UNDERSTANDING THE TIMING OF THE HALF HALT

When a horse is connected and ‘on the bit’, the impulsion from the active hindquarters flows uninterrupted over an elastic, swinging back to reach the bit. The rider will feel a soft impulse in their hand at the moment the energy reaches the bit and the correctly trained horse will “bounce” back from the bit, effectively giving himself a small half halt with each stride. If the horse momentarily goes against the bit, the rider can use a stronger half halt, driving a little with their seat and legs up to the restraining hand, and immediately give a soft release.

You have probably heard people talking about having the feeling of their horse’s hindfeet ‘in their hands’.

Try to feel for the moment in walk. If the horse is moving with an active walk, each hindleg swinging forward freely underneath the body and the rider has a passive contact with the horses mouth they will feel this slight impulse, one side then the other, in the rhythm of the horse’s strides. In walk, with each swing of the hindlegs, the neck will extend forward and back with each stride, this is more obvious in an extended walk than a collected walk where the movement is nearly absent.

The phase of footfalls in walk are left hind, left fore, right hind, right fore. The rider controls the horse’s left hind leg with their left leg, seat and rein and the horse’s right hind leg with their right leg, seat and rein. The timing of the aids is important and the hindleg can only be influenced from the moment it is about to leave the ground for the swing phase up to the top of the swing phase.

This is when the horse is actively pushing up to the contact.

As the horse begins to step forward in the swing phase, the muscles of the hindlimb (which are attached to the back muscles by a large sheet of fascia) exert a pull on the back muscles, raising the back from behind. In an effort to maintain his balance the horse will stretch his head and neck forward, reaching towards the bit. As soon as the limb touches the ground it is no longer pushing up positively to the rein contact. This means an attempt at a half halt in this moment will have no effect other than to shorten the horse’s neck and disrupt the connection. The horse may resist by pushing against the rider’s hand using the ground for support.

A rider who is able to get her horse ‘on the aids’ /‘connected’/ ‘on the bit’ will have no trouble with the timing of the half halt as the correct timing will feel natural.  The process of getting a horse ‘on the aids’ will develop a rider’s feel for the movements of the horse’s hindlimbs.

The trot is a diagonal gait with a moment of suspension. In sitting trot, the rider will feel their seat drop on one side then the other with the rhythm of the strides. As the hindlimb on the same side is swinging forward, the back muscle stretches and flattens and the rider’s seat will drop on this side. On the side of the grounded limb, the muscle contracts and bulges and their seat will be lifted. It is obviously natural to sit deeper into the side of the dropped seatbone. It would be very awkward to attempt to do the opposite. The side of the dropped seatbone will swing forward up to the contact and this can be an application time for the half halt making the required contact.

In rising trot, when riding on the correct diagonal, the rider can only influence the inside hind leg on their way up in the rise as this is when the inside hindleg is leaving the ground and can be influenced.

In the down beat of the rising trot, the outside hind is influenced. This limb has the furthest to travel so driving on the down beat will encourage it to step further forward.

The canter is a three beat gait, with a moment of suspension. The footfalls are outside hind, outside fore plus inside hind, inside fore. The half halt is given on the outside as the outside hind leaves the ground. As the rider’s seat is pushed forward in the saddle, a half halt can be applied to the inside hind leg, as this limb leaves the ground.

THE HALF HALT is the almost simultaneous application of the leg against the hand followed by a lightening.

If the Rider restrains the horse a split second after giving the driving aid, the horse has picked his leg up but it is slowed down in the air, therefore the limb is required to flex more. As it cannot go forward, it must go upward.

This only works providing the horse is already moving forward with sufficiently energy. If not, he will merely slow the hind legs and drag them behind him.

The more the joints of the hindlimb are flexed, the stronger the pull on the back muscles, resulting in a raising of the forehand and a more collected gait.

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