Jump lesson with Christa

John started our jump lesson by making me ride without stirrups at the posting trot because I hadn't told him Christa was coming too.  When it got too pitiful, he had me switch to standing up in the stirrups; he wanted my ankles to drop, but my damn ankles weren't interested.  I had to hang on to Duke's breastplate to even stay up.
We did some trot and canter work, then worked our way through the grid - cross rail with ground poles, then to vertical, then to oxer.  Like last week, my job was to not let Duke put his head down and run on the far side.  We did better than last week, but I still had to ram him into the wall a couple times.
One time it worked great, and it was partly how I lined him up coming in, partly that I stayed balanced all the way through, and partly magic.  The rest of the times, I fucked something up.
Near the end, John suggested that I say "whoa" over the last fence (and also had me look the direction I wanted to go).  Like every other time John has reminded me of this, "whoa" out loud works amazing with Duke, yet it never occurs to me to do.
I have a trailer tire going flat, and like last year with my car tire, couldn't find an easy place to fill it on the way home.  So that's the next irritant to deal with.