What’s the purpose of half halts? I read it’s to help balance the horse and then read another article that it was a cue that something else was coming…ie transition.
Are there a number of reasons to use a half halt?
Do you encourage your horse forward by “pushing” your seat forward? What do the legs do?
Do you lightly “hold” the outside rein ?
sorry if this sounds abrupt.
You should have put this in dressage. You would get more replies. A “half halt” is to balance the horse, prepare them for something, get their attention, improve a gait, etc. Anky van Grunsven never used the word because every person used it for different reasons and defines it in different ways.
For me, depending on the horse and training, it can be a complete use of the whole leg and squeezing together of the hands to just a slight butt muscle movement or squeeze with the pinky. Generally, you are collecting to the outside rein, so it is more holding while the inside is more giving.
Just google and read and you will get lots and lots of ideas and explanations, and you will find the ones that speak to you and give you ideas. And the more you ride, the more you will change, add, refine and understand.
Not a stupid question at all, definitions never are.
I also would suggest you ask on the dressage forum, that is geared for the more in depth training questions, like yours.
The general idea of a half-halt is first, indicate to the horse a request for attention and what to do next.
What that is and how you proceed will depend on what you are doing next that you asked the horse to be ready for.
Depending on what that is, you will do any of several things, some as already described above.
At least that is what we were taught and later taught the half-halt is.
Half-halt is the multi tool of dressage, it does so many things, and not only during transitions.
What a half-halt consists of depends on the level of training (both horse and rider)
it is a combination of leg- weight- and rein aid.
As Tro Trick mentioned, it can be a full squeeze, sitting deep and actually putting some energy on the reins, to just a tickle on the reins and a slight tightening of the muscles.
It’s to get attention for transitions (either way) or to keep a horse engaged - in that case it would be applied each stride.
The goal is collection and self carriage, etc…
But ask in the dressage forum.
I used to tell my students “it’s like putting the car in neutral and revving the engine”. Of course, no one drives a stick anymore…
The half halt is useful for a lot more than Dressage/dressage. Those folks use it a lot and are likely more skilled and knowledgeable than some other disciplines who don’t use it much (even if they should). It useful any time you have to give your horse a chance to re-balance itself or prepare for some new task. It’s a physical and mental “break” for the horse.
G.
Definitely not just a dressage thing but you may. get more answers there. It is a multipurpose tool to rebalance the horse, capture the energy and recycle it back to the hind end, alert the horse that a change or transition is coming, encourage the horse to stay light and in self carriage…
For me it’s about asking for a little more energy from behind, and then a momentary resistance through my seat, back, core, elbows and shoulders, along with a quick close of the outside rein all to make sure that energy I just created doesn’t just trickle out the front end like water coming out of a hose.
A half halt is a momentary rebalancing. Use the seat and legs to send the horse forward and straight to the bit, resist slightly in the reins, yield when the horse yields, repeat. How strong is it? As strong as it needs to be. How long do I hold it for? As long as you need to to make the point. Ideally it should happen within the length of one stride - if not, you were not strong enough. One of my BNTs made me recite the aids for the half halt while I rode the PSG test with no stirrups. Those were the days.
Back to the OP - it is used as a call to attention, a rebalancing for the less trained horses, and more of a reengagement for upper level horses since they are already balanced and attentive.
wanted to add that same BNT told me that not every half halt was one suitable for the cover of dressage today
Half-halts are used to rebalance the horse, and to tell him that something new is coming. That’s why they’re used in transitions; if I was going to go from walk to trot, for example, I would give a couple of small half-halts to just say "something new is coming, pay attention,’ and to get the horse in balance and light before I give the aids for trot.
The way I was taught to do half-halts was simple: close the hands and at the same time, sit slightly deeper and put both legs on slightly. The idea, of course, is that you are pushing the horse into the bit with the seat and leg, and holding him with the reins - so engaging his core and hindquarters and lightening the forehand at the same time.
Of course, getting the timing and cues precisely right takes a lot of work and practice.
The half halt is part of riding-any riding. It really is not a half of a halt, another word for it is foreign- “parade”.
In the half halt, the rider’s legs stay on , the rider’s body, actively riding forward, pauses ( if you wait to feel the pause, you’ve held too long), and then goes on whether to increase engagement for a corner or a transition,a jump or simply to increase engagement. The hands support,. If you overuse the hands, you stop the front end, not productive. Half halt comes from leg and seat.
I like this description.
