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Post by rideanotherday on Nov 18, 2015 18:07:00 GMT
Let's talk about one of the most poorly understood maneuvers in horse riding - the half halt. It is one of the single most important skills for horse and rider to learn and often, one of the most difficult to describe or accomplish. It is easy enough to entail what the half halt is used for. The half halt is utilized by all disciplines of riding, at least in concept, if not in design or name. A half halt is used to compress the horse's frame and energy in preparation for transitions in gait or changes in direction. This allows a horse to re-balance their center of gravity by lowering the hindquarters, tilting the pelvis and utilizing the power of the hindquarters. The lowering of the hindquarters is much like a martial artist rolling their weight onto the balls of their feet and bending their knees to focus and absorb external forces.
The first part of the half halt is the leg. The rider's leg is applied at the girth and in time with the horse's corresponding hind leg leaving the ground. As the hoof comes off the ground, the flight or path of that hoof may be affected. When the rider applies the leg at the girth, it utilizes the panniculus response of the horse to encourage the hoof to come up higher and farther forward. This longer step causes the pelvis to tilt, the ribs to lift and the back to round and results in a stronger push with the hind leg.
Next, in the half halt comes from the rider's seat. The seat is comprised of three points of contact, the two seat bones and the pubic bone. The seat's portion of the half halt is to first drive the energy of the horse forward and then to allow the horse's back to lift as it rounds and to direct the energy forward. A seat that doesn't allow for this movement restricts the stretching of the epiaxial (long muscles along the spine) muscles.
Last, the rein aids. This portion of the half halt controls the direction of the energy created by the horse reaching under himself with his hind legs. As the horse responds to the increased engagement of his hind leg, there will be an increase in contact with the bit and the rider's hands. On the same side as the leg, the rider will close their hand on the rein and increase the focus of the contact on the corner of the horse's mouth. A horse should respond to that increase in contact by accepting the contact and yielding to it. He should soften his jaw and flex towards the rider's hand.
A recap and simplification:
squeeze with legs at the girth
drive and allow with seat
hold with hands (direct rein)
A western rider may know this as "checking" a horse, asking him to rate or "shortening" the horse. Mostly, this is done with seat and legs and as a last resort the reins.
Would you describe the half halt this way? How / when do you use it? I'm interested!
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Post by horseguy on Nov 18, 2015 18:59:53 GMT
... A half halt is used to compress the horse's frame and energy in preparation for transitions in gait or changes in direction. This allows a horse to re-balance their center of gravity by lowering the hindquarters, tilting the pelvis and utilizing the power of the hindquarters. The lowering of the hindquarters is much like a martial artist rolling their weight onto the balls of their feet and bending their knees to focus and absorb external forces. ... The seat is comprised of three points of contact, the two seat bones and the pubic bone. The seat's portion of the half halt is to first drive the energy of the horse forward and then to allow the horse's back to lift as it rounds and to direct the energy forward. A seat that doesn't allow for this movement restricts the stretching of the epiaxial (long muscles along the spine) muscles.
I have edited the quote in order to comment on a couple words that I think are important. I very much agree with your description. I am commenting on the bold words in the quote to refine the description in a way that I understand. In collection, I do not believe we exactly "compress" the horse's frame. I would use different words. We do shorten the horse's "wheelbase" but paradoxically we accomplish this by lengthening the spine, but since the lengthening is rounding, as you say "as it rounds", I find the word compress inaccurate form my understadning. I always think of a cat in this posture when I think of how an animal shortens the distance between front and hind feet by rounding/lengthening their spine.
My instructor use the phrase, "Gather up you horse". That also reminds me of how a cat's body lengthens when picked up. If you pick up a cat by placing your hands around the belly and lift or gather up the cat, the spine lengthens. Semantics maybe but important in early understanding because people try to compress their horse in a half halt and this can be tightening and messy.
Having made those comments on the wording to address my understanding, I agree with what you have written. I do, however, have what might be a more advance method that involves bracing the rider's back and breathing. Many years ago I had a boarder who had a quarter million dollar dressage horse when a Corvette cost $20,000. She let me ride her horse, which I still think of in disbelief. You literally had to be careful of how you breathed when riding this horse. Sneeze while in the saddle and you probably would be galloping. This sensitivity might explain why so many dressage rider rarely laugh.  A half halt on this horse was aligning the horse in a nice soft rhythm, and a gentle steady exhale with your back softly braced. Voila, a half halt, no leg, little or no rein.
My point is that once a degree of unity is achieved, some of the steps you outline can be minimized or left out. OK few of us ever get our horses to this level but we can still use the techniques. When you have a staff job in a hunt, when you are carrying a whip, a radio and a GPS hound tracker, you have no use of your hands for controlling your horse. You improvise, seat, breath, whatever, got no hands. |
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Post by rideanotherday on Nov 18, 2015 19:21:51 GMT
Oh absolutely! This post was just a place to get things started. Advancement of cues and achieving unity with the horse is the ideal. Most riders will never get there but it's certainly a place to focus on.
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Post by jimmy on Nov 19, 2015 4:29:57 GMT
I find descriptions such as the first one for a half halt too cumbersome and academic and tedious. I know that Jane Savoy wrote a whole book called the "half halt demystified" or something. An entire book! No wonder people are so confused.
Here is how Harry Chamberlain describes the use of the half halt,
"The half halt may be executed with one or both hands, varying the procedure so as to refuse the horse a fixed support to pull against, and at the same time, to punish him for his wilful resistance to the hands."
The half halt is simply executed with the hands. "A quick strong effect on the bit is produced....the effect is to force the horse to shift his balance to the rear, off the forelegs, and the rider's hands...."
He describes an upward rotation of the wrist, in the direction of the rider's chest.
He goes on to say the subject of the hands is inexhaustible, which it is.
But yes, we check the horse for a moment, before he has a chance to lean and pull downward.
Every now and then, it may take a strong use of the legs to drive the horse into the pressure, very momentarily, in conjunction with the action of the hand. But for me that is and extreme case. Certainly not as the norm. It can be as light as a little lift, that re balances the horse. I find it a hard style that crams the horse together between leg and hand. It's just a quick check with the reins.
The half halt may lead to collection, by preventing the horse going onto his front end, but it is not the way collection is obtained, in my opinion.
Ride your horse with some lightness from the beginning, and he won't need to be half halted so strongly as I see in the Warm blood world. Better yet, ride light quick horses. The thought of putting legs on them as usually described, with a strong driving seat, and resisting with the reins, would send one of these horses through the roof! Those are the horse I like.
Then you don't need to write a book on the half halt.
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Post by jlynn on Nov 19, 2015 11:52:59 GMT
My first instructor too, used "gather him up". It wasn't until much later I learned it was the same as a half halt.
Glad to have found you HG...
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Post by rideanotherday on Nov 19, 2015 12:01:44 GMT
I find descriptions such as the first one for a half halt too cumbersome and academic and tedious. I know that Jane Savoy wrote a whole book called the "half halt demystified" or something. An entire book! No wonder people are so confused. Here is how Harry Chamberlain describes the use of the half halt, "The half halt may be executed with one or both hands, varying the procedure so as to refuse the horse a fixed support to pull against, and at the same time, to punish him for his wilful resistance to the hands." The half halt is simply executed with the hands. "A quick strong effect on the bit is produced....the effect is to force the horse to shift his balance to the rear, off the forelegs, and the rider's hands...." He describes an upward rotation of the wrist, in the direction of the rider's chest. He goes on to say the subject of the hands is inexhaