Improve half pass exercises

[Blume_Farm]

Both half pass trot and canter are hard movements for my mare. She is not as laterally supple as she is longitudinally flexible/ compressible. They have improved a tom over the last year but at most we would score a 6.5 at a show. Going to the left is 50% easier than to the right due to, I think, an old injury to her right stifle that limits that sides flexibility.

So far what seems to have helped the most is while on the diagonal going from collected trot to medium trot within the half pass movement proper. I have also done while going across the diagonal half pass to first 1/4 line, leg yield to center line, half pass to next 1/4 line and then leg yield to corner. Then do the same exercises in canter half pass.

Any other exercises you guys like?

[SnicklefritzG]

Check out this thread:
http://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/showthread.php?363845-Half-Pass-Tips-Please

[Beentheredonethat]

I like to use leg yield, hp, leg yield to constantly reestablish the feel. Or, half pass, 10 meter circle, repeat. It seems easy to maintain the bend and off the inside leg feel of a circle, but very hard in the half pass, so this is a good way to get right back to that feeling.

I am great with half passes to the right, terrible to the left. It’s me. But, all horses and people have difficulty in one direction. It might help to look over your opposite shoulder in the difficult direction. This forces the weight to the inside hip and pulls your outside shoulder back.

[merrygoround]

You can also H/P to 1/4 line, then forward into 10m circle, and back to H/P, and then go forward In S/I. Both exercises allow you to maintain the same bend, and push forward.

And yes, the stifle injury is most likely responsible for the difficult on that rein.

[alibi_18]

A few steps of Half-pass to a few steps of shoulder-in to a few steps of half-pass and so on.

[_DQ]

With a horse who finds bending in the HP difficult, I am not sure that HP to LY is a very good exercise. Maybe for a horse with difficulty remaining fluid or who tends to overbend it is better… But JMO would avoid using that in this situation because it requires too much change in the positioning of the shoulders.
Basically when the horse is unable to maintain bend in a HP it is many times unrelated at all to the positioning of the haunches. Most horses (except for the extremely short coupled variety) are able to bend enough behind the saddle quite naturally to satisfy that component of bend required in a garden variety HP. What is very difficult for most horses is actually finding enough lift and correct placement of the scapula (Dr. Hilary Clayton has a great article regarding the forelimb that attaches well to this discussion).
So, were it me I would not ride any more half pass for a while and I would head back to basic strengthening exercises to improve the mobility in the shoulder and make sure that the horse understands the correct position required. Namely SI and travers with very little angle to begin and ensuring that in the SI the haunches are absolutely dead straight tracking forwards and never crossing (this helps with shoulder mobility) and in the travers that the shoulders are absolutely dead straight with absolutely no turning of the forehand (this for shoulder strength). If you ride towards a mirror the head should be directly in the middle of the chest and each point of shoulder should be level (unlevel shoulders points to weakness on one side of the “sling”). Performing a travers like this I think you will find just how little angle the horse is able to sustain with correct shoulders.
Finally, when these exercises are simple and able to be ridden perfectly on 3 tracks with no falling or twisting shoulders - then ride the HP again exactly as you ride the travers but ignore the hindlegs until you have control of the shoulder placement and then when you do use your outside leg to bring the haunches, use it only at the moment when the outside forelimb is touching the ground (this helps the shoulders to remain straight).

And presto a perfect “Satchmo” half pass Good luck! It is difficult to train these movements as simple as they may seem - and especially with an injury it is easy that the entire side of a horse becomes affected from compensating. As well to build strength remember days off of building certain muscle groups allows them to rest and strengthen

[Schiffon]

[QUOTE=Beentheredonethat;7934215]

I am great with half passes to the right, terrible to the left. It’s me. But, all horses and people have difficulty in one direction. It might help to look over your opposite shoulder in the difficult direction. This forces the weight to the inside hip and pulls your outside shoulder back.[/QUOTE]

This may work if you are overly rotating your torso in the direction of the bend or collapsing in your inside rib cage. However, I see many more cases of riders not rotating their torso at all, putting them behind the sideways flow and putting more weight on the outside seat bone. It is correct that the rider’s outside shoulder is slightly ahead of their inside shoulder in HP, to be parallel to the horse’s shoulders.

I like to think of my spine as a barber pole, using my oblique muscles on my inside side, imagining my horse doing the same. Or to really get the point across, Mr Theodorescu once had me look at the inside hind leg during canter half pass. When he said look, he didn’t mean pretend to look, he meant to lean over far enough to actually see the hoof! (He frequently had suggestions that required a leap of faith on the rider’s part ). I had been struggling to get the steeper angles and when I did that we got so much more sideways jump we almost ran into the kickboard! Made me realize how much I was inhibiting.

Laurie, have you tried riding straight onto a diagonal and doing travers on that line then straight then travers then straight, etc? I think the “transition” of going from straight to a travers at an angle that is challenging for the horse for 3-4 strides multiple times is better for strengthening the inside hind flexors than doing a continuous line of struggling half pass and is less complicated than switching back and forth to leg yield.

