The half-halt ... mandatory for every horse and rider STEP 2 - THE HALF-HALT Whether you need to start with ‘full halt’ transitions in the walk before you stretch your horse, or whether you move into your halt transitions once your horse is warm and stretched, the half-halt is the key to progression with your training session. This is mandatory in our arena for every horse and rider. There are three steps to a good halt transition: 1. Stop (hopefully in balance). 2. Let your horse feel the contact, standing balanced on all four legs, and wait for your contact to mean your horse stretches its top line round, while remaining soft in the reins. 3. Move forward again easily. 4. Repeat often. I always start with a few nice, balanced halt transitions and it’s always my go-to when my horses lose balance or focus. Once I have found a nice halt transition and can tick the boxes of stop, relax in contact and move forward positively and politely from my leg again, I have my half-halt. The half-halt should be these points mastered within momentum. Don’t make the mistake to half ask. Ask for your halt in full as you have been, but only go half way! It should be like a wave or ripple through your horse’s body and your contact and connection, and should achieve in full what you were able to achieve when you actually stopped for your halt. The moment you ask for your halt and you feel your horse respond, (and he will because you’ve been practicing full halts) you will feel him back off on your stopping aid, he will release, relax and give you his top line (if you’ve been doing your full halts clearly and well), and at this exact moment you reapply your forward aids again. This is your half half. This is vital- you will need it for everything going on in your horses education so practice it, master it and keep this tool very very handy! Like 1000 times a training session (if not more).
Once the horses have stretched and are reacting nicely to my aids I always give them a little walk break to bring the warmup routine to an end before we start the lesson of the day. I think this is good for their bodies and also becomes a mindset and a chance to focus on the goal of the ride, which is important to remember as a trainer and/or rider. Always have a plan. It’s best for our horses and the only way to achieve a good session. A typical training session now focuses entirely on bringing the power, balance and harmony to the paces that I want to achieve in that horse. It’s all about developing the gearbox and the range of motion possible in our horses, and here I start again with that dirty word, TENSION!
We all want our horses to move big, move small, stay soft and light on our aids, be hot, but not too hot, stay calm but not too calm, be connected but not too strong, stay straight, be uphill, but not hollow etc. etc.… so how do you do that? The important thing, no matter what level, is to develop good, balanced, working paces. Working trot, working canter, that tempo and frame where we can manage any question with the horse. With my Grand Prix horses and riders I always insist on training the trot and canter they would need for the medium or advanced as their main basic. From this we can always move small or big. With my youngsters, I always aim to create the trot and canter that we want for their futures. At around five years of age, they are ready to do this, and actually it must happen by now so that the horse’s body can be sculpted and formed into what it needs to be to achieve the end result.
Dagobert is a hot and ambitious character. He can ‘chat’ his teeth when he doesn’t quite understand and when he’s nervous he rolls his neck under. Jule must encourage him to stretch and relax and does so with lots of comforting rewards. Pat your horse! Dagobert responds very well to his halt aids, always comes back, always listens but doesn’t always breathe so the challenge is creating the ripple that he not only comes back but also flows forwards again. In the second photo, which is a couple of steps out of a halt transition, you see Jule a little light in the seat and patting him. The frame is not yet ideal, and it is with this I want to show that our horses too go behind the vertical at some points, but this is not negative. It is just part of the process. Multiple transitions forward and back and always rewarding your horse when it answers correctly. A LITTLE TIP: With a horse that finds the flow a little difficult, ride in the trot just a few metres when you first go forward again, whether from full halt or half-halt! You will often see us doing a few steps rising trot here and there. It’s not because we can’t sit- it’s because our horses need to have their backs free. The third photo is pretty good I think. Balanced, uphill, super energy from the hind leg, lovely straight connection and nice expression. April May 2021 - Page 12