because it was basically the same line as from the show, and at the show, we got a rail on the oxer.
Then he made it hard.  It was gate to big oxer, right hand turn, vertical, hard left hand turn in three strides to oxer, right hand 90 degree turn to vertical two stride oxer (and then, finally, right hand turn around to biggest oxer).
The right hand turns slay me.  It doesn't matter how many times we do them, the second I stop riding one, I forget everything and fuck it up the very next time.  To ride a right hand turn on Duke I have to keep my left leg on his left shoulder and Not. Let. Him. Drift.  It's that fucking simple, and yet every single god damned right hand turn I'd forget again.
It was a very educational lesson though, because John pointed out that we'd be tootling along, happy as could be, and in one stride, Duke would go from completely balanced and exactly what I wanted, to bulging out through the left shoulder and drifting.  (he showed me where on the ground that it happens, and it is like the stride before we start making the turn.). So if I have a long approach, I can fix it, because it happens, I feel it, I have a few strides to push him back into place.  But if I am doing a very tight turn, I don't feel it in time to fix it.  So he said anticipate it.
The other big takeaway from this lesson was that Duke has to listen to me.  So two of the jumps were awkward because everything was going ok and then Duke was like "hold on" and accelerated long and flat (his preferred style of jumping) (and actually, mine too).  One of the times he tried this, I told him "no, I've got this" and then we held the speed and balance and it went fine.  So John said at the show, I've got to tell him "no, listen to me about this" and Duke has to respond.
As mad as I am about the two rails, what I really want is to understand why, and John said part of it is that Duke is good at cross country, but that means he's not as good at show jumping, and there might not be much we can do about it.  We can try to show jump the last few fences on xc, and then warm him up loose for show jumping, so he respects the rails, but he is good at cross country because he thinks for himself and goes long and fast, and if he does the same thing in show jumping, we'll get rails.  John said that Anna had horses that no matter what you did in show jump warm up, they just used it to get themselves loose and relaxed before they went into show jumping and clobbered the fences.  So that made me feel a little better.
He said you can jump from a tight turn, or a loose rein, or close up, but some horses will just take care of it in warm up, and then switch the second they get in the ring.
I guess it's worth it, for the confidence and fun on cross country.  He said sometimes they grow out of it and figure it out, but sometimes they figure it out the wrong way.
He said a horse like Duke comes off of cross country super proud of himself - chest puffed out - showing off to the wimpy novice horses, and that when he's a beast on xc, it's harder to get him the very next day to be respectful of the fences.  I think that's maybe why we didn't have problems last year or the beginning of this year - I was going slow and careful on cross country.  But after steeplechase at Rebecca, when I really felt him go fast, I've been letting him go faster and faster to get ready for the feel of prelim speed.
So the silver lining is I figured it out a little bit on my own.  The other thing I figured out - although too late, which is the frustrating part - is that when he grabbed the bit and tried to take charge, I shouldn't have pulled back and wrestled with him, but should have relaxed my hand.  It makes me mad, that John has told me that (over and over), and yet in the moment when I needed it (and knew it), I didn't think to do it.

SSHF wrap up

I should be ecstatic that Duke and I finished 9th out of 29, but I'm not because we were tied for 3rd until show jumping, at which point we blew it.  Two rails.  And an UGLY round.  We blew it less badly than other shows ("only" two rails), but I stewed most of the way home because I don't know what I'm doing wrong in show jumping - at shows.  I don't have any idea what it is, so I don't know how to fix it.
I applied John's theory from last time (he's stiff in the neck) by bending him before we started warming up, had exactly the right length of warm up (and John's help), and then bending him again before we went in the ring.  But when we went in, he grabbed the bit and ran like fucking satan was chasing him.  So I made a mistake there, which was to grab back.  When he's nervous, I have to LET GO.  So, ok.  And then my other theory is he's just not distinguishing me letting him run on cross country from the next day, at show jumping.  And he's all "yippee" and takes off in the ring?  But that doesn't quite work because he doesn't do it in show jump.
For dressage, we applied John's half halt lesson, and also, I was relaxed because I thought there was no chance we'd place in a class of 30, so I was just enjoying the ride.  And Duke was great.  The scores were very fair, as were the comments.  It wasn't perfect, but it was a decent ride.
For cross country, Duke was a rock star.  It was chilly and drizzling, and the first 1/3 of my class sounded like a massacre.  He handled everything like a champ - all the jumps we jumped in the spring we jumped even better (and faster), and he did great with the three new fences too.  He was AMAZING with the "hard" fence - a log with a drop down to a road, and you had to look left in the air to make the turn, and he DID IT.  By the skin of his teeth, but we made the fucking turn in the air in one stride.
He was great in the trailer, in the stall, being braided, in the cold, all that stuff.  So I don't know why I'm focused on the two rails - I think it's because I can't figure it out.  Like if I was making the same mistake every time, ok, I'm a dope.  But I'm not - I change something and then something else goes wrong.
I walked prelim and it looked ok.  About four of the fences were huge, but I thought I understood the technical questions and they didn't look too hard.  But for god's sake- the show jumping ...

