10 meter to 20 meter circles

We had a quick lesson tonight because fat, out of shape Duke (and ahem, me) got sweaty too quick for how cold it was going to be.
We worked on 10 meter circles, with a good inside bend, then we'd either leg yield out onto the 20 meter circle (the 10 meter at 3 touched the 20 meter at 9) or change direction and keep the outside bend, bend the haunches in, and then bend the neck in.
John said that is a good exercise for helping bend through the body, especially when he's stiff and resistant, because he kind of gets tricked by the change of direction.
After we did the circles with haunches way way in, I could really feel the spring in his back end, and it made the canter (although a bit rushed and unbalanced) feel WAY better than the canter we've had at home.
This is the beginning of our hell month, after last month's hell-of-not-riding month, and so John gets to ride him a bunch and he stays at Caber.  This will also hopefully give the rain a chance to start and kind of pack down my new arena sand.

Dressage lesson - foot still gimpy

Not lame, but Duke's right front foot - maybe because it was a little short and then the shoe got reset twice, feels just a hair off.  I can't feel it at home (in the too deep sand that John says yes, can cause soft tissue damage), but I felt it at John's.
October might have been my lightest lesson month ever - just the one dressage lesson.  Probably lightest riding month ever too.  I told John that he was right - Duke got pissy without the regular work.  He said if he runs away again, just give up and leave him out for a while.
He checked my trailer, we talked about work, talked about my bloodwork, Duke's weight, and November schedule.
I rode, then we took a break so Ashley could jump Luca, then finished off the lesson.  We both agreed that we were both pleasantly surprised Duke and I weren't worse after the time off.  So I guess that's good news.
We worked on getting him a bit rounder - just using my legs to shape the curve, giving a little with the inside rein, once doing a little bit of counterbend.
It was a light lesson as far as instruction (and he took some video but then didn't say anything about it).  I needed to use my legs in different places (e.g. one in front of the girth, other in regular spot) to get him round.
In November, John will ride him a fair amount because I have three different weeks where he needs to be at Caber because I have ridiculous all day meetings several days in a row.  And I'll squeeze in a few rides around those and a few lessons, but by December we'll hopefully be back to regular work.