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.