Magic

The clouds were amazing tonight, and the angle of the fall light lit up the changing leaves on the trees.  There was even a rainbow against a black cloud for a while; it was pretty amazing.
What else was amazing was how round John got Duke, but that part was kind of just magic.  I struggled the last couple days with Duke bulging out through his outside shoulder on circles, and on crappy canter and canter transitions.
John had us ride in a circle around him, and then he gave me explicit instructions for each moment (outside leg back a bit and aid now- now- now), had me bend Duke to the inside and outside, change the size of my circles, and had me work the bend whenever Duke got stiff.
I could feel it when we made the improvement, but I could barely keep up with John giving me the aids step-by-step.  The idea of being able to feel what is going on, think how to respond, and give the correct aid(s!) is like - I don't know - light years away from me.
What was cool was that *I* can ride it, what was not cool was that a lot of what John said I feel like he's been saying for at least a year (probably 7) and even though I swear I am trying in between lessons, it must be so discouraging to just keep saying the same thing every week for years.
What was a bit of a light bulb to me, however, was his emphasis on the half halt.  He said to make Duke weight his hocks, and I did that by squeezing (and holding) with both legs and giving the half halt aid with the outside hand at the same time.  The first time took a lot of pressure; the next time, Duke was like "oh!" and just did it right away.
This would work for a while, but then he'd just quit and John would have to work us back to that point again.
I bet that Duke is going to be sore tomorrow (probably me too), so this was a great lesson in that it let me really feel just what the two of us are capable of, memorize that feel, and help me hold us to a higher standard while we work alone this summer.
John had us, after working on the circles for a while, jump a few fences, from what felt to me like crazy small circles.  When we switched to jumping, Duke wanted to pop his head up, so I had to really work to try to keep the same round feel we had on the flat.  Maybe because he was so round, if I remembered to look up and over the fence in the direction we were going, we got the correct lead about 90% of the time.
I had a rough day at work, so just getting to Caber, getting on, and then watching the sky while I warmed up was like - I don't know, like a warm blanket on a chilly day.

Soften the gristle

We had a jump lesson on Friday followed by a dressage lesson on Saturday.  Although a change from normal, this had some benefits.  John noted that Duke would be stiff for dressage, following his hard work jumping, and that gave us an opportunity to work on how to soften the stiffness.  This will be something I'll want to do on show jumping, following cross country.
John said to start with 10 extra minutes of quiet walking around, away from the hustle and bustle of the show ring.  Follow that with some big neck bends - a big wide open inside hand, and giving with the outside hand to give him enough room to bend his neck.  Use inside leg to push him round and let him bend around it.  Duke could bend easier to the left than the right, so keep working with him until he gives in the neck.  John said this will help him loosen up the stiffness he carries in his front shoulders, and in his hind leg - his right hind, I think, mostly.
This took me opening my hand far wider than I was comfortable with and then opening even further.  I know it will be hard for me to trust that process at a show, so it was good to feel it in a lesson.
Duke was good, but it was easiest to feel his stiffness at the canter, where he wanted to stick his neck up, rather than move over the top of his back, so that will be another clue to me that he's feeling stiff and uncomfortable, and needs the time to soften up.
John said that Duke is like gristle; he's wiry underneath, and needs to soften up those kinks to move more freely.
We worked on 20 meter circles and leg yields off the quarter line.  Some of these, Duke crossed nicely, and others we kind of drifted at an angle sort of towards the wall.  I think the difference had to do with the outside (wall) hand, although I'm not sure if it was using it as a wall (a half halt) or giving a little that helped Duke square up his shoulders and cross.  He popped his head a bit on the down transitions, but I was thinking in both lessons how much better balanced and even he feels than when he got here a year ago, and how well he tries to communicate with me.
John had me change my leg aids (more on the inside; forward and more on the outside), but this part is still beyond my grasp.  I can (mostly) do it when John is telling me, but I can't feel it well enough to know when I should do it on my own.

Some big ass oxers in a lesson with Christa

John started the lesson by talking about what happened at Aspen.  The easy explanation:  when I think a fence is big, my childhood lesson ("don't catch him in the mouth!") kicks in, and I throw my hands forward to save Duke's sweet face.  John says we can retrain my hands, but it is the idea of a big fence and that seminal lesson.
For Aspen, I was partly right - the two right hand turns I was probably still making the turn instead of squaring him up to the fence - still using my inside leg to move him instead of getting him perpendicular.  John said I should have used counterbend (I thought I was, but maybe I wasn't, or maybe Duke was ignoring me).  For the left hand turn (the stall), he probably felt forward, but really needed to be pushed forward and then a half halt, and he just didn't have enough go to get through the fences.
Then he showed us how Duke goes over a fence - if he's balanced and not stiff, he touches the pole on top of the cups; if he's stiff, he drags his hind legs over and rolls the rail out of the cups.
It is me - in the sense that I'm nervous at a competition, so I'm riding him stiff, so he gets stiff.
He said for cross country, the fact that I could think about the fences going wrong (seeing it was another long distance coming), then think about warm up, then apply it, was good.  He said on cross country a lot of people can't even think, they're just reacting.  (On the other hand, it might be nice if I could just feel and react, instead of having to think it through.)

So he had us start over a little vertical, that he raised, and my job was to go to it with looped, loose reins.  It was ... hard to do.  Duke jumped it like a steady eddy, but as it got bigger, it got harder and harder for me to leave his face alone and just let him jump it.  John said to warm up like that, let him figure it out for a few fences, then when I pick him up and I ask him to do something in front of the fence, he's going to listen.

From there, we did the vertical, left hand turn to plank and rail, right hand turn to huge oxer, and then eventually the long four stride vertical to monster oxer from last week.
The big lesson for me was to have him forward enough - when we hit a rail it was because he stalled out in the turn and I didn't push him forward again, and to keep him soft.  If he got stiff on the way to the fence, he was more likely to rub it.  I kept him soft by riding him forward and with a bit of counterbend on the turn on the way to the fence.

It was a great lesson, and Duke's a great horse, but I feel like we've moved to the next stage of learning - the part where it makes sense when he says it, but is just slightly over my head so I can't repeat it at home (or here) - and somehow we skipped the part where I get to feel cocky and confident for a month or two.

