Half halts and the importance of a proper jumping warm up

While we had a serious improvement in our jumping, it was a rough lesson.  John had us do lots of flat warm up - bending Duke outside, then inside, then changing direction, making 15 meter and 10 meter circles, getting him very round, asking him to go forward a bit, and then asking for half steps.
He then started us into the fences right away, and told me to keep the canter the same as it was on the flat.  Duke did great until we started the combinations, and then he'd rush a bit on the far side, but he'd come back pretty much right away, as soon as I gave him the aids.
John had me at the end work on circles again, more trot, and down transitions, similar to the warm up, but a bit more focus on bend.
Duke got pretty sweaty, and I was struggling, but I'm not sure why.
We started with a cross rail, then vertical, then changed directions over the black and white vertical, jumped the plank, then the plank to oxer, oxer to vertical, then slightly bending line oxer to vertical.
A few times we had to circle 10 meters or 15 meters in between, but Duke quieted down.
John said that I need to commit to riding modified and then prelim; that Duke can handle the height and the dressage test (if I ride it and don't wuss out), and that it's just modified.
He said that when I'm riding, I need to ask for more from Duke.  Ask him to be round and don't let him get away with flipping his head and blowing me off.
I'm glad we did better, and I'm glad he worked me through the warm up I need to ride, but I've been pretty anxious about how far we slipped (and today I felt super out of shape and fat, even before I got to the lesson - not enough hours so I'm half-assing everything) with show season starting next weekend.  I'm not sure we're ready for the big leagues, even with the step in between.

Tempered the jumping a little bit

We jumped outside today, and Duke started out with his same ... eager ... approach.  He quieted down towards the end, but I think he just got tired, rather than me riding better.
John had us bend him to the right in the warm up - Duke was very resistant, and later John explained that he needs to bend and not just hang on the left rein.
We started over the plank, then plank with a pole, then a vertical, and then did an oxer - 6 stride - vertical, and we had some problems getting the line.  We had to halt a few times on the far side, rather than Duke motorcycling around the corner.  Then we turned left, then we made a figure 8, with a plank to an oxer, and then oxer to vertical.
Duke got pretty wound up, and John had us circle, then ride past it without jumping, then ride just the oxer without jumping the second vertical.  Then he had put up a guiding pole (leaning on the front of the oxer) and gradually inched it forward.  We did this fine while it was just a circle over the oxer, but as soon as we added the vertical back in, I jumped the oxer too far to the left.
Duke listened, in between the fences, but he was still very forward, and I'm pretty anxious about how the show season will start.  It feels like we've gone very far backwards since our great jumping this winter, but I'm not sure why.

Amazing dressage lesson

Today was a great dressage lesson, where I felt a lot of what John's been teaching me start to really make sense.
We worked on not breaking the connection by bending my wrist or putting my elbow forward.  Duke responds much better when my elbow is "connected" to my hip, and I pull straight back with it, rather than curling my wrist.
We also worked on connection from the inside leg to the outside rein, and shifting from a "C" to the inside of the circle to renvers (a "C" to the outside of the circle).  We did this by riding 10 meter circles, changing directions, and then leg yielding - just a bit - out to make the circle bigger.
Duke was great.
I, however, need to work on my posture.  In both canter and in trot, I need to sit up - pull my shoulderblades back, and in the canter, put my seat down (sit - glide - sit - glide) and then let my knees go "long", which felt a little bit like pushing my legs forward just a bit.
This was one of the very intense "feel" lessons, where I felt the aids connect to get the result, but it is - once again - hard to describe.  I don't know if that's because it's about feelings, which don't translate well into words - or if it's because it's still just a little bit too new and I'm just grasping the concepts.
Either way, Duke felt great.  It feels like we've made so much progress in two years.

Jump lesson - Duke still spicy

Tonight we jumped in a solo lesson, but Duke was still grabbing the bit and rushing at the fences.
John had me half halt, bend him to the outside, steer him (both hands) to the inside, and halt after the fences.  We jumped little fences, and John had me kind of sneak up on them, but once Duke caught on we were jumping, he was still an eager beaver.
It was a good lesson to work on riding him, but it was kind of frustrating that we're still struggling with this.  I'm not quite sure what's going on.

