Do you have a horse that thinks it knows more than you? Than you have a schoolmaster. It might know more... if not, it is time to take it back to the basics so you can connect at another level.

"Schoolmasters. My horse thinks he knows what to do. Re training for a real connection at the canter and trots"


We start this session with canter trots. Darrien is not pleased as he thinks he should canter into a walk or halt for his level of training. Now you can watch as we re train his brain so he listens to Susan instead of doing what he knows he should be doing. At the trot, Darrien also tends to "flip" his toes. A horse that flips its toes in dressage gets counted down in their score in dressage as they are not really using their back or engaging. This was the trend in the dressage rings years ago and Darrien probably learned how to do it than. In this video Susan becomes more aware of when Darrien is going into "robot mode" and doing what he thinks he should be doing or "flipping" his toes at the trot.

Those who have been following the progress of Susan and Darrien know what we have gone through this past year Darrien is Susan's newest horse who came to us with a few issues including "rooting" He is now 18 years old. We are not sure where those issues began in his past Most of last year we kept him in his usual double bridle (he is an upper level dressage horse) mainly for safety reasons. Darrien has been in rehab since than as he injured a ligament. Now the vet has cleared him for riding and Susan is back in the saddle and we have picked up where we left off last year. The good news is that Susan is now able to ride him in a snaffle and Darrien seems to be much less frantic with the training process.