I'm a sore loser

John warmed us up for dressage and we had what I thought was Duke's best dressage test so far.  I'm not sure it was his worst score, but it was pretty close.  I think he might have gotten a better score the time he bolted into the arena.  He did have two blips - he thought about trotting in the medium walk (but didn't) and his halt was al little crooked - not his fault, something about the way I ride makes him (and Charlie) swing their haunches to the left.  The rest of it he was steady, calm, and obedient.  He did his free walk as slooowww as he could possibly go, but he stretched down to the bit and kept going, just slowly.
So, ok, fine, I can live with that.  He's a thoroughbred, not a flashy mover.  And I'm not that great at dressage.
In warm up, I felt like we were on the edge of a break through - something about the inside leg and outside hand and holding it steady, but then my brain got all panicked about the show and it slithered away.  But hopefully the next dressage lesson it will come back and hit me.
Cross country was fun.  We warmed up, he was jumping perfect, so we walked again (again, with John's help), then a rider to go we went over the table again and it was just crap.  So we had to do it three times before it was slightly less crap.  John said not to hang onto his face, so I tried not to, but then he got all strung out - there were a few fences where I felt us coming in at the wrong distance, and it took me maybe three of them to remember what John said and then do it (sort of successfully) but that meant the last two fences were fine.  At least they felt fine to me.  Some of the ones that felt fine possibly weren't, like Christa said we left a stride out at the trakehner.  I would not have thought that at all.
Our up bank/down bank was crap, but he kind of lurched up (the too long and flat thing), then had one stride to get down, and I had slipped the reins to keep from grabbing him in the face in the lurch up, so he had to steer himself off, and bless his little heart, he did it.
John said that he's kind of an asshole about day to day stuff, but when the chips are down, he comes through.
Except for at show jumping.  Like every fucking lesson we've ever had, he warmed up like a fucking rock star.  And so we walked, and then did a couple more fences and they were crap.  (Theme). And so I went in to ride and I thought I was riding exactly the same way I ride in lessons or at home, but instead we got three fucking rails.
We hit the top of the wall on fence 4, which apparently no one else in the history of the show hit.  John said that was not enough outside rein.  It was a right hand turn, so it needed left rein to keep his left (drifting) shoulder in line, so, ok, maybe.  We made it on the bending line through the one stride, but then the ridiculously easy vertical got clobbered.  Brooke said we came in too close.  But there's nothing I could fucking do about that - I made the turn big and wide and gave him plenty of space.  It was - however - also a right hand turn that needed left hand outside rein.  Then when we made the LEFT hand turn to the two stride combo, he just utterly and completely failed to take off at the first fence, had to spring straight into the air to get over it (which, of course, he did, because why would he risk a rail) but then the striding was all fucked up for the two stride, so on the way out, he hit the fence.  So that one, ok, I get why he hit the second fence, but why didn't he jump the first fence?  I gave him a long approach, it was one he's jumped before, ...
I don't know if we need to go back down to Novice instead of up to Prelim.  It was just embarrassing and it reflects poorly on John and it pisses me off because I don't know what I'm doing wrong to work on it and fix it and get better and improve.
I didn't even want to write this, but I'm hoping that someday a few years from now I look back and remember "oh yeah, ha ha, I didn't know anything then and look how much better I am now."

Jumping on bending lines

I have to work all night tonight, so this post is brief.
We jumped jumps that looked big, over lines that took a lot of concentration.
For warm up, John told me to let Duke figure out the spot - so give him a bit with the rein on the approach.  The other big impact was to make sure I looked up and over the fence instead of down at it.
Then we did some lines that either needed an angle/angle or a carefully timed bend or turn to get the distance right. Duke did very well with these, even though I had a couple where my reaction time was a little slow.  We also went from a regular four to a long four to a regular but even even four, and so I had to think to adjust in between for each one.
My two big corrections were to let Duke do his job on the fences where he could figure it out, but help him get to the next fence on the correct striding - in particular for the long four that was a vertical to an oxer.  And then to pick the line and commit to it.
It was one of the classic John lessons where I looked at the fences when I got in and thought "that's crazy, I can never jump any of those" and then felt all confident and successful at the end.

Jumping between rain squalls

We had a great jump lesson today, and managed to only get drizzled on at the very end of the lesson.  It poured on the drive down and back.
John had us start over a cross rail, then over the vertical heading towards the barn (uphill).  From there, he had me make a right turn after going through the fences, so I had to use left rein to get Duke lined up with the fence.  Using this left (outside aid) was key to getting Duke lined up, and then it helped with the entire rest of the lesson.  Duke was gung-ho, and John had me ride him a bit more forward than I would have chosen on my own, and let the fence back him off.
After doing the vertical and oxer a few times, he made a course.  It was right hand turn to oxer, right hand turn to vertical, left hand turn to a vertical, four stride, oxer, and then after we did that a couple times, we added a triple combination (vertical, one stride, vertical, two stride, oxer) to the end.
The lesson was to change the way I rode the fences to adjust for each fence.  So the challenging right turn to the first oxer needed a lot of outside rein, but keeping him going forward.  The right hand turn to the vertical was a little uphill, so I needed to look up and keep him forward.  But then it was an open canter down a long side, and then give him a bit of a half halt but let him really go forward to make the four strides in between, and depending on how we came to the first fence, adjust what I was doing in between to make the four strides.  I flubbed it the first time but did better after John explained it.  Then to get into the combination, it was get in, one stride, then a quick half halt in between.
From there, we did a corner, first going uphill (twice), then downhill.  The first time uphill Duke thought about bobbing out to the left, but I thought he might since that it is his side he likes to go out on, so I was ready and put my left leg on and we made it over (although knocked the first rail down).  The second time was better.  He seemed to be equally surprised by it when we changed directions though, but thankfully, because he'd given me a heads up he might bulge the first way, I knew to be ready for it the second time.
John said in the warm up at the shows, use that outside rein to control his shoulders, and that should help with the rails, because he doesn't need as much adjustment on the distances as he does on not drifting left.
A jump lesson was just what I needed.  Work has been frustrating.

