Need help with half-halts

K

Karin

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May 7, 1999
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Toronto, Ont
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Hello all.
Just switched horses under my part-board agreement and have really lucked out. My new guy happens to be very forward moving which I really like but not quite used to which brings me to "half halts".

One of my challenges has been keeping an even pace, at any gait. My last horses would d-r-a-g, this guy speeds up. My instructor says 1. "determine your pace" 2. "keep it" 3. "you decide the speed and direction, not him". She suggests the way to control his speeding up is to use light half halts on the outside rein when he starts to move on faster than I've asked. I understand that to mean little squeezes (like Heather's sponge analogy) but I'm not sure I am communicating with him. Sometimes it works sometimes not. Have any of you experienced this? Any thoughts? Thanks Karin
 
i know what you mean by sometimes feeling like you're not really getting through. i'm still working on mastering the half halt, since my leased horse has a tendency to start running down the long side of the arena in canter (his "mom" let him do it, so now he thinks it's cool and fun).

at any rate, what i found to work best when doing a half halt is to think about the motion of the gait, and when your horse will find it easiest to run away with you. the way my instructor explained it: the canter works sort of like a see-saw, and your horse gets his impulsion from the "downhill" part of the stride. a half-halt will only be useful if you make him listen to you in THIS part of the stride, rather than the uphill, when it won't make much of a difference.

you'll need to feel the downhill motion, and get yourself into a rhythm, of sorts. then ask for the half-halt every time he steps forward with his leading leg (this is the "downhill" part of the stride, right?). so the aids would be a light squeeze, as you mentioned, in the downhill motion, and RELEASE during the "uphill" part. don't forget to keep your legs on him so he doesn't misinterpret your half-halt to mean more of a downward transition than you actually want.

as well, my impression is that half-halts can sometimes be large parts visualization, so don't forget to look UP when asking for any downward transition (your head is very heavy; when it falls forward, your horse will find it all the more easy to fall onto his forehand, as you probably know), and *relax*. :)

[This message has been edited by cynthia (edited 07 December 1999).]
 
Cyn I was hoping you'd come to my rescue. I understand exactly what you mean. I'll give it a try. I had that happen in the canter, where he I guess he thought I meant "let's trot instead" and I got him caught between gaits a couple of times. I didn't realize leg stays on. Good catch.
What about in the trot? My guy does the same thing yours does but in the trot, he really acclerates down the long ends of the arena...it's almost like the short ends and corners keep him in, but as soon as we turn he releases.
Is it only a motion in your hand or do you pull back slightly starting from your elbow too? That's what I was fiddling with. Hands or hand/arm combo?
K
 
Hi Karin

Try to think of a half halt as an 'almost halt' - so you ride forward into it the same way as you'd ride forward into halt, but just at the instant your horse gathers himself you allow him forward again. It's a sort of "can I have your attention please" communication.

So, you are trotting round the school and the trot is getting faster. Try counting out the rythmn of a good trot to yourself and concentrate on using all your aids to maintain this rythmn. Rise to your good rythmn, not the horses faster one. This is quite difficult but once you get the hang of it it does work. That's why I recomend you count out the rythmn out loud. If you rise to the slower beat the horse will eventually follow your lead and slow down to your rythmn. If you feel the trot speed up along the long side you could circle - use a half halt to get your horse's attention, ask him for bend and do a circle, count out that all important rythmn to yourself, keep the contact with your outside rein but allow him to bend - don't hang on to him to try to slow him down.

Worth a try?

Good luck

Tikki
 
hey again, Karin! i haven't seen any posts from you in a while, actually... good to hear from you again. :)

whew, half-halts are pretty complicated, and there are several different "types", so i hope i'm explaining this correctly! at any rate, i'll give it a try...

since i learned the half-halt, i'll sometimes be concentrating so much on getting Raven's weight off his forehand that i'll forget to keep my leg on, so we've experienced that "getting caught between gaits" once or twice as well. it's illuminating, though - at least i always know what i'm doing wrong! ;>

but back to your questions. usually i don't need a half-halt in a trot, but i'll give you my perceptions anyway; what the heck, right? the see-saw analogy works just as well with other gaits, i thnk; it's just a *lot* more recognizable in the canter (particularly with my horse). when your horse is rushing off down the long side of the arena, even in a trot, chances are he also has his weight dumped onto his forehand. so, our analogy holds, pretty much; we're just working with a slightly different rythm (1-2, rather than 1-2-3). it's really hard to coordinate the timing along with your weight distribution AND your leg, so it may take a while to get it (i'm no expert; i still haven't really brought my weight aids into the equation too much).

so, with the trot, while it's a little less obvious, you can still lighten your horse's forehand when he's trying to rush off with you. count the rhytm out to yourself, as you might want to do in the canter, and use short, firm hand/wrist squeezes (rather than pulling from the elbow), and then remember to *release* (relax your hands/wrists, like the sponge analogy) JUST when your horse starts to pause. the releasing of tension is key.

i think the important thing is to consciously stop yourself from moving along with the motion of the horse (i know this sounds contrary to what we would normally do, but i think that's sort of the point).

also, a bunch of little half halts with the outside rein will encourage your horse to stop falling out onto the outside shoulder when bending into a circle. you can also use 20m circles to get a feel for the pace of a slower rhythm, one that you *want* your horse to do while trotting down the long side. so maybe do one 20m circle, then continue on down the long side, and make use of the half halts to keep him from tumbling onto his forehand and running off.

okay, i've babbled on long enough. hopefully some of it was remotely useful!

-cyn
 
Thank you both so much. I really understand what you're saying. I'm off to Boston tonight for the weekend but riding again next and I can't wait for a quiet moment to give your ideas a try. It's so funny reading your comments, it's like you've been watching us in the ring and know exactly what he's doing. Again, many thanks I'll write you guys next week and give you a progress report. See ya. Karin
 
of course! though you may very well be gone now... oh well. :>

at any rate, certainly get in touch if you'd like. my email address is in my profile.

if i don't talk to you, though, i'm sure you'll have an excellent time. i've spent lots of time in Toronto, and found it very similar to Boston in some ways. :>

-cyn
 
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