Dressage on the jalapeño

That's a bit of a misnomer, because Duke has actually been pretty good under saddle (other than the one day I let him go crazy) on the flat - it's just over fences that he's excitable.
John had us work on a 10 meter circle at the trot and then canter, and then go out to a 20 meter circle and back in.
Duke was really great, but John pushed us to get more round and for me to not just accept as much as Duke gave.  He had me pull my right elbow (at that point, it was the outside elbow) into my rib cage, which Duke reacted very strongly to, so it must be an aid that John uses regularly.  It helped make him round.
He also had me half halt by closing my legs and squeezing (and slowing down the trot by slowing down my posting or sitting - I posted slower) and then, once Duke was round, doing on-off-on-off leg aids.
I did - I think for the first time - think "inside leg to outside hand" and then did it, and then thought "omg, I just finally did it" so that was kind of cool.  I mean, it's taken 30 years, but I finally got it.
John wanted me to sit up and down more in the saddle, not in the perched half seat, but with my seat bones down in the saddle.  With short reins this was hard, I had to really use muscles to push myself back.  But once I was there, I could really wrap my legs down and around Duke, and feel like I was lifting him up into me.
We talked about changing his grain when he's done with his current bag.  John said the Omolene 200 makes them hot - it has a lot of carbohydrates - and Duke doesn't need to gain weight.

Continued jalapeño

We rode with John's Oregon student today; John wanted to see if Duke was a firecracker because there was another horse there (and work on it) or if he's just full of energy.  Well, it could be either because he was still a firecracker.
We had to ride into the wall to halt (then pat him) and do some half halts on the way in.  Duke wanted to grab the bit and just lunge at the fences.  It was easy to stay with him, but not terribly fun to ride, kind of frustrating.
The funniest part was when John said "whoa" really quiet and Duke pretty much came to a standstill. We all cracked up, and John said he guessed he'd have to stand in the middle of the show arena and do a "whoa whoa" rain dance.

Duke the jalapeño

We jumped last night with Christa, and man, Duke was ready to go.  I put him out in the round pen first, which evoked one leap, but that was about it.
Then I got on him, and he was like "yyyaaaaasssss!"
We could not share with Christa.  Instead, I had to ride him to a halt, because he'd LEAP the final stride and then charge after the fence.  I saw Parker ride one of John's horses using the wall to halt a few weeks ago, so I did that, until he got calmer and we could halt earlier, and by the end, we didn't need to halt at all, we could make the turn (a figure 8 from an oxer to a vertical which I saw Andrea doing last weekend and thought I could never ever do) and go to the next fence.
John checked him about half way through, after he got sweaty, to see if his leg muscles were tensing up, and he was ok, but he said not to go to OHC this weekend.  I thought Duke was just too wound up, but John was focused on him coming back up to work after the incident.

Dressage after the "incident"

On Monday, Duke was a little rowdy and then declared he was completely and utterly lame in his left hind (and if he put weight on it, then on his right hind).  Tuesday he got hand walked, Wednesday lightly ridden, Thursday a bit more, Friday a bit more, and yesterday a dressage lesson.  He was tossing his head when he picked up the canter Wednesday - Friday, but not with John there, although John did have to walk next to us at the start with his hand on the inside rein to get Duke round and on the bit (and then he stayed there, pretty much).
We worked on using the leg to do down transitions, halting, then walking again, and twice a rein back.
Take aways:
For hand aids on down transitions, it isn't a heavy contact, but a squeeze and release while I am closing my legs.
For halting, soften my hands once he halts.  (Thanks to John, Duke then drops his head.)
For rein back, tilt forward on my pelvis, then pick one side, then the other.  Duke did these fine.  Well, he did the first one great.  The second one we went in a curve.
At the canter, he needed to be more round, and this is a half halt with the outside rein, and then a bit of give and release with the inside.
After John has ridden him, Duke's back is much more lifted, he's much more quick to respond to the aids, and he prefers for me to ride him off of my leg instead of off of my hand.
Great lesson, but John said not to jump him until Wednesday, just in case it was tying up, so that everything works out of his system.  He said sometimes a horse can make himself so anxious that it looks like tying up.  He also said that letting Duke rip around to get his ya-yas out isn't ever going to work.  I'm going to give him a similar workout today, John will give him a harder workout on Monday and Tuesday, then we'll try jumping on Wednesday.