The half halt is a little bit of a challenge for me to understand. I get the basic components of it, but what is confusing me is what you’re supposed to do in the walk.
Are you supposed to HH on both reins in the walk at the same time if the horse is straight? Also, are you supposed to close both legs in the same time, or do you close them alternately?
Half halts are first and foremost a feeling where the motion is slowed down and elevated. You compress the energy.
From the core who restrict the movement, the legs (whichever you need) who ask for the yielding + more energy and reins to collect and redirect, you have a plethora of cue combinations…
The most important thing is to wait for a reaction before releasing.
The saying “The horse world: two people, three opinions” is multiplied when it comes to the half halt. No two people have ever “explained” it the same, IME. For me, it’s sort of like the full halt – stop following the forward motion, think “halt,” and feel it in my stomach muscles/core – but not as fully.
Does any discipline besides dressage even practice it? I read a great western article the other day about the “walk to backup.”
They just don’t necessarily call it a half halt.
Coming in to a line and want to do a short three instead of long two? Half halt, get the horse balanced in a higher stride rather than longer one. Want your horse to do a lope/jog transition right at the cone in your horsemanship class? Rebalance to warn the horse first - that’s a half halt. Reining, want to show the difference between your big circle and small circle distinctly? Better balance and half halt.
I learned the Half Halt as a hunter/jumper rider way back in the 1970’s. Its used in transitions on the flat, for shortening stride when doing over fences, for turns in jumpers, and an invaluable tool when fox hunting.
I was taught that a half half comes from using all three aides - seat, legs and hands - simultaneously. Weight in seat, legs grip (not squeeze exactly - but for a push ride, that may be necessary) and a small adjustment and release of the reins back to normal position, all at the same time. I think its easier to demonstrate than explain.
If you give the rein aid before the seat/leg, the horse may stop or shorten too much; if you give the leg que prior to the seat/rein aides, the horse may lengthen or speed up; if you give the seat aid before the rein/legs, you get nadda. Its the multitasking equivalent of rubbing your stomach with your right hand in a circular fashion, and patting yourself on the top of your head with your left hand. It takes practice.
Though it may be called by different names/terms in different disciplines, I think it is a valuable tool for any riders toolbox.
I’m sorry to say that, despite the 2 riders 3 opinions thing, you were unfortunately taught wrong.
Here is a good article about it : https://www.google.ca/amp/s/dressagetoday.com/.amp/instruction/secrets-halt-25099
Also, the « grip » of legs on a push ride type is not a good solution either.
If you give the rein aid before the seat/leg, the horse may stop or shorten too much; if you give the leg que prior to the seat/rein aides, the horse may lengthen or speed up; if you give the seat aid before the rein/legs, you get nadda.
Giving all your cues at the same time is just not what you ever want. Your cues come from independent aids; you will need that precision later on if you want to progress.
If you get no answer from your seat alone, you are missing on a very important aid.
I know you weren’t replying to me but I read that article and that’s where I am getting confused. It says in the trot on a straight line, both reins and legs are used but in the canter or when bending you HH more on the outside rein.
The reason I am having trouble understanding at the walk is because normally if you want more in the walk, you use one leg at a time instead of both like in the trot (correct me if I’m wrong).
So I can’t tell if the HH in the walk is supposed to be using both legs, or if you HH on one leg at a time.
I tried reading more articles on different half halts but I can’t find anything that describes it in the walk.
I used to tell my students to think of it as shifting a car into neutral and revving the engine using the seat. Of course no one drives a standard anymore, hee, hee. Squeeze with the kreuz (bottom of the seat) and and don’t give with the fingers for a second. You should feel the horse rebalance and then ask for forward again. Seemed to work for me whether correct or not. the best way to teach it at the walk is to start with walk/halt and work into walk/almost halt.
Well to some extent this is going to be specific to the horse.
On a horse with a lot of forward you may need no leg on a given half halt. On a horse with less forward the seat might be enough and you don’t need reins. I think you are going to need to adjust between horses and pay attention to what the horse is like that day.
I feel like I don’t use any leg for half halt walk because both horses I’m riding have big swinging walks. I would use seat first, engaging my core, then let that motion affect the reins, then a slight upward rein action.
That is very true. A half-halt on a very forward, sensitive TB mare is different from a half-halt on my rather lazy, huge draft cross gelding.
To clarify on a point made above: you should never use your driving aids and your restraining aids simultaneously. While driving and impulsion is a part of a half halt, it is part of the preparation for and the aftermath of. Close your leg and drive a horse forward, cease driving, THEN half half.
It was essentially explained to me (… thoroughly. An entire lesson on the mechanics and applications and nuances of a half halt. It was both superbly beneficial and absolutely fascinating) by an older gentleman that you can’t accelerate and brake at the same time - gross oversimplification, but basic concept is the same. You don’t use both pedals in a car simultaneously. The same principle applies for riding.
OP - You’re almost exactly on the point here. The difference in aids in different gaits is because of the differing footfalls of the gaits. You are trying to influence the flight of the feet (i.e., more engagement) within the rhythm of the gait.
Thus in trot, which is a laterally and longitudinally symmetrical gait, you can “hold” when either diagonal pair is landing then “drive” during the support phase and get more engagement of the other diagonal pair. But in canter, you have to address the outside hind and inside hind at the correct moments within the rhythm to get the half halt.
