Young horse training half halt...let them take the rein out?

[luvmydutch]

I just began “putting the pieces” together with my 5 year old and training her to respond to a half halt. She is taking to them so well that when I close my legs to add energy, close my outside hand to capture the energy and vibrate a bit on the inside rein if needed…then release a half inch…she will take the contact all the way down to the ground at all 3 gaits (yay! Shes getting it!). I initially give with my arms and fingers lightly and she chews the reins right through my fingers.
I love giving her that stretch and release for correctly responding to my HH, but is it appropriate to keep letting The rein get longer at this stage so she can take it down for a stretch? I want her to really get that she did it right, but don’t want to throw her on her forehand.

Fwiw shes going to be awesome at the stretchy circle when the time comes

Thanks!

[J-Lu]

I think it’s fine for her to learn she can take the rein, but not fine for her to expect to take the rein down to the buckle any time she wants. She should learn to take the rein that you give her (and of course, you can be generous at times), but she should also know that sometimes, she can stretch forward and that doesn’t mean she can go down to her ankles. Now is a good time to teach her to stretch but also to respect the rein and aids and stretch to the degree and within the frame that you’ll allow. By all means, be generous at this beginning stage but also let her know that she has to keep carrying herself even when she’s stretching. Eventually, she’s going to have to know that you might only give an inch or three of stretch and she should be happy to comply with that by stretching over the back and not fighting your only inch or three.

[Color_of_Light]

The reward for the hh is the release of the taking of the rein. Tiny reward…softening of the hold, giving half inch. The horse stays up and get light in front. The hh is about the horse rocking it’s weight back to hind end, not dropping front end.

What’s happening here might be heading you the wrong direction. Allowing her to take the reins in response to a hh, then to keep taking them and stretch isn’t teaching the hh or to be confused with a hh. You’re teaching her to go down in response to your reward/give. When you eventually try to apply a real hh, you don’t want to teach the horse to learn to snatch the reins and dive.

Movements where horses accept hh, stays up and rock back would be piaffe, passage, canter pirouette. In these movements if he lowers his neck as response to hh, his weight is not shifted back, and he can’t do these movements. He’d be on his forehand.

[DressageChic2]

i agree with COL i’m afraid.

try and think of the HH as a momentary aid that folds her hips under, rocks her weight back on to her butt, gets her READY for anything.

a good HH that goes through should give you the feeling of contained power (more contained then it was before, relative to horses level of training)…when my 4yo is truly through and elastic to the hand i can HH, buzz him with my seat (like clench my butt cheeks for a stride) and feel a passage bubbling away under me-thats the contained power (disclaimer i am not asking for passage on a 4yo but man i can feel it there, simmering).

i regularly allow him to stretch right to the floor in both rising and sitting trot but that is in response to me feathering the rein out and saying “go on, take it”.

[luvmydutch]

Thank you!

Ah ha so my instincts were correct. I love to let her do a biiig stretch in the warmup and at the end of our ride, but during our work I need to set the length of rein she is to take. I love the description of thinking of the result of the half halt being more like…shifting her weight to her bum and having a simmering passage under you.

Thanks all! Will try again tonight

[DressageChic2]

you can allow the stretch at any point, but its on your terms.

after a circle of super super good trot, or a really good effort at SI for example i let my boy do the BIIIIIIG stretch. If i intend to pick him back up and repeat i probably stay sitting, if i intend to take a break i would probably rise, but its on MY terms, to MY length of rein

it doesnt always have to be so set in stone-after a really good collect/medium/collect/medium in canter last night i went light seat and let my boy toss his head and squeal and hump and really stretch right down in the canter but again i feathered the reins out and said-have at it boyo!

its good you can get the stretch though, shows she is trusting you and quite loose in the back.

[merrygoround]

Think of half halt simply as a rebalancing. Your object is to shift the weight to the hind quarters, not to stretch them down. Both involve a horse reaching under and going forward.

[netg]

[QUOTE=Color of Light;8896664]
The reward for the hh is the release of the taking of the rein. Tiny reward…softening of the hold, giving half inch. The horse stays up and get light in front. The hh is about the horse rocking it’s weight back to hind end, not dropping front end.

What’s happening here might be heading you the wrong direction. Allowing her to take the reins in response to a hh, then to keep taking them and stretch isn’t teaching the hh or to be confused with a hh. You’re teaching her to go down in response to your reward/give. When you eventually try to apply a real hh, you don’t want to teach the horse to learn to snatch the reins and dive.

Movements where horses accept hh, stays up and rock back would be piaffe, passage, canter pirouette. In these movements if he lowers his neck as response to hh, his weight is not shifted back, and he can’t do these movements. He’d be on his forehand.[/QUOTE]

I agree.

Think of the purpose of a half halt. It’s to get a horse to shift weight backward, not forward. Just physics tells you the neck stretching down is going to shift weight forward.

The easiest way I’ve found to teach half halts is do a downward transition, then change the half halt to the prep for the downward transition and you will get the folding of the hind legs/rotation of the pelvis/balance improvement of the transition without having to conduct it.

[SendenHorse]

No, not in a half halt- never --but good contact doesn’t need a release, but giving- yes-

why would you drop what you worked so hard to create?

I think the HH question is not the same as the “stretching as a reward” question. I agree with the “break time” idea and do that a lot.

Over-giving gave me a horse always looking for a way out. Balance is supposed to be a nice place for the horse to be.