Draw reins after a flat tire

I got another flat tire on the trailer; this one just a few miles after leaving the barn.  It took a couple hours to get fixed, so I was quite late for my lesson.
John had us ride in draw reins, and Duke was sweet.  We did a bit of lateral work, a couple leg yields and then some canter serpentines (just to the quarter line and back).  John said that he was surprised by how quiet Duke has been, and me too, for how consistent we were all winter and how erratic my schedule has been for the month of August.  It's kind of a relief, so that if my work life gets crazy in the future, it might be easier on Duke than I thought it was going to be.  On the other hand, he was NOT happy about being in the trailer during the flat tire, and then scraped his nose up on the drive home.
During the lesson, John mostly had me work on making him more round, using half halts, an inside bend, and keeping the connection with my outside hand.

My job is to help Duke out

My main takeaway from Young Riders is that I'm not helping Duke enough; this has something to do with half halts; but I'm not quite sure what I'm not doing.  And I think I need to figure it out to be able to ride prelim.
He was ok in dressage; some of our scores were quite good and a few were quite low (but different than the other low scores).  He got tense when it started raining, and I didn't have quite enough time to get him to relax again.  I thought his lengthenings didn't show enough difference, but the judge was ok with the up, just not with the back down.  His trot lengthening was almost nonexistent because I was so afraid of what happened at Whidbey, which of course didn't happen again at all.
For show jumping, he was a little crabby about being ridden again, and then again about the rain.  John said the heat is his delicate skin, I think the rain is the same thing.  When it was raining he stood in the trailer with his nose only just barely aligned with the side, so the rain drops wouldn't get on him.  It was funny and pathetic.
So for show jumping, the course was set funny (John said 9' strides) so the distances were either long or short, but all just a bit off.  John - god bless him - told me just before I went in to get him round and on the bit and to shorten him.  And it made perfect sense, but hadn't occurred to me.  All that I thought of was go long or short.  So that helped tremendously.  We got two rails, but that was still better than at Rebecca, and the ride felt pretty good, AND watching prelim it was just a massacre of rails, so I was pretty happy with that.
For cross country today, Duke was a bit of a pistol in the warm up, just kind of crabby.  I think - maybe - his hind legs are feeling just a wee bit tight.  John worked us a bit, and had us do a gallop so we could come back from it.  Duke LIKED galloping.  For the course, we rubbed several of the fences pretty hard, but he jumped everything on the angle I put him on, and it rode pretty much like I wanted it to.  The sticky fence was #14 (out of the water) and it was just a funny angle in deep footing, and although Brooke told me how to ride it, I didn't get him turned quite as much as I planned, but bless his heart he jumped on out of it.  So this makes every show except Spokane I've felt ok about the fences, felt like I was seeing the lines and tricks and knew what to do, and not getting too nervous.
John said that we were a little too fast and flat at the start, and that I need to work on getting him back on his haunches (not slowed down, just rocked back), especially in the combinations.  He also said that Duke is going to get aggressive and racehorsey after he starts going faster, and so when I'm going back to the barn, take my time and lollygag around so he doesn't get quite so worked up about it.
I'm happy with Duke.  He tried his little heart out, and although we're still figuring each other out, and the being [this close] is kind of frustrating, I think he and I are going to be a good team.
It did not help that I only got four hours of sleep Friday night and had to work Fri, Sat, and Sun instead of being able to focus or do the other 1 million things that need doing.  So that was pretty irritating and frustrating.
Thank god for John.  He just reads me and knows Duke and knows the fences and the course and tells us what we need to hear at the time we need to hear it.  He's awesome.

Jumping in an oven

It was hot today.  Hot and still, so the air was heavy and thick.  Duke doesn't care much for heavy, hot, still, thick air.  He suggested, as we warmed up, that we should take one of the exits out of the jump arena, each time we went past.  I told him it would be worth it to wait and jump in the lesson and it was.
John had us start with just a bit of trot and canter, and he said to work more on getting the inside leg to outside hand connection, and then work on the inside bend.  When I used the diagonal aids, Duke got much more round than when I just used one.
We jumped a cross rail, then went right away to a vertical that had two ground poles and two guiding rails, making a chute.  Duke kind of clobbered his way through it the first few times, but when I didn't help him out, he decided to figure it out himself, and then we rode through it like it was a breeze.  Afterwards, John said that was a good decision to make, but it really felt like the only decision I could make - I'm not good enough to help him with each foot step, and I'm willing to go down with him if he doesn't figure it out on his own.  I'm glad he does though, because it felt great once he got it.
My job was just to count and try to keep the rhythm - 1-2-3-4-1-2-3-4 - although I did do a little bit of counterbend before the first turn and some teeny tiny half halts on the way in to balance him and keep him uphill and light, instead of letting him dive down and long and flat.
From there, we did a little oxer off the left lead, which rode pretty well.  But when we got a funny distance, John said keep the rhythm but make the canter bigger, and then you can add or you can go long.  So first we went long and then we added.  As much as I prefer to go long, adding felt a bit more comfortable.
From there we did a course - left lead over red oxer, right hand turn to black vertical, decide 7 or 8 to oxer (John made this because of the issues with the 5/6 line at Rebecca), left hand turn around the cross rail to plank vertical, three tight strides to an oxer (the best line we rode), right hand turn back to the ground poles and the chute (Duke scrambled through it again), right hand turn to a roll top with a vertical on it.
John said not to chase him.  That I can use leg and make his strides longer, but don't chase him into a long flat jump, because he likes to dive down and its unpleasant to ride compared to when he's uphill. It's ok to adjust strides when I see the distance is wrong, but keep the rhythm.  It was so easy to tell that John had been riding him because it felt the nicest I've ever ridden him over fences.
He said when Duke was there last week, and what I've experienced this week - he just really doesn't like the heat and gets uncomfortable.  John thinks it's his thin skin, like when you're a kid with the sweat and salt dried on you but you're wearing a shirt so you think the shirt is itchy. Duke kept stomping his left front foot, which I've never seen him do before.
Man, that was some nice jumping.  It made my whole week.