I got a little hung up on the exact execution of half halts and how it was described. For me it helped to think “how to rebalance” rather than a set of specific instructions. I figured it out for my horse while riding 20m circles on a slight slope. He would rush on the down side. When I started thinking about how I could help him balance I figured out how to rebalance him by kind of resisting with my body and thighs while keeping leg on, then going with him again when he responded.
The same on a flat surface. I pull my chest up, and resist the motion momentarily with my core and thighs, keeping my legs on.
I think there are many ways to do it and suspect it might depend on the horse you have.
I am incredibly grateful I learned to half halt without having it called a half halt well before I was a dressage rider. Half halts are everything above. My trainer likes to say there are thousands of halt halts, and it’s about knowing which of about 100 will help in any given situation. Recently I’m working on crookedness created by my ineffective use of my right side, so half halts are frequently either my right knee or right hand intentionally closing toward my horise to correct for that, and it improves straightness and balance. Bringing the right knee in when it wants to open too much also happens to be consistently getting me right to left lead changes now, on my horse we haven’t even schooled changes on yet - so that straightness is super valuable.
My mare gets tense, fast and going downhill in trot work at shows, so my half halts are to encourage balance and swing through her back. I basically lift the front part of my seat to allow swing, no driving or pushing with my seat, and it helps her relax and swing and slow with a better balance. It was interesting at my last show to watch video and see every half halt was visible because my brown belt on white breeches would change angle for a step, then return to where it was. I half halt a LOT without realizing it!
Basically, anyone trying to give you a very specific and detailed answer with the limit that is the only answer is being misleading. It’s all the things mentioned above, and more. It is a check-in, a warning, a rebalancing, a positive correction, an aid, a teaching tool.
Great post, netg
I’m going to quibble and / or question something someone said above, about resisting until the horse yields, yielding and then repeating.
This is 100% how I was taught 20 years ago, but in less experienced, less competent riders (ie people like me) it can lead to an overuse of the hands, hard hands, a horse that leans and wants the rider to carry him, or a tug of war between horse and rider.
Since getting back in the saddle again three years ago I have been taught that today’s lighter method is the momentary resistance we have described, followed immediately by a release, whether the horse yielded or not. The resistance should be only for a stride ideally; more than that is holding. If the horse doesn’t “yield” or give the response you wanted, ask again but with stronger, sharper aids this time. If that works, go back to the lightest aids for the next half halt.
Anyone else learn or use that method?
I teach half halts with transitions. Starting with a walk/halt. Then a walk/almost halt. On to a trot/walk…trot/almost walk…etc… Since my halts and downward transitions come mainly from the seat, the half-halt does too.
@BigMama1 - Yes. I used to tell my students the half halt is short. If you didn’t get the response you use a stronger half half, not a longer half halt the next time. To me the hold until the horse yields action is no longer a half half, and if doing it I find myself doing a bunch of half halts during the hold to encourage the yield.
My younger horse has some focus issues and this past winter I taught him to refocus with a half half by using full transitions and then bringing them back to half halts. For example if he boggled at the mounting block in the corner when we were trotting I did a transition to walk for two or three steps, and if he boggled again, I halted him and the instant he stopped I walked on, then trotted on. It became a transition to walk with an immediate transition back to trot. Then a half transition to walk with a transition back to trot the instant he committed to the walk (but hadn’t actually walked). Then a noticeable pause in the trot. Then finally an ordinary half half.
This progression was very interesting to work through as sort of the ultimate breakdown of a half halt, and teaching the horse about that use of the half half.
@BigMama1 : Learning how to efficiently half halt is a journey in itself. You cannot teach beginners the same way you’d teach a more advance students. Their understanding will progress overtime and they’ll find solutions to rebalance and create the right amount of resistance/wait/strenght in their half halt.
As for me, I work through/within my half halts. It takes longer at first but then, it gets refined and the horse quickly understand what is being asked as its training advance.
Like transitions. I no longer just “stop”, walk, trot or canter. I work through my transitions so they become flawless and fluid (with 1 or many half halts)
So, to me, half halting is not just resisting until the horse yield or using sharper/stronger quick aids.
It’s waiting for the horse’s answer to my questions, which I can repeat, and in different ways.
I work through it. Does that make sense?
I can understand the thinking of releasing within the stride - that is ideal and doesn’t teach the horse to just lean. OTOH, Waiting to release until the horse releases is a reward and teaches the horse to answer correctly.
“A half-halt is a brief slowing down of the forward movement of the front end of the horse, so that the hind end catches up and engages.”
http://www.sustainabledressage.net/collection/halfhalt.php
Love this website, and her in-depth explanation of the half-halt
Thanks so much.
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