Laura begins working with a nervous, tense mare by asking for a bit of counter flexion, helping her to flex and relax her back. They continue using this tip when warming up in the canter, making sure the mare allows herself to be positioned either to the right or the left without a flying change.  When back at the trot they add shoulder in and haunches in to the warmup.  They work on keeping the trot half passes from being too steep and preserve the quality of the trot.