Week with John

Duke spent almost a week at Caber while I was in Florida with the family (and the rain).  I had a lesson before bringing him home, and he felt like he was moving with his back lifted and more quietly on the bit - more forward, I think, because my legs felt like they just had to hang there, not nagging him.
He was good at the trot, but a little bit tense, chewing on the bit and not quite going round and deep (as round and deep as I know John can ride him).  His canter surprised me (and him) - we both went shooting off, and I was grateful John was there to explain his aids, which are not as much leg slamming on as I do.  So Duke is now a delicate Maserati, who can spring forward (or back) without me having to lug on him.  It was pretty cool, and a nice reminder that I should not be as casual and sloppy with my aids.
I asked John what he could feel about the way I ride when he rode him, and he said that it feels like I give up just before Duke gives what I ask him to - as in, I ask him to get round, and he starts to go round, and then I think "good enough" and quit asking, although Duke is ready to give the last little bit.  Super useful.
He also said that as soon as Duke gives with his jaw, I need to immediately soften my hands - reward him immediately.  He said that Saturday they worked on a lot of walk/trot/walk/halt, and Duke got crabby about it (I am betting John's version of crabby is pretty different than mine), and that he also was a bit - I forget the word he used - snarky (?) in the heat.
I thought Duke felt great, and it was amazing to be able to send him forward and back so easy.  I'll ride again on Thursday, after I get my "sea legs" back.
The important difference in the canter aid was a) the sequence (inside bend, outside hand, inside leg, go) and b) the intensity (I slam both legs on casually and ignore his head).  To bring the canter back, all I had to do was a tiny bit of light outside rein.

Rebecca wrap up, "capable but anxious"

I should be happy with how Duke did at Rebecca, but I'm not, and I'm really struggling with why not.
He was 3rd to last after dressage, with a 39.8.  (First was a 26.9, so it wasn't like we were even close.)
however, it was absolutely amazing we even got through the test, because the first two days on the show grounds, he was completely overwhelmed.  I didn't ride him the first day (although with hind sight, I should have).
Let me back up.  Sunday I had to be in Eugene.  I spent six hours (instead of three) driving home, gave him the world's fastest bath, and showed up at Meg's in Ellensburg close to 11 pm.  Monday morning I got up early (before 5 am) and drove to Kalispell.  This would have been genius, had I known about the construction, which took almost an extra two hours in the cooking hot sun (over 90 degrees).
So that's why I didn't ride Monday.  I just felt bad that he rode in the trailer and just cooked all day.
So when I got on Tuesday, he'd had two days off, which is very unusual for us.
And although things were only just getting started, he was overwhelmed and tense and scared and nervous.
So John told me to ride him twice a day, but only briefly.
Well, on our second ride, I ran into Jessica who told me about the cows out on Phase A of roads and tracks, so the next day I wanted to walk past them on one of our rides, and that blew his mind as well.  All I could think about was how we were going to get eliminated on Phase A because we couldn't trot past some cows.
We went and practiced the jog on the track - I thought he'd be scared of the big white tent, but he didn't care about it at all.
So instead of working a few hours every day, I spent that extra few hours riding him a second time and walking him around and trying to get him used to the show grounds and atmosphere.
He was fine for jog 1, even though a few horses ahead of us, a horse got loose and ran away (and Brooke said ran into another horse, which then didn't pass inspection).
We got to do the steeplechase practice that afternoon, which was awesome.  He took off like he was shot out of a cannon and just got faster and faster and was SO EASY to ride over the fences (we got to do the first one, then the first and second one).  We walked back on Phase C of roads and tracks and he was ho-hum about the cows.
For dressage, John helped us a lot with warm up, and watched the test, which I thought was pretty ok, although his face said "meh" and our score was meh.  Given that I didn't think he'd be able to halt or even remotely be obedient, I was just glad we didn't eliminate. Until we got the score and saw our place, and then I was pissed we didn't do better.
Allison and Andrea suggested he might have ulcers - at least stress ulcers - and suggested I try omeprazolone (to take the edge off) and maybe give him one of the two months (?) of treatment, just in case.  That would make sense, with him being girthy, although I thought it was just the badly fitting saddles.  So I got him some ulcerguard and some nerve cookies, and I'm going to up his smartpak to put more gut health supplements in and see if that helps him.  It's not fair to him unless I give him every opportunity to do his best.
For cross country, Duke was a little nervous about Phase A (he trotted with his head straight up, looking for something to spook at), but once we started steeplechase, he was like "oh, ok, fun" and we shot around the steeplechase.  The time said 1:01, but I think it was 2:01 (instead of 2:29).  It was FAST.
He settled a bit in Phase C, and although he was pretty sweaty after steeplechase, the trotting was obviously less work and we cruised into the 10 minute box* almost dry.  And his temp was only 101. Brooke's crew went to town on him, and I just stood around.  So he did great in the 10 minute box.
He was kind of difficult on cross country.  After steeplechase, he just wanted to grab the bit and go, and the course was a little more technical than our other training courses, so it was kind of a jerky ride.  I had to battle with him the first three fences to listen, and then he screeched to a halt at the big hill and then again at the weird water.  Thankfully, neither of those were flagged, and after the two screeching halts, he started listening a little better.
I felt like we got the most technical moves done only by the skin of our teeth - the big table on a bending line to the corner (fences 9/10) and the coffin followed by a hard left to the bears (13 a/b/c?). He had no problem making up the time from the screeching halts and the slow down for the technical parts on the wide open parts, and he jumped every fence like a dream boat.  Brooke's mom said they were watching and he took off long, but I thought he was great.
When we got finished, his temp was only 102, so he didn't have to do a third check.  Also, the vet was a hottie.
For show jumping, I did not go out way ahead of time, and he was just a little stiff.  He got loosened up, and jumped the cross rail twice and the vertical once close to perfect, so I planned to walk five minutes, then do the vertical and oxer a couple times before we went in.
And then the fucking water truck came into the arena next to us and watered the entire rest of our warm up time.  Because the water truck was giving him conniption fits the first three days, I stayed on the far side of the arena, just walking, just trying to keep him calm, and maybe that was a mistake, but I didn't have enough time to try to get near it, have him freak out, and then calm him down again. So we didn't get to jump again, just walk for 10 minutes, and when we went in to do the test, he clobbered the first rail, fourth rail, and seven a and c.  Four fucking rails, out of 12.  It was humiliating.
Brooke said he was long and flat, and I don't know if that was from the big long walk or if he was flat before.  He was smooth, consistent, and obedient; he just doesn't give a shit if he hits a rail.  I don't know if he would have perked up if we'd done the warm up oxer a few times, or if I would have even noticed he was flat.  So this part was really really really disappointing.  The only silver lining is we were already in 13th place, so it wasn't like we had a ribbon and then lost it.
He ended in 12/25, but if we hadn't gotten four rails ...
He did a lot of things very well, and it was better than the last time I was there (eliminated in steeplechase) and better than Whidbey (eliminated in dressage) and I felt like I was the least prepared I'd ever been for a show, and I wanted to scratch because I was so unprepared, so I don't know why I'm so mad about how we did.  He did a good job.  I just wanted to do better.
And more than that, I guess I don't know what I did wrong and what we could have done better.  I think he did the best he could.
One of the judge's comments was that we were 'capable but anxious' which is so accurate about me it kind of gives me the heebie jeebies.
After show jumping, I finally went and talked to Devocoux.  I rode in two demo saddles, which seemed to fit both Duke and I perfectly (poor guy got ridden two more times, I swear he has the patience of a saint), and my Jete went to Schleese on consignment.  I started crying, because it was custom made for Charlie, and then couldn't stop.
I hope that saddles that actually fit him will help us push through this phase and gear up for the next.  I think he is a sweet, generous horse who is trying hard, but is saddled (har har) with idiot me.  And the only cure for idiot me is more time with John.

