Most of us have heard this paryticulat cue/aid given to us by our trainers. We do what we think the coach wants and sometimes it works and sometime it doesn't. Of course if it doesn't work some will simply revert to a voice command of "whoa" or "easy" but the problem with that is that it does not do what the half halt was meant to do.
So why is that.
So lets hear what you think the PHYSICAL effects are supposed to be on the horse's body so they can comply with what you are asking from them.
Now I might be completely wrong, but I will have a go anyway.
The half-halt is meant to be a steadying of the horse, and collecting of the horse. The 'go forward' aids are applied, but so are the 'don't go forward' aids, so that instead of getting faster, the horse beings their hindquarters underneath them. It is also used as a "hey poneh, I am gonna ask you to do something in a second, is yew awake?".
C'mon, folks! "Half halt" is just.... Half of the halt?
But seriously as far as I understand it's used to re-balance the horse. Basically when I half halt I catch the forward motion asking horse to go round instead of speeding up (yeah, yeah with nice head set coming in place too). Depending on horse's "education" you have to do just a very light one or quite pronounced. Although I have to say I'm not great at explaining either.
OT... My trainer calls riding round and on bit "lovely head set" sometime. Which is quite ironic (given often threads on how to get head set together with responses from experienced folks), but very true, because "lovely" won't be a case when the nose just tucked in...
My understanding of it is that desired result would be for the horse to rebalance himself back onto the haunches so that he can push from back to front.
I think of the half halt as momentarily compressing the horse like a bow. (meaning bow and arrow) By asking for more impulsion from behind while shutting the door in front, the energy has nowhere to go but up, hence the raised back aka bow.
As to the mechanics, it's become more of an overall complete movement for me, but if I had to break it into parts, I'd say stilling my seat and closing my hand on the outside rein pauses the legs front legs. At the same time asking for more impulsion by closing my legs, brings the hind legs forward at that same time. The result being the hind legs are now more under the body since the front legs didn't go as far due to the halted stride. Again back has nowhere to go but up.
Yes, I have always been told that the half halt is for balancing...
How it is accomplished is actually personal, as my clinician tells me.
My half halt is accomplished by simply alternating the tightening and releasing of the thigh muscles. Of course I begin the schooling with gentle rein aids in conjunction with the thighs. Yes, it seems to work, because the horse will engage the hindquarter more...the rider can feel it happen.
I could be completely off here but I sort of think of it as a "hesitation" of the muscles... Like say you're running track and come up to a hurdle.. Your muscles sort of tighten and slow right before the jump but they maintain the strength and impulsion. Like MBP said.. a compression.
Hmm. Ok what about shifting the balance back to the outside hind leg? Or what about shifting weight so that the hind end is lower than the front, and energy is in the back, like a parallelogram? Still too vague?
The front end sort of pauses and the hind catches up and engages. In the actual halt this happens, but the front end stops. In the half halt the front (and rear) end continue after the hh.
I think of it like a pause, a moment for the hindquarters of the horse to 'catch up' to the forehand.
to do this, you need to be aware of which leg is touching the ground at which time and cue at the appropriate time so that the leg on the ground has some leverage with which to execute the 'pause' because if you cue too early, you block the motion of the hind rather than using it as a base.
Because of the variety of situations you might use this in, the cues with the seat, legs and hands may differ.
ETA: Eliz, you and I posted at the same time!! Spyder, you posted while I was thinking
It asks the next stride to be more forward, while asking that the 'forwardness' does not actually result in speed, but in the next stride being even further under themselves than the last?
Half-halt in VERY simple terms: drive, squeeze (hand), release.
I was told by well-known trainers and Olympic level riders that the release is the MOST important part. It's the release phase that builds self-carriage.
These three bits are tiny adjustments, a little close of the leg or slight driving seat; a tiny closing of the hand (tightening the spring or the bow, if you prefer), then the release of the "spring".
The more highly trained a horse is, the smaller and lighter these things should become. The seat can become either retarding or driving (whatever you need at the moment), the hand softens as the horse rebalances in collection, sitting more on the haunches and lifting the forehand.
When it's working right, it's a pretty cool sensation!
Spyder, will you come be my dressage mentor? You seem to really enjoy hearing responses from the 'student', before giving your response as the 'mentor'. I love it!
I, too, picture the coiled spring. Sort of collecting the energy in, resulting in less forward motion and more upwards motion?
I give up. Subbing for more responses, what an awesome discussion!
Remember that the half halt given on the right side influences the left side ( can be felt most at the trot). Also as I said you cannot influence a grounded leg.
So the term cycle of energy going from the hind end through the back to the poll and to the hand is in fact the half halt affecting the swing to the hind leg so that the forward thrust energy is converted to upward support energy.
This lifting of the leg does not influence the timing as it takes just a long for that leg to travel upwards and take the down step as it would for a normal forward stride. But the stride will be shortened ON THAT ONE SIDE.
Therefore just throwing half halts at a horse at random will not do what the rider may want and when a coach constantly shouts half halt half halt half halt at the rider, that coach either doesn't know just what they are trying to achieve or they hope one of those half halts is done at the right time ( sort of hit or miss).
The problem is that so many coaches are taught what a half halt DOES but not how. The timing is critical to get the best results ( again because of when the hind leg is in position).
...So the term cycle of energy going from the hind end through the back to the poll and to the hand is in fact the half halt affecting the swing to the hind leg so that the forward thrust energy is converted to upward support energy...
Ummm...that is a visualization thing, not reality. There is no energy going in a cycle from the hindquarters thru the back, thru the poll and back into your hand.
Power from the horse's rear can be turned into forward motion or weight support, or not used at all. The power never goes in a cycle. Power from the front can likewise turn into forward motion (inefficiently), weight support, or not be used.
Maximum efficiency in moving the horse comes when the hind end provides thrust, and the front end supports weight (lift), both to the maximum extant possible.
At slower speeds, the horse can mix and match as it desires, but it may not do so efficiently. When the front end stretches out and tries to pull forward while the rear end is resting, the horse becomes strung out. With training, the horse learns the pressure on the bit means to stretch out less with his front end, while using his rear for more thrust. Carried a bit further, he'll shift some of his weight to the rear, which would limit his acceleration - but you don't do half-halts to accelerate, so that is OK.
For some reason, I don't think that explanation will satisfy many...
If I got you to think about what you are doing then I accomplished what I wanted.
So the next time someone suggests in a post to just give them a half halt remember that the odds are that the person receiving the information probably doesn't really know what they are being asked to do.
In short you are changing the dynamics of the striding of the hind legs so that a change of direction/correction of balance can be accomplished.
Eliz- I know, right?
That's super cool. Thanks so much for sharing Spyder!
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