Please be nice here. I’m trying to make sense of some advice I was given a few weeks back: To “see-saw” the reins while at the halt to prevent a specific horse from going into giraffe mode. I’m not comfortable with this advice.
I think she had the terminology wrong. It’s the only thing I can figure. Is there something else that you would do at the halt to keep a horse who tends to get very strong and tense at the halt relaxed?
Please walk me through what one should and should not be doing at the halt.
Other terminology that might help you:
jiggle the reins lightly
squeeze and relax your fingers on the reins
vibrate the reins
soften your hands in rhythm
soften the jaw
massage the jaw
wiggle the reins
That’s if you want the horse to be on the bit. For horses that are tense or anticipate, I spend a lot longer time in the halt. I wait until they relax on the bit, then drop the reins and make sure they stand until relaxed and bored. I move in the saddle, pick up and drop the reins, and look around. I go back to basics and make sure they know they do not get to walk off until I pick up the reins and actively ask them.
It might be better for your horse to stand without contact first and then practice very lightly taking up contact and letting it go at the halt. Do it a lot and regularly so it becomes a reward and normal. Never get hurried about it.
The only thing I can think of that’s close to see sawing but not is to ask for left bend followed immediately by right bend (or visa versa). So your outside rein stays steady while you ask for a slight bend using inside reing and inside leg then switch immediately in the next stride. I’m not sure this is ideal for a horse that brings his head up transitioning into the halt. Doing this would makes it hard for the horse to brace against the rider.
Head up in downward transitions is usually an indicator that the horse is “falling” into the transition, meaning they are losing engagement behind and just slowing down - visualize running down a hill haphazardly - you know, arms swinging, leaning forward, you feel like your falling. It’s fun but not ideal, especially if you actually do lose your balance and fall.
The best solution is to keep the rein steady and really sit and use the core to slow down and what most people don’t do - keep the leg on. A horse that is bracing a lot, put on a circle and ask for the inside bend while halting. Usually this is more for the rider as actively doing something reminds them to use their seat and keep their leg on.
So, my horses aren’t the types to brace in general, and therefore what I do may or may not help you. Short answer: don’t seesaw, and mentally pretend you’ve slapped the person across the face if it makes you feel better.
For the baby, who is super uphill naturally: If I give hands forward a little and stop carefully (aka, try to make it so gradual it will be through a walk, though she tends to just sit and halt when I don’t actually ask for a walk), she just stops softly and easily.
With the coming 9 year old, she’ll brace against my hands as hard as I brace on her. So I have to mentally think about keeping from locking my hands in place. NOT see-saw, but alive contact instead of too still. That’s where thinking about moving my hands like they’re jell-o or some other imagery helps, because otherwise I tend to want to lock up my arms, and she happily braces on them. She’s not as naturally uphill, so keeping her hind legs moving is the most important part of getting it right - so I do a lot of trot - hal… - trot work, kicking her back forward when she tries to overachieve and slam the brakes. That activity behind is what keeps her from bracing IF I’m not bracing.
Those technique don’t put the horse on the bit, quite the contrary. It puts the horse off the contact and, ultimately if that’s what you only rely on, in a frame.
More leg is the solution. Nice flexions, with impulsion, aiming at more self carriage is the way to reach this lightness goal.
OP, what you need to work on are your transitions walk/halt with more impulsion and more suppleness. You need to establish a good half halt.
You will also need to work on your release and taking back the reins. Best way is to do so at the free walk. One rein at a time. Smoothly but surely, with the right contact, there won’t be giraffe move anymore.
I never « play » with my horses mouth while at the halt as it is « too late ». I only would do so when I apply my legs.
I come into halt with contact. Pause - release - Salute.
I take the reins back + seat/legs on to prepare the transition and we go.
This morning, my guy (different horse) and I enjoyed some beautiful halts and there was a lot of softness (massaging) in the reins and his halts are always super lovely for me. He’s pretty much the opposite of this other horse in most respects though.
For the horse in OP in question - Leg on, patience, massaging… and some great advice from last weekend - come to a barely-halt, then walk again so he is still having the benefit of the halt and pushing from behind but can’t fall into his trap. These are all trainer approved methods. But sometimes she needs to be there to help create softness from the ground.
I’m still having a hard time with ‘see-saw’ as this person should in all respects know better. I tried to shake it but it’s been bothering me again. It must be that she is meaning basically to massage the mouth but … harder? I don’t know. Where does acceptable end and unacceptable begin? Where is that middle ground that is okay for the horse still but deals with a very strong horse?
In all the exercises above the horse should be on the bit and not acting like a giraffe. If he cannot do these exercises on a soft contact, then that is where you start to build understanding of “on the bit.”
Eventually you work on (b) and extend the brief stop into a true “halt” that is on the bit.
That is what I am suspecting, but really this person should know better.
