"Are you ready to go to the next level of balance and connection with your horse at the trot? What can you do so your horse understands what you want it to do?"
Now you can watch as Susan asks Beau to balance and stay connected for the 2nd level dressage trots. This is the 6th time we have focused on this new balance. When we first started this new level of connection, Beau was not thrilled. He did not understand why Susan wanted him to step in the connection of the rein. Before this, he could hold his balance and look connected on a fairly loose rein. However, now that he is in 2nd level dressage, he needs to stay connected and on the contact (on the bit/on the aids) all the time. To help Beau understand Susan has asked him to get more active with his back feet and to keep his shoulders and poll higher than ever before. This is the beginning of Beau "engaging" his back end as he shifts his weight back. Towards the end of this session we play with shortening the trot so he can get more comfortable with the beginnings of the collected trot.
Beau has been a very complicated horse to get to this point. As those who have been following the progress of Susan and Beau know, they spent 3 years at training level so we could get past his behavioral issues. In 2013 Susan and Beau competed at the USDF Finals and placed 4th in the AA Training Level Championships with a score of 72.20%. We have the videos of their training progress over the years on our Youtube channel that is listed below.
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