[Beentheredonethat]

Yes, that’s the point. Most people are crooked in one direction, collapsing a hip or putting a shoulder too far forward. So, if you collapse your left hip (thus putting more weight to the right) and your right shoulder is too far forward, the hp left is hard. So, if you look over your right shoulder, it makes your left side lengthen and weight drop into the left hip as well as pulling your right shoulder back, thus correcting the issue. This an exercise Gabby Grillo used to do.

VERY few people need to work more on putting the outside shoulder more forward. It’s natural to overdo it already.

I can see an issue with looking at the inside hind leg if this is an issue, because it will cause people to collapse even more on the inside, thus pushing weight to the outside. Leaning left usually causes weight to go right so you don’t fall off. Even looking at the back leg is still going to cause a correction. You need to weight the inside hip, not lean to the inside.

[Lucinda_Peters]

HP Right

[I]HP right can I do counter canter right to improve this? My horse does HP left no problem. Right she just stops and hops.on the spot. . should I counter canter?

[CFFarm]

http://www.cheval-haute-ecole.com/indexA307.html

[Libby2563]

I did a Janet Foy clinic and she suggested the following exercise for improving the cadence, bend, and lateral travel in the half-pass. (My older horse struggles to the left, especially in his later years.) For a few strides, use very strong outside leg and inside rein (bending around stable inside leg) to create bend and sideways motion. For the next few strides, relax those aids and use inside leg to touch up the gait, allowing less sideways motion/more forward. Do that the whole way across the diagonal. I think it’s a similar concept in some ways to alternating collected and medium trot, which you said has helped. As you improve, you can do it much more subtly, even in shows. Good luck!

[DressageLin]

In the canter, riding a true diagonal (no halfpass position) and slowly adding the bend while keeping the shoulders on the line of the diagonal always seems to help me regain the feel of where the shoulders and haunches should be.

[flyracing]

Good exercise for horses learning or struggling with the basics of HP:
Turn down quarter line (going to the right)
Leg yield left 3-5 meters (the higher the quality the less you do)
“Counter leg yield” (half pass) right back to quarter line by keeping the bend from the leg yield. Don’t change the rein pressure or change anything with the inside leg. It’s not a true half pass and that’s ok. It’s to teach the horse it’s not that hard and associates it with an exercise they are already comfortable with. It’s easier for the horse and rider to start learning half pass this way, because you only change the outside leg and not a bunch of details. It makes it clear to the horse, by being a progression of both a leg yield and haunches in. When the horse can comfortably “counter leg yield”, then the details of the half pass are much easier to introduce.

So the exercise goes:
Down q/l right
LY left
Return to q/l in counter LY
Repeat 4-6 times per long side.

[MysticOakRanch]

Try getting them more supple in your warm up - working on a circle, do SI to HI, Si to HO, constantly changing it up - be quick, be firm about the bend. Throw in some voltes, just keep switching it up. Also do some medium to collected, medium to collected in short spurts on the circle. If your horse is more supple through the warm up, then they will be more supple in the half pass work.

[merrygoround]

Your problem is a common weak side, strong side problem. The right hind is the most likely culprit, not wanting to come through. So any exercises, trot or canter, that loosen up and strengthen that side should be your go to.

I would think that counter canter would show the same “sidedness”.

[Lucinda_Peters]

HI guys. I cant get a right half pass. “Pokey” she just drops to walk & refuses. Do you think its self preservation? She half pass to the left okay. would it be wasting time to keep at her to get this happening . I have tried about four rides now and she never any different. I ride tight circles and give leg aid to get her crossing over the hinds then we get a couple of ectra strides across the diagonal then she drops to walk again. No notice …just stops! its very frustrating. I cant even geta straight canter across the diagonal to finish the movement & flying change. Going backwards…any advise I will be open ears! -thanks lucy

[Lucinda_Peters]

Also she is supple in warm up and good at all other movements . nice lengthen as you head to the turn I even use the whole width of the arena to start the canter half pass …thats when she just drops into walk. So annoying!

[BigMama1]

@Blume Farm

Both half pass trot and canter are hard movements for my mare. She is not as laterally supple as she is longitudinally flexible/ compressible. They have improved a tom over the last year but at most we would score a 6.5 at a show. Going to the left is 50% easier than to the right due to, I think, an old injury to her right stifle that limits that sides flexibility.

So far what seems to have helped the most is while on the diagonal going from collected trot to medium trot within the half pass movement proper. I have also done while going across the diagonal half pass to first 1/4 line, leg yield to center line, half pass to next 1/4 line and then leg yield to corner. Then do the same exercises in canter half pass.

Any other exercises you guys like?

Just did a great one in my lesson tonight: turn down centreline and proceed in shoulder in for a few strides, half pass to quarter line, straighten and leg yield to wall. Each movement ends up being only a few strides and really seems to help the horse supple and move off the outside leg. For me my horse kept getting a little stuck as we moved into leg yield and we had trouble maintaining forward momentum, but at the same time he was stepping under more and lifting his back so I was pretty pleased with his effort.