Your suggested a,b,c are the kind of exercises that I am having success with because everything puts this horse in 'trying to kill himself" mode and I’m just not comfortable forcing any sort of frame.
Well, OP, now you know you can ignore advice from that person. And if that person is your trainer, its time to move on.
Yes. Lots of people see-saw and jab jab and hang on the reins. Yes it’s wrong, and no it won’t give you the results you want.
It’s useful to get a giraffe horse to stretch into the bit, and to begin halting more from seat than from reins. You cant get an upside down giraffe horse into a “dressage frame” without going through a strtech to the bit period to teach them about willingly accepting contact.
If you try to force a giraffe to carry its nose vertical you get a horse that is still sunken in the back.
This is is my favorite of all these good ideas. I have been told to go into the halt (when we are schooling, not at a show) with the thought of shoulder fore. Soften the horse as if to start a circle, then hips to hands. We have been practicing this from day one. I am proud of how nice my horse does her halts. We always, ALWAYS, finish our ride with a good halt and an immediate dismount. Have to brag that once we got a 10 for our final halt (schooling show, First Level ). She was balanced and square, she was perfect.
On the other hand we have been know to turn into a giraffe when there is jumping going on in the adjacent arena. For that I have a tendency to vibrate and then relax my leg to tell her the more will be expected soon.
Yes, they do. But mostly that was a list of words that might better describe the feeling the training was trying to get, I assume. With a tense horse in the halt, more leg is not the solution.
And you just said “release and take back the reins,” which is playing with the reins. Like I said. My suggestions were to get the horse to relax at the halt by not hurrying in and out of it, as you suggested, but just sit there for awhile in the halt, with long or no reins, since she asked for suggestions at the halt.
If I had to guess, I would say your trainer is trying to suggest suppling your horse at the poll and unlock his jaw. See-sawing is not a term I would use.
Assuming your reins are the correct length, if at any point you are pulling back, you’re not doing it correctly. At the halt with a tense horse, I would think maintain contact while using seat to bring horse up into bridle with FOLLOWING contact. By that I mean, as you ask your tense horse to stretch into the contact, it can’t be a firm shut door. It needs to me inviting and soft. (think rubber band). As you using your seat to nudge your horse just a smidge forward, soften you elbows so you horse is able to stretch. If he responds by tensing up and going giraffe again, just lather/rinse/repeat until you get the correct answer and reward him with a “good boy” or inside shoulder pat. At no point to do you pull back on the reins. Keep the rein length consistent and just send your horse forward into it. The halt is actually a forward movement in the whole grand scheme of things.
If your horse is really not getting the idea, so all the above after a few steps of walk so he has time to decompress again between halts. As others have said, the head is just an after affect of what the body is doing, so nothing can actually be accomplished at the halt that is correct. It’s all a result of a proper downward transition.
The wiggling, massaging, shaking, playing with the reins is done to move the bit in the horse’s mouth and therefore, it gets the horse off the contact.
The horse than has no choice but to get somehow lighter for a moment because it is no longer on contact.
It is not meant to put the horse in contact with the bit.
Your legs and a stable hand, with elastic elbows, will get your horse onto contact.
And you just said “release and take back the reins,” which is playing with the reins.
No.
I said release.
Which mean completely, like while I salute the judge. The release is done by putting my hands forward and maybe a little down. No more action or contact on the bit.
Then I take the rein back.
There is no wiggling, massaging or any wrist/hand movement.
I take back my reins to correct length and use my legs/core aids to push my horse back on contact.
Like I said. My suggestions were to get the horse to relax at the halt by not hurrying in and out of it, as you suggested, but just sit there for awhile in the halt, with long or no reins, since she asked for suggestions at the halt.
Your suggestion is correct for an anxious horse that moves at halt. The OP horse doesn’t have a halting/staying there problem but more of a contact issue.
–I was responding to the OP who explicity said the " horse who tends to get very strong and tense at the halt" so a I addressed the halt as well as giving her a list of terms that the trainer might have been trying to express.
The OP explicitly said “Please walk me through what one should and should not be doing at the halt.” So I addressed that. And she does have a halt issue as well as a contact issue.
So, I addressed the issue by giving her some ideas what the trainer might have meant, and how to relax the horse in the halt.
You may believe that “taking the rein” and putting more leg and tightening your core on a tense horse in a halt will make them bring the head down and relax them, but I pretty much guarantee in practice that it will not work.
I can’t find the advanced editing option, so I replied within your post with – heading my comments.
Too much attention being paid to reins. The halt come from your body stopping. Your legs stay on keeping the hind end going forward. The reins feel is an acquired feel by the rider as to how much to give, and how much to lightly hold. With time and practice you can feel how strongly you need to use your body to achieve halt trough the walk, halt through the trot, and the impressive halt through the strong forward trot or the canter.
As NetG says-there is no lock down. Seesawing is also referred to as sliding the bit. In my book it’s an unnecessary activity if the halt is performed properly.