Walk is laterally symmetrical but not longitudinally, so you need to differentiate the front and hind footfalls so that you affect the flight of the hind foot that is in the air. The right hind leaves the ground when the left front is in mid-support phase. So, timing is everything and YES, it does depend on the horse. Many will respond to alternating leg and holding seat best, others to two legs and following seat. A soft following rein is best at walk at all times in my experience.
Reading this back, I am guessing it may not be useful at all, but I hope the relevance of footfall will be clear to you.
Footfall is important but at the same time, influencing footfall assumes that you have a horse so attuned to the aids that the horse responds at the exact moment you apply the aids. I ride one horse that will do that in some transitions much but not all of the time (the school master) and another horse that it very much depends on which way the wind is blowing that day, and if she is being Insane Green Eventer or Dopey Dude Pony that day.
In other words, it’s fine to say that your leg needs to be applied at the exact right instant to affect the horse’s feet, but if the horse is anticipating, or the horse feels they need to think about every request that day for a second, you are not really acting with such precision.
And actually, even if you give an aid to the nicest most forward and the lightest horse in the world, they still have to process that aid and do the action, which takes a second or two.
It is true that you do need to develop the feel of where the horse’s legs are at any moment, and when this works you do get the “plugged in” feeling.
I feel like with the walk, once you have the feel of the horse’s body swinging, it’s quite natural to use the leg at the right time of the swing for lateral work. And once you are comfortable at the canter, it’s natural to be half halting on the canter when the horse is in the up phase. So perhaps thinking of moving and acting correctly with the gait can be a good starting point to improving aid timing.
Scribbler -
I agree with you completely. My response was an attempt to explain the theory, which I thought was the OP’s present concern.
Most horses (including mine!) don’t respond instantly and most riders (including me) do not always get the timing right, but when the aids ARE timed correctly for the horse it makes it easier for the horse to respond correctly so I figure it’s worth the effort. “Correctly” for some horses may not be exactly the same moment as some other horses, due to that “processing time” you describe so well.
Thanks for expanding and adding a dose of reality!
Thanks all of you, your explanations do make sense. I know it’s going to depend on the horse, I was trying to get a good idea of what the norm is (but I guess that has a lot of variance too!)
Late to the party, but here goes.
In the half halt, you need to, for a fraction of a second, stop following the rhythm of the gait you are in, simultaneously you add energy. Some people take a deep breath, others just lift their chest, and add leg, but not seat. Seat sends forward. You want to lift up, and then either send forward, or ask for a downward transition.
Think Forward into trot, from canter, Forward into walk, from trot. Forward into halt. That’s where the seat comes into play, because it sets the rhythm of the selected gait.
I was thinking about half halts and downward transition riding two horses yesterday, school master Andy and split personality Paint.
The amount of halt and the amount of go are entirely dependent on the energy of the horse at that moment, and it totally varies not just between horses but for the same horse from day to day or just during the same ride as they warm up, or maybe get a bit tired, or realize they are headed down the trail for home.
That I think is why the instructions are so nebulous. Everyone has a different horse in mind when they explain.
Plus a half halt is not going to miraculously move your horse to a whole new level of training. It can be part of training of course.
But if your horse is sucked back behind your leg, or upside down, or heavy on the forehand, or rolled behind, or having a racey or a lazy day, then they aren’t going to suddenly be lifted and collected and etc with aa just a correct half halt. Plus it might be difficult to get aa useful half halt rather than just slowing the horse.
I also think some dressage riders especially lower level end up with way too busy aids, bumping or spurring every step, or jabbing on the reins every step.
You need a horse that will go forward and keep that pace from one leg aid, that is has impulsion, before you can start altering the expression of that impulsion.
We talk alot about self carriage. Maybe we also need the term "self impulsion.’
I have found that some horses come with understanding of following the seat and its rhythm, others have lost interest in the game because the rider has no idea what they are doing, or the horse is one has to be trained to listen. This is a difficult to explain process on a forum, because so much is spit second monitoring.
But you are correct that you cannot HH a horse into forward. Forward is another whole discussion of the rider’s tool box.
Scribbler-“Plus a half halt is not going to miraculously move your horse to a whole new level of training. It can be part of training of course.”
It is all of training.
There are some horses who at times need to be ridden in a HH on every stride. This sounds tough and believe me it can be.Going to reins will send them above the bit and hollow.
Without the HH progress really is difficult, because the rider resorts to reins, and anyone who has followed my posts will realize I consider their use overrated except for establishing flexion and indicating direction. Ridden correctly, and not asked too soon most horses will come round, soft, and engaged without them.
Yes, about seat aids. You can’t develop seat aids in a horse unless your seat is so stable that your shifts of weight are always deliberate and meaningful. Otherwise the horse will tune them out.
If your riding really is balanced and consistent, horses will start to learn your seat aids as a way of anticipating the rein aids. I do think most horses would rather go off seat and leg and voice aids.
Of course they can also blow through seat aids which is why most people don’t ride without tack 
I find some days we have downward transition from the seat even walk halt on the buckle and other days, well we have more forward.
Oh comeon Scrib! Are you saying riders have to be consistent and also work? How dare you! :lol::lol::lol::lol::lol:
PS The Indians rode into stampeding herd, and shot buffalo, those bows took two hands,and their saddles weren’t much. it’s not the tack, it’s the seat!
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