Donneur and Dolly continue to benefit from Hubertus' expert riding. Their initial reactions have been quite different as you can imagine since they have different personalities. Donneur was a hard sell at first, simply because he has the strength to challenge Hubertus. Nothing dramatic, in fact he was very cooperative until he was asked for a new degree of collection and his answer was to simply get stronger to veto that idea. Hubertus was excellent at being able to dilute Donneur's ability to be in charge by pushing him sideways and just at the moment when the horse would give on the rein, he went after the hindlegs to drive them forward. It sounds very simple to do, but your timing has to be just right. He is also a master at rewarding the horse by riding him absolutely soft in the rein when the horse is soft. VERY IMPORTANT! As a result, the horse is taking more and more weight to his hind legs and when the corners are ridden in collection with good bending, the half passes are predictably good. If there is still a discussion going on in the corner (any at all), he goes on a 20 meter circle, works it through and then tries again. He just doesn't compromise on the basics because the horses will fall a little on the forehand or lose bending in the half pass as a rule, so you can't come into it with any problems and expect the half pass to be good. The other big influence that he has had on Donneur has been in the flying changes. He gets the horse so straight on the old outside rein and then makes him loose on the new inside rein, while supporting on the new outside rein, that he really only uses his seat to make the changes with a minimal amount of leg. The idea is to have the canter so settled before the change, that you don't have to put any pressure on the horse to make the change. Donneur had a few "Whose the man?" dicussions during the tempi changes, but, he has realized that Hubertus is calling the shots. Today, Hubertus said" Good thing he learns quickly and remembers well, because he can be so strong!" I'm thinking, I'm glad he's only 16.1, not 17 hands. Dolly's first reaction was disgust that someone was rocking her world! She went around the arena the first day puffing like a freight train and alot ot tail swishing commentary. She wanted to see Hubertus' permission slip to make her sweat! Alot of work has gone into Dolly over the last 4 weeks to get her really round and staying there in all situations. Hubertus took her to task about not wanting to let go of the left rein. Very important to remember when you are in the double bridle and trying to get the horse to bend more easily, it has to be done only with the snaffle on the inside while you maintain contact on the outside rein. And the hands must not exert more pressure than your legs can keep the horse forward. Speaking of forward, I have yet to see Hubertus stop a horse that was too stong and you don't see him rein back either, except if required in a test. Everything is corrected in a forward direction, although not allowing the horse to run on the forehand, that's the tricky part. This kind of training is the real deal and very demanding on the horses and the riders. Theoretically, it can be applied to all horses and riders, but in reality, few are up to the challenge of working at this level of intensity. Every horse and rider will have to find the level of intensity that matches their goals. The good news is, Dolly got over her initial shock and made great improvement, much straighter throughout her body, taking more contact on the right rein and staying rounder in all movements. She was much quicker to comply than you know who. She looks beautiful in her new frame!