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.