QUESTION: What is and how do you perform a half halt, and how is it utilized effectively?
Answer submitted by Kerry Petty:
Half halts are used to rebalance the horse as well as a signal to the horse something new is going to happen . Half halts vary in intensity depending on how balanced your horse is before you do one. The frequency of half halts vary on what you are doing and how balanced your horse is. A basic deception of a half halt in most books is applying the inside leg(asking for more engagement with the inside hind) and capturing the forward energy by a slight closing of the outside hand(so the horse learns the leg does not always mean go faster the hand helps to build up engagement The only problem with this is I see and hear riders always starting with closing the hand or pulling with the hand and soon the leg is not even mentioned. So half halts revert to pulling on the horses mouth - he slows down -yes- but loses all impulsion much less rebalances as his hand end if usually left out behind.
I teach a half halt is a rebalancing of horse and rider. The rider reengages his core
1-shoulder blades drop down the back
2- lower abs are tone(transverse abs connect low from hip bone to hip bone horizontally
3- side abdominal firm up keeping the rider straight from side to side
Then the horse usually rebalances himself as the riders weight has dropped low and towards the back and so the horse steps more under the riders weight - tada a half halt!
Answer submitted by Shelby Blades:
That's a tough question, and I'll tell you why. If you get 100 dressage riders in a room, and ask them this question, you'll get about 120 different answers! Half halts are a fairly personal thing. Everybody does them a little bit differently. But there are a few things that most people can agree on. So let's go over these points.
What is the purpose of a half halt? The half halt is used to rebalance the horse. It is employed to ready and prepare the horse for something coming up, such as a transition, or a corner. It can be used to gather the horses attention if it has wandered a bit through the course of the work.
What affect should the half halt have on the horse? After a well timed, tactful half half, the horse should move in better balance. He should be attentive and a little more 'put together'. A half halt using lateral (same side) aids may encourage the horse to supple in the ribcage, whereas one using diagonal aids may encourage the horse to stand more on the oustide rein.
Learning to half halt well is difficult because it requires a high degree of feel and timing. Naturally talented riders use them without thinking about it, it becomes just part of how they ride. The rest of us have to really dissect our aids to learn to apply them appropriately. We have to learn when to engage the abs and close the hand, when to use lateral aids vs diagonal aids. And the hardest part of all is learning when to apply these aids so that the bearing of the horse is improved and not disturbed.
Since we're discussing the half halt, there is a school of training out there these days that does not believe in using half halts. This group has abandoned use of the half halt because they find it to be ineffective. In their case, due to the manner in which they ride their horses, they are correct. A half halt can only 'go through' (ie be effective) when the horse is in an up and open bearing. If a horse is curled in the neck or too closed in the throatlatach, the half halt gets blocked, and cannot make a difference in the bearing and balance in the horse. So, if part of your training routine is the curl the neck or closet the throatlatch, half halts ARE useless. (Which to me is one darned good reason to leave the horse up and open in his bearing, as half halts are awefully useful tools!)
Shelby Blades
SW Dressage