The half halt is something that virtually every one of us has been told to do, at one time or another, during a riding lesson. But from running my Posture Awareness Clinics I now realise just how few riders understand how they are supposed to do a half halt or even why they should should be doing it in the first place. I therefore thought it would be a great idea if I could try to explain the half halt in detail, by breaking the half halt down into a What, Why, When and How.
The What and Why
According to the FEI the “half-halt is a hardly visible, almost simultaneous co-ordinated action of the seat, the legs and the hand of the rider, with the object of increasing the attention and balance of the horse before the execution of several movements or transitions to lesser or higher paces. In shifting slightly more weight onto the horse’s quarters, the engagement of the hind legs and the balance on the haunches are facilitated, for the benefit of the lightness of the forehand and the horse’s balance as a whole”. So basically, to put the definition in to simpler terms, the purpose of the half halt is to help re-balance our horse for a change in pace or direction by getting the hind leg that is on the ground to stay on the ground a little longer and to flex a little more.
So why would we want to help balance or re-balance our horse. One example might be, that if you were riding a horse that was leaning on his bit and extremely heavy in your hands, by using a series of half halts, you could help shift some of his (the horse’s) weight backwards. Equally, you could be trotting around the arena and want to make a 90° turn, by applying 2 half halts before the turn you can warn the horse that you are about to make a change in direction. You can also use half halts to prepare your horse to go from a walk or trot into canter, or from canter or trot into walk or trot. You can use half halts before asking your horse to extend his gait or asking him to collect more. No wonder instructors keep telling us to half halt!
The main job of the half halt is to increase the flexion of the joints of the hind leg that is on the ground, by using our weight or the weight of the horse’s head and neck to transfer some of his weight back. By flexing the hind leg more and keeping it on the ground for slightly longer, we are able to prolong the weight bearing phase of that leg.
The When
Our aids for the half halt can only work effectively when our timing is correct. As I have already mentioned, as the job of the half halt is to increase the flexion of the joints of the hind leg, a half halt can only be applied effectively when the hind leg can comply with the request. To understand when this moment is, we first need to consider how our horse moves. Although the rhythm changes with the different gaits the basic premise remains the same. As the horse moves forwards each hind leg in turn reaches forward through the air, touches down in front of the vertical, receives the horse’s weight and flexes at the joints. The leg then passes the vertical, and as the body moves forward the leg extends the joints and then pushes off from the ground to propel the body mass forward.
So as we have said the purpose of the half halt is to flex the joints, it is obvious that the only moment in the footfall sequence that is suitable for the half halt is the weight bearing phase, i.e. between the time when the hind leg touches down to the moment it reaches the vertical. If you apply the half halt when the hind leg is in the air, it is unable to respond to the request and if you apply the half halt when the hind leg is behind the vertical, it is too late as the joints are already extending again and pushing the body forward. In either of these two scenarios the half halt won’t go “though” as it is physically impossible for the horse to comply.
Even when you get your timing exactly right, the half halt may not go through because the horse finds it difficult to comply. For example if your horse is hollow on his right side, he would carry more weight on his left fore and his right hind would step outside his centre of mass. In a case like this, you need to get that right hind stepping underneath the horse before a half halt can work, so you would need to ask for the horse to leg yield for a couple of strides to the left to get the right hind to step further under before stopping into the right hind.
The How
There are several possible ways or types of aids you can use to apply half halts.
- You can use your seat by pulling down with the muscles in your lower back and up with the abdominal muscles located below the navel, which uses your own body weight to load the hind leg and keep it grounded longer.
2. You can use a light stirrup pressure on the same side and at the same time that the targeted hind leg touches the ground. So for example, if you wanted to half halt into the outside hind leg, you could apply a little pressure against your outside stirrup when the outside hind leg touches the ground.
3. You can use a light rein pressure from either rein to take the weight and the leverage of the horse’s head and neck and transfers it to the grounded hind leg.
With all of these aids the pressure should only be held from the moment the hind leg touches down to the time the hind leg reaches the vertical. And if you are using a rein aid, the contact should not be thrown away when the pressure is released.
Half halting using the reins is probably the most common way of doing a half halt. But, unfortunately, too many people apply too strong a rein pressure for too long and then they inadvertently throw the contact away when they release the half halt or even forget to release at all. A way of overcoming this problem, is to think of engaging your core as you close the fingers. As you do so, breathe, draw up and hold—through the small of the back. Let your breath out when the horse obeys and your hand will automatically give again.This will b e felt down the length of the rein and if this is not sufficient, you can raise your hand gently, but only an inch or so.
Students who have the opportunity to have a session on PI, my electronic horse, can actually see for themselves just how hard it is to use their hands correctly to apply a half halt, whilst if they use their back and core muscles in the way described, a slight pressure on the rein on is applied, and then, as they release their back muscles the rein contact reverts to parity. Most students find that if they just use their hands they invariably apply too much pressure on the rein and cannot control the release. Another facet of PI’s programme is being able to try and time the half halt to match PI’s virtual footfall which is shown on the screen in front of you.