10 minute box details:
Duct tape, halter with number, extra shoes (and studs), two buckets, two sponges, two scrapers, mounting block, human water
Set up 1 hour ahead
Come in, they want to see him trotting to make sure not lame
Put halter on over bridle, loosen bridle and girth
Get temp, resp, pulse
102-103 is hot - sponges and scrape multiple times
Look for cuts and scrapes
At 6 minutes, vet will ask to trot in lane
At 5 minutes, tighten girth and bridle back up
At 4 minutes, get back on and start walking over to start box

At finish, he'll be checked when he comes in
Take tack off
Check again at 10 minutes (Duke didn't need)
Be careful with studs if you take boots off
Put in stall, let him pee and drink and have some down time to himself

Halt is beyond us right now

The training test A has one halt, at the end.  The three day test has three halts, spread pretty evenly throughout.  Yesterday, Duke could barely manage the halt at home, but during warm up at John's, he was ok.  I told John, and we started, and Duke was pretty ok, but a few halts in he started to panic.
So the silver lining is John was sitting right there, and worked us through it, but the cloudy part is that we spent our last lesson before Rebecca working on the halt.  (Instead of on the "hard" moves in the test.)
John had us do lots and lots and lots and lots of boring transitions of varying lengths.  One gait difference only - so halt - walk - halt - walk - trot - walk - trot - walk - halt - etc.  NOT trot to halt or walk to canter.
He said to do that in warm up at the show.  Just make it not a big deal.  If Duke is starting to get wound up - afraid of what is about to happen next - just be like "dude, chill, you've got this".
And if he gets wound up in the arena, then blow the move and let him relax.
John also said to give him a bit of leg yield if he's wound up.  Even if it's the middle of the test, move him over.
John also had me give a lot with my hands, at trot and at canter.
He said Duke did better than he expected (since last November, when this happened, it took me a month to teach him to halt again), but still, this blows.  I feel like we're going into an exam for a class I never attended and naked.
By panic, I mean he spun, stepped sideways, smashed my leg into the wall, stuck his head straight up in the air, and twisted around.
What's the worst that happens?  we get eliminated in dressage again (and so I'm eliminated 2 out of 3 times at Rebecca). What's better than that?  We finish the show.  Jesus, the bar is low.
But a year ago, I could hardly steer him around a show jumping course and he was so unbalanced at the canter he was hard to ride going to the right.  So this is progress, Martha, try to remember that.

