"Feel" and jump lesson

I had an epiphany about "feel".  It's taken a while for me to learn it, but when I talk about how Duke is "talking" to me, it's feel.  And that's thanks to re-reading the books, understanding that feeling what the horse is doing and responding to it is "feel."  I get now how some people have that instinctually, and how I've had to learn it by repetition and John's instruction, but at least I can do it a little bit.  It's been - probably - mostly riding Duke after John's ridden him that's taught it to me.  Very interesting.

Brief jump lesson summary - John said we still have a bad drift, but our distance is ok, that what I need to do is keep Duke between my legs (perpendicular to the fence) so that he doesn't twist in the air over the fence.  He thinks it might be the twist that's catching the rails at the show.  The other part is setting him up ahead of time - doing that bit of counter bend around the corner and then not rushing towards the fence.
There was, of course, much more to the lesson, which was great - with Duke making great turns and jumping huge fences and coming back to me well, and it was a great confidence booster.
The one thing I'm nervous about now is down banks into the water, but I'll ask John when we walk xc if I should just school it to be safe.
Duke's a great horse, John's a great instructor, and I'm pretty lucky to have a life where I can work with both of them.

Super quick summary of jump lesson

We jumped a few days ago, but I am so behind in unpacking and mowing and etc. that I haven't posted.  It was a good lesson; Duke felt great after John rode him while I was in San Fran - his back felt lifted, his mouth was soft, and he was very forward.  We jumped a few singles, then a vertical on each side of a circle, then John made a very complicated course, which Duke jumped dreamy, even though I forgot where we were a few fences from the end.  John said just circle next time I forget.
We worked on putting six strides into a five stride line, and then at the end John had us work on the flat.  The huge lightbulb was the half halt, closing my legs, keeping them closed, and then giving the rein aid.
Today Duke saw the farrier and John said from now on, always have the farrier at least 10 days before a show starts.

Dressage lesson

We had a good ride and John talked me through some of the issues from EI.  He said he was hard on me because I hadn't learned the letters for the dressage test and was looking for them, that when Duke was stiff, I didn't help him relax, and that yes, I do need to work on my posture.  He said I should wear the shoulders back aid at work.  He also said that the trainer next to him said she didn't know that he had students with bad equitation, and when I looked horrified, said she was sort of joking with him.

He said Duke helped me out a lot in jumping, but that he thinks that Duke was doing it for me - that he wouldn't necessarily do it for John or for Ashley and that I should be proud we finished a prelim together when neither of us had ever done one.  (And therefore, I'm not wasting Duke's potential, if he's happy with me.)

He said that we can only think of so many things at once, and so that's part of why I couldn't feel and fix things, but that some of it I should know.

He also said that we need to improve before we can move home, and to plan on staying all of June (until Inavale) but it's not written in stone.

For the lesson, we worked on 10 meter and then 20 meter circle, bending Duke and then counterbending, and then feeling him go round and giving.  For the canter, we worked on me actually sitting down, and feeling the difference in the moment of lift in his canter when I had my butt planted in the saddle, vs. flattening him out by leaning forward.

As always, a very useful lesson, and good discussion.  And Duke was lovely, and I wish we could translate that directly into the show ring.  As I type it, I realize that no one can - that's part of the show pressure.  

God damn, I'm lucky to be able to ride with John.

EI - our first prelim

Woooo.  We learned a lot and have so much to work on, but successfully completed.
Quickly:
Icing is 20 minutes - 15 off - 20 minutes.  Whenever he exerts himself.
Scrub his legs with betadine after he goes through water, to keep from getting little infections in the little scratches.
Put baby powder inside his boots to help prevent rubs.
Wrap immediately after icing, unless it's so hot he's standing in the stall sweating.  Wrapping later doesn't help.
No hay or grain two hours before he goes cross country.
He gets a hack on Monday and Tuesday off after an event.

Our dressage was good in warm up, but he was resistant in test.  We need to improve that, so when I tell him to leg yield, he does it, and doesn't gnash his jaw and stiffen his neck.  And I need to SIT UP.
That's good though - we could do it in warm up - so we just need to move it over to the test.  And he did the 4 steps of rein back!!

Cross country started rough - he was good in warm up, but the first half (10 fences) were like he'd never jumped before.  He seemed surprised, would leap up over them like a deer, land in a heap, and then shoot off again.  Then we had a refusal at the down bank into the water (which apparently several horses had trouble with), which led to time penalties as well.  However, after that we pretty much got our shit together and the second half of the course (the bigger half) was smooth and great.  We had to scramble over a few fences at the start, especially the "roller coaster" with a dip.  He just wasn't listening to my leg telling him to go forward.

Show jumping warm up was spectacular.  Then we took a break while we waited and I fell apart.  So he saved me on the first fence (we got two rails, but Ashley and Katy said it was his left drift that got me), and then it went pretty well.

I'm going to San Fran for four days this weekend, and John said it's too long.  He was hard on me in the warm ups, but at the end said we saw what to work on the rest of the season and it was good I completed.  Duke came in 11 out of 21, but after dressage we were fourth from the bottom (18).  I couldn't have done it without John.  I wasn't shaky nervous, but I wasn't comfortable.