Bucking leg yield on a diagonal …
What a nice rider. I’d have gotten off to lunge in a new york minute 
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Working on his capriole?
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Lovely rider, very balanced and strong – rides through all of the shenanigans beautifully!
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Lovely rider
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Props to that rider! Calm, collected, great seat and very stable in the legs.
I’d have lunged the crap out of that horse before I got on him, myself!
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I want to be this rider in my next life. Superb!
Also, the comments. OMFG. 
“Behind the vertical!” “He needs to stop pulling on the mouth!” Reminds me of this person who said that she could sing, “Ooh, Baby, Baby” better than Smokey Robinson or Linda Ronstadt and she couldn’t even come in on the right beat.
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The comments are quite something. I don’t even own a pair of draw reins, but this is obviously a great example of the judicious application of a tool - the horse needs to come back into work, and it needs to do so without hurting itself. Safety must come before all else, and it was well executed here.
Huge admiration for the rider - as others have said I’m sure he would have been much happier to lunge, but looking at that horse I suspect it would have been far riskier (for the horse). Beautiful seat, balance, and composure. I am wildly envious (and yet completely unwilling to personally put in the miles on horses like that).
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Yoda-level sense of timing and feel to de-escalate and guide an immensely powerful and potentially explosive horse.
I feel like these horses are some of the most difficult because they aren’t being evasive, they aren’t naughty, they simply cannot figure out which way they can expend energy.
In the wrong hands, this horse might’ve killed himself and/or a more timid rider, but with the right partnerships, he’s an internationally elite athlete.
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I was thinking the same thing. If ever there was an application for draw reins to shut up the nay sayers, this is it.
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Why? the rear? I have never used or owned draw reins. What would be the purpose here?
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To keep a consistent feel and some semblance of control on the wild bucking. Same reason they can often keep a spooky horse more sane.
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I’d rather have a straight feel with the mouth so I could raise or turn vs pull down.
I’ve never had an issue turning when using draw reins.
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If I have a horse with this much gas in the tank, I want every tool in my arsenal armed and ready to keep him civilized for the 30 minute ride.
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In my experience, there have been a couple horses where there is a latitude line between sanity and absolutely bonkers, as in, if they get their nose parallel to their ear, for instance, they lose all ability to listen and can get quite dangerous.
Draw reins in educated hands can offer more flexibility and feedback than something like a running or German martingale. Obviously they are overused.
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I had to go back and look again. As I thought, he’s mainly riding on the snaffle. The draw rein is just lightly in contact so that it will come into play as needed. I never saw him pull on it. When the horse went up, he gave both the snaffle and the draw rein completely, as one should.
When my TB came back into work after a tendon injury, I was told to ride her in straight lines with no longeing. Definitely wasn’t easy and I didn’t do it nearly as well as this rider!
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Oh yes. There was one I had to trot in hand in straight lines for rehab. He was 17.2 and full of himself. “Don’t let him get rowdy” the vet said. Uh-huh…
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