Circle aids and truck advice

I was toying this week with whether I should start looking for Monolith's replacement.  John had some great advice:

I should first take it to a dealer and see how much it is worth as a trade-in.  He said it is a power stroke and that adds to its value.

Fords are pretty reliable and rarely need repairs, but when they do, they tend to be very expensive.

Dodge have the best engines.

Chevy have the most comfortable interiors.

If I can drive one home, Texas, Wisconsin, and Florida have the best used ones.

I should go test drive each kind and see which is most comfortable.  He has a Dodge because he needs the strong engine, but based on his comments, I leaned towards a Chevy.  He said the seat adjustment in the Chevy helps ease the tension on your hips when you're driving.

He also said that yes, a F350 (or equivalent) in case I want to get a trailer with living quarters, that a 350 would be able to pull that no problem.

I forgot to ask him about short beds vs. long beds.

I looked online this week at Fords in Washington, and there were several F350s for sale, generally around 2010-2011.  They had huge variations in the mileage and decent variations in price too.  So I guess I'll go sit in a few and test drive them, and then start shopping.  He said he had a very specific list of requirements, and it took four months for him to find the right truck.

For my lesson, we worked on using the leg aids to get the proper circle shape.  I felt like I got this a little bit better than I have been in prior lessons.

When approaching the wall, I use my inside leg to push him round and into the curve along the wall, but as we leave the wall and go into the open space of the arena, I use my outside leg to keep his shoulder on the circle track and not drift out into a hexagon shape.  Then, as we start to enter the turn across from the wall (in the center of the arena), I use my inside leg again to keep him round on the track.  From there, it's back to outside leg to bend us back to the wall, and then inside leg again, back at the start.

We did it several times - it was "easier" to do on a 10 meter circle than a 20 because I had to go in-out-in-out in quick succession, but once I could feel his shoulders staying on the track, when we went out to the 20 meter circle I could repeat it (for a little while, but then he would drift and I wouldn't feel it as much).

John said that Duke seemed pretty good today and I said yes, but yesterday he thought about being naughty at the halt (there was a succession of odd noises and he just got more agitated as the ride went on) and John said he might have to wear a bonnet at shows and my halts might just have to be super fast.  Duke does a lot better at John's though, where he can see what the cause of the noises are, so I think at most shows, he'll probably be more like he is at John's than he is at home.  It is kind of frustrating though, because I don't have the same ride at home to practice as I do at John's.  I spend more time trying to keep him calm (and yesterday, on the rail, instead of shying at the stuff lined up next to the wall).  It's probably good practice for if I'm ever in that situation at a show, but it will be nice when the days are longer and I can ride outside again and focus more on what I'm working on in my lessons.