The poor man's rear

John explained everything.
Duke gets nervous when he hears noises and he can't see the source (what we thought was going on in November), so it probably was the horse behind the hedge.
Two things I could have done:
First, when he started getting tenser and tenser, on the long side, going away from the judge, give him the reins a little and let him relax his neck down.  And then, if he's still tense, just give up on the lengthening and just ride the canter (or trot) normal and take the hit on the score.
Second, when he goes backwards, bend my hands - JUST A TINY BIT - and steer him around in a curve.  John said that sometimes when their hip has to move under them, it breaks up the panic.
He said that thoroughbreds do this - they feel trapped and they panic and they freeze and they plant their feet.  It's fear, that's why I could feel his little heart beating under my leg - not being naughty.  And that smacking/kicking will not ever work, and might eventually make him rear, because the running away backwards was "the poor man's rear" which made me laugh for way too long.
Then he told me and Meg about his first Rolex, when his horse got afraid of the motor in a camera, and he did a gallop lap around the inside of the dressage arena before going back to his test (then going home, and buying one of the motors to make the noise at home).
He told me not to use reins/kick because he had three thoroughbreds in a row that reared and flipped on him - he said they're so frozen they just throw themselves down on the ground.
The other silver lining here is that until my lesson, I had completely forgotten that after the November incident, it took me months to get Duke to stand still in the halt again.  John had said I might just have to - really fast - halt-salute-be done, and so he's actually done quite well this whole show season for what we were starting with.
The whole thing made me feel SO much better, and I was so afraid that John was going to tell me I was a fuck up, which he's never done, so I don't know why I was so anxious about what he would say.  I guess I was afraid he was going to say that it wasn't a fixable problem, but instead, he knew just how to fix it, and - I hadn't been that far off in thinking about it.  I *knew* he was getting tense, I just didn't do anything about it earlier, and just knowing that will help us a lot in the future.

I thought jumping would be a good idea, and John said that if I had my dressage saddle, he was going to make us do easy circles out in the field.  We kept it low key and fun for Duke, so it was just going over a little plank a few times.  John said if he stopped I'd be in trouble, but Duke just popped over it like it was not big thing.
Then we did a vertical that had two poles angled on it, and each lap John pushed the tops of them (on the rail) closer together, so that we had to get more and more and more precise.  Duke also jumped this like it was no big thing.
Then we did a five stride plank to gate, and we rode this just fine so John had us stop there.  He said what he liked about that fence was that on stride 3, I saw the distance, and put my leg on so that we would make it.  He said he also would have been ok if we jumped in short and on stride three, I sat up so that we made it a six stride.
Then he showed the levels of riding, and he said the first level is that you just ride through the fences on whatever you've got.  The next level he said is the hardest, at this one, you see the distance but you don't ride it correctly, so you're just flailing.  He said this one is hard on everyone, and it's where I was about two years ago (I vividly remember the months of flailing, and how frustrating it was, and how he told me then that it was part of the process and to trust that we would get through it and then suddenly it would be so much easier).  The next level is being able to adjust about 6' out - you have some adjustability and can fit in that last stride in that six foot window.
From there is about 3', then 2', then 1', then you're at the Olympics.  He said at 1', you can put the horse in place for every fence so that they never knock down a rail.  You just get better and better at seeing where you want to put the horse.
So then I walked Duke around the cross country field where he got scared of a weed blowing in the wind, but other than that, was pretty relaxed.
We leave in a week for Montana, which is a day earlier than I thought, so it's going to be a tight week, and the next week, my timing was bad with the farrier, so he's going to have a couple days off the weekend before Montana, and then a few days off when we get back (!!).

I told John I didn't want to go to Montana and get eliminated and he asked what would Duke learn from NOT going to Montana.  (Nothing) And what does he need? (Experience) So he said the whole thing was why we definitely should go to Montana.  Good points.
I'm so, so, so lucky to be able to learn from John.  Good lord.

Whidbey's lesson was why John said to get a horse you like

Duke freaked out in dressage and we got eliminated.
We got there Thursday, I rode him around, he was a little tense, particularly around the hedges.
So I gave him a Thursday evening walk and a walk this morning through the hedges, eating and having a good time.
He was fine in warm up, but got more and more tense as the test went on.  When we got to the third to last move (F to H trot lengthening) he broke to a canter then froze in place.  Then he did the idiot thing where he turns his head only, but won't move his body.  After I tried to move him a bit, I kicked him and he ran backwards out of the ring.
Anne Appleby was our judge, and bless her heart, she didn't honk the horn while he was frozen.
I jumped off once we were out of the ring, because he was getting ready to bolt, and I didn't want him to screw up someone else's test.
This is the same thing he did back in October, when I went to see John the next day, in a panic.
I think - but do not know - that the person warming up in the cross country field, whose head was barely visible bobbing above the hedge - freaked him out.  But even if it did, he should have still listened to me.
(SIGH)
We had one of the corrals, and I got this rock star parking place, but for future reference, my trailer did not fit out, and the roses scratched the shit out of it on both sides.  I had to creep out past people, but it couldn't have made the turn with or without people.

Dressage lesson with John (first lesson in County)

Today's dressage lesson was awesome.  I had an enormous list of questions for John. He looked at my dressage test from Inavale, said "maybe" we can do the 1* at Rebecca next year, the powder on his gloves is from his baseball days, yes, Duke can stay two times in August but he doesn't know how much he can ride the week before his show, he thinks I can adjust midstream between fences (I said I couldn't, and we talked about how time is going slower and I can think more and react more and make decisions in between fences, which he says I couldn't do as much even a few months ago), for lengthening with my seat, that's fine, but I should also try to use my leg (use BOTH) because to lengthen (or shorten) before a show jumping fence, I need Duke to know the leg aid as well as the seat aid because there isn't time to sit down and then give the leg aid, for cross country at Inavale, the fences he saw were fine (and then we talked about the flow of courses and how fun it is to have just a minute of gallop with some inviting fences), how much Kaitlyn liked Ashley's lesson and why (and then we looked out the door and Kaitlyn was walking around so she had just fallen off), the next shows (Young Rider, he says is ok; Spokane three day he says no, too much to do two in a row and he is not crazy about Rebecca because he doesn't want Duke to get all strung out and crazy; and for California, maybe, we'll see), lessons next week (Brooke is there for camp end of the week), and my job. John said the difference between Duke and Charlie is that when Charlie got going, he got on the forehand, but when Duke gets going, he is more on his hindquarters, which makes it easier to push him forward to the fence - and more comfortable to push him and ride over those fences too.
THEN we rode.
We started by shortening his stride at the walk, and then trotting with just a tiny bit of outside bend.  From there, we got him bent to the inside, and then John had us do a lot of lateral work.  First we came down the centerline, changing direction each time.  John said to line up with the judge, and then use the judge to stay in the same line, so we block A and from the judge's view A is blocked the entire ride.  Then we did a quarter line to the wall, then lengthening on the long side, then we did canter lengthenings on the long side.  About mid-way through the lesson, a light bulb went off for Duke, and then he really tried to lengthen, and it was kind of amazing.  I rode around grinning, because I'd just ask him a little bit and he'd stretch out and then compress back.
We did some 15 meter circles, 10 meter circles, and turning at E then turning again at B.  Duke was sweet and compliant and tried and generous the whole lesson, and he was just an absolute delight to ride.
The takeaway, unfortunately, is that I can ride awesome when John is there, but I don't have enough of a grasp of it yet to be able to articulate everything we did.  It was a lot of feel and not as much step-by-step memorization like I've been doing.  Sweet Duke got sweaty, and afterwards, we walked down the road to cool off, and even then he still had a foamy butt.
Man, I love lesson days.

