@J-Lu, thanks that’s interesting.
I actually loved his gaits! Horses like him reminded people that you don’t have to have flashy knees to do well at dressage. If you look at him when he’s passaging, his front end is incredibly elevated compared to his croup and boy, this horse could sit. He did alot of things correctly, which was nice to see at the time. Top level dressage needed it at that time (IMO) because alot of incorrect things were being rewarded. To this day, when I think of correct and top-notch trot half-pass and tempi changes, I think of Rusty.
Strangewings, no horse is perfect! Lots of these top dressage horses have some issues and get the best veterinary and farrier care. I bet all of our horses would be doing better if they had this level of care!!! And training!!!
The responses here are great! I actually don’t ride the half-pass like travers on a diagonal. Many clinicians I worked with, including an “I” judge, instructed me not to think of it like that. Travers doesn’t have any reach with the front legs-they’re going straight on. I like to think of half-pass as with a bit more leg-yield while quite bent to the inside feel. I want the inside shoulder to have a bit of reach and the outside front to reach for the cross just a bit. It feels different to me than travers on the diagonal. That’s how I learned it from really good people, and they seem to agree.
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In the video you posted, Rusty was irregular in the walk (long/short) at times.
His passage was incorrect - Hind going out and double tapping.
His piaffe was faulty as well, hind stepping down.
I find that this particular video doesn’t do him well.
He could sit, but he looked stiff.
of course the rule book and loads of other books on dressage written by folks considered master are wrong. LoL
Half pass IS travers on the diagonal. And just as in travers, the crossing and flashes of the movement depends on the degree of bend, the collection, and how it is being ridden.
The other thing to note is that unless travers is being ridden as neck bend with a little crookedness through the pelvis, the front legs are NOT moving straight on. If the bend is through the entire horse, as it should be, there is loads of crossing of the front legs, it’s just not at a favourable angle to see it as clearly as in the half pass.
That said, it can be a light bulb moment for riders to think of it as LY with bend rather than some abstract movement on some invisible line. I was taught the other way ("you can do travers, now we will just put it on the diagonal and you will be riding half pass) by a several time Olympian. So meh, mileage may vary and I think it depends on basics, way of learning (visual, conceptual,etc) and way of teaching it to get the best results.
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I have been taught (my trainer rides with Ali Brock so no slouch) that HP is HI on a diagonal line. You point the horse’s chest at the letter you are aiming for and then ride HI. It makes the HP sooo much better than trying to ride sideways
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When I first learned half-pass, I was taught to think of it as travers on a diagonal. When I went back to riding last year, my current coach re-taught me to think of it more like shoulder-in feel traveling sideways. I can’t explain well how she describes it here (not being her), but the re-teaching has helped me address the issue I was having with placing my outside leg too far back and not getting quite the correct bend.
I was getting haunches leading too much and the thought of travers was messing up my body in the aids - I was also losing some of the impulsion and somehow thinking of shoulder-in feel traveling sideways helps me “drive down the line” and not lose momentum (especially since both horses I ride are the opposite of hot). In the end, it’s the same thing we’re trying to do. The last Third Level test 3 I rode, I got 8s on my HP, which is saying something for rusty re-rider me.
The way you correct your own riding in a mouvement (HP) is not necessarily the same as what the mouvement is (travers on diagonal).
In your case, you were lacking shoulder control and were driving too much with your outside leg, hence the leading haunches.
Asking you to think about bringing your horse’s shoulders in is quite logical. You would use more outside rein and less outside leg, thus having a better positioning.
You should analyse how you ride your renvers.
Check how much you rely on the wall, how you position your outside leg, where you put your weight, your rein contact, etc.
Try riding renvers on the quarter line after.
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Great! It looks like the actual judges are teaching something slightly different. But what do they know at the S and I levels, right!! Or GP trainers who have successfully trained multiple horses up the levels. Seems like your mileage may vary. Great!
No, I wasn’t lacking shoulder control. The haunches weren’t leading. Your comments are too simplistic.
He obviously had problems with the piaffe in this video. He developed problems with the piaffe. But you also mentioned his score here and he won the World Cup - quite separate from why I posted this particular video. Strange.
You didn’t address my comments on the overall correctness of his gaits. I expect you were familiar with Rusty at that time and don’t rely on that one video. I stand by my comments. If you have seen him regularly and followed his progress at the time, you might be better informed than basing your comments on the video I posted to make a different point. I suggest it doesn’t matter what you think, it matters how qualified FEI judges consistently gave him very high marks over his career for certain movements.
This is one of my favorite videos regarding developement of the half pass. Probably not perfect and unfortunately in German, but IMO a nice Training video for all I know… https://youtu.be/IUs9DEboe1M
I’m pretty sure you are very confused between what a movement actually is and how different people choose to teach it.
Think of the shoulder in - if you’ve ever been told to use your outside leg in SI as like you would for half pass, you will know that it is a mental game to get you to increase the bend and not that SI is actually half pass.
It is exactly the same with half pass - you get a certain result by riding/thinking about it in a certain way, but that doesn’t change the fact that mechanically it is exactly the same as travers, just on a different line.
Are you and The Sandiest shoes the same person? I wasn’t addressing your problem.
My comments are simplistic because it’s not complex to fix a movement with the help of the other movements.
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Perhaps they are illiterate?
“Half-Pass
Definition
“Half-pass. This movement is a variation of travers, executed on the diagonal instead of along the wall. leg.”” [USEF Rule Book DR111]
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Not strange at all. Prior 2015, with Totilas in Aachen being the culprit, judges weren’t so adamant at ringing the bell for lameness at big stars riders/horses.
And again, that comment wasn’t related to your post but someone else’s question.
But like you said, a lot of bad things were rewarded in that era.
I also put a link to a better video of Rusty, a year later, who performed much better.
You didn’t address my comments on the overall correctness of his gaits. I expect you were familiar with Rusty at that time and don’t rely on that one video. I stand by my comments. If you have seen him regularly and followed his progress at the time, you might be better informed than basing your comments on the video I posted to make a different point. I suggest it doesn’t matter what you think, it matters how qualified FEI judges consistently gave him very high marks over his career for certain movements.
And you haven’t read the part where I told the OP to look at the Rusty videos and aim for that?
And I provided a better video of Rusty.
I had to laugh when one student was riding a well educated horse in LY, and I asked her to bend change, which her horse very kindly did w/o a hiccup. Said student got a stunned look on her face, and said but I’m doing HP…
It is all in the riding of the horse. If the rider is well educated, on a even better educated horse. It all works out very nicely.
Horsey Heretic.
LY (straight - flex at poll) and HP (bend behind leg) aren’t yet the same but yeah, the idea is there.
Counter bent LY it probably was or the horse truly positioned himself from LY to HP since it was a schoolmaster.
Like a SI that lacks of bend become a LY along the wall.
Be assured that the horse knew exactly what it was doing. He was bent from shoulder to rump, and his flexion was more in the neck than in the head.
It’s all in the directions given the rider, and the rider’s ability to listen and do,
Obviously it was, being a schoolmaster and instructions. 
Afterward, it’s important for students to truly understand the subtleties between « similar » movements and their mechanic.
