Increasing the depth is using outside hand and inside leg

 Because I was all frazzled about an upcoming appellate oral argument, I knew I was going to have trouble focusing, and so John only gave me a few things to remember. So I hopefully can remember them all.

First, when I pick up the reins, or make any other movement, I don't have to do it huge and abruptly. I like GRAB the reins and move jerkily. I can be more subtle.

Second, John suspects part of Duke's anxiety isn't so much from "noisy" hands (like I was thinking, after he had a few days with John and then had to "listen" to me), but from me giving too many aids too quickly. He said Duke isn't terribly responsive, so I give an aid, he doesn't immediately respond, so I give a different one. He said give Duke a second or two between aids, to make the communication about each aid more clear and distinct.

Third, we worked on making Duke more round (more deep). The aids are simple, but have been elusive for me. It is getting the correct amount of inside bend, holding inside hand steady, and then doing squeeze/release with outside hand to make him round. And inside leg to that hand to keep him moving forward, and then sometimes outside leg to keep him from bulging out on the circle instead of going round.

So. Simple.

Yet has been completely out of my grasp until yesterday.

We also talked about Duke's incident at Caber 1.0 and why it wasn't the same at Caber 2.0, and what to try different. We both agreed that last year's approach (lesson Wed, John rides Thurs, I ride Fri, lesson Sat) helped me learn much more quickly than just lessons twice a week. There was something about riding him after John rides him that really helps. John thinks I'm just more confident in my feel, but I think that Duke "talks" to me better after he's been ridden by John. We'll see if that helps.