Jumping in young rider's camp course

John squeezed me in after young rider's camp, so I got to ride with an audience (yech) and in an arena with a big full course set up (yay).  Even better, Ashley rode Rambo part of the ride with me, so that was nice.
John had me start on a circle, getting him round.
From there, we rode a circle with two ground poles.  This was as hard as it was with Christa a couple weeks ago, and John suggested a counter bend around 1/4 of the circle, then, a few strides before the next pole, go back to regular bend.  That helped a lot.
From there, we went around the circle, over the pole, then down the line to a plank.  Around the 4th time, John asked me how many times I was going to jump it over on the left hand side, so from there I fixed it.
But for the love of god, it never occurred to me to fix it on my own (or notice).
Then we were supposed to ride it as a six stride line, but I rode it as five (twice) and then finally the. third time got it in six (I had to say "whoa" with my mouth) and then we rode it in four.  four was the easiest.
Then we rode a similar line going the other direction.
Then we rode a triple, which was a vertical, two stride forward, oxer, one stride, vertical.  Duke tripped between the oxer and vertical, and then heaved himself into the air and I swear levitated over the second vertical so that he wouldn't touch a rail, which amused John, since he just blows around hitting rails at the shows.
John said (about the drift) that I need to set up like 7 cardboard cutouts of him around the arena, which I agree with.  I think Duke respects John.
It was a great lesson - once I was riding I quit thinking about all the kids watching me, and the main takeaway was John said to balance him before I start the turn - that if I do a little bit of counterbend and then balance, I come into the whole line correctly, but it's when we puke over the first one unbalanced that I can't really get it back.
Even though it was drizzly and cool, Duke got pretty sweaty.  I was thinking on the way down it's probably good that John is an hour away, because I leave work so wound up and tense and upset and I don't want to do anything but be mad, but by the time I get there, I've calmed down some.  And then after I ride with John, I always feel better.  But damn, I am tired of how much work drains me.

Jump lesson with Christa - full course

Christa and I had a jump lesson before it got really hot today.  First we got to walk around the cross country course, which was nice; then I watched the end of the prior lesson, so I got to see what the course was going to be.
John had us start with a little plank (which I, stupidly, completely missed for like three circles, inexplicably), but it was what felt like a really tight turn.  So this made us have to ride off the outside rein and leg to get the bend right to get to the fence, and after we got it, he switched direction, and then raised the fence.  This was a genius way to warm up for the course; it got Duke listening and soft and bent in just a few circles.
From there, we went down a four stride line, which was kind of a forward four.  We did this a few times - I never felt like I got it quite perfect - and then we went onto the course.
The course was a black & white oxer off the right lead heading uphill (to the barn), left hand turn around to the four stride line, left hand turn up to an angled yellow & white oxer, with a six or seven stride bending line to the plank (which was the first fence of the four stride line), then a right hand turn to another angled oxer, on a straight line to angle over a gate/red vertical, then five strides on that line, then left hand turn around to a triple, which was a vertical, one stride, oxer, two strides (with a whoa!), vertical.
The first time through Duke did it, but I made a lot of little yelpy noises because it was ugly.
What was interesting though, was that after I rode it the first time, I kind of figured it out.  So the next time through I didn't get my first fence like I wanted it, so I asked John to start over.  He said that's fine, but that at the show, if Duke is just pulling the bit and not listening, halt, make a little circle, and then start again.  Make him snap to attention before we go over the first fence, when it's too late to really have enough space to fix it.  So I did, I had him bend to the outside, go a stride or two forward, then come back, THEN we went over the first fence, and it was MUCH better.  Not perfect, but much better.
I had to say "whoa" between the final oxer and vertical, which surprised Duke and made him whoa, which helped us get out of the vertical very nice.  Duke touched one fence, like once, so John said he doesn't know wtf is going on at the shows.  He said he thinks that I am more relaxed in my lessons probably.
It was also great to watch Christa.  Her mare was rubbing several fences, just getting lazy with her feet, so John had her bump a rail, and then, when she went back to doing it, he put a ground line after the oxer before the vertical, and that made her snap to attention.
Duke was a little peckish after yesterday's work (he ran away when he saw me coming to get him this morning), but he perked up a bit for the fences.  I'm not sure he could have done a whole lot more though, without getting sloppy.  He was glad to get home early and stretch back out in the pasture, I think.
It was a great confidence building lesson.  When I was looking at the course, it looked busy.  John said he should never ride a course this complex at a show, so he "should" be able to go clear at the show (eventually ....).
Christa and I did another lap afterwards, and she said we should make a team with Meg with a goal of the 1* at Rebecca next year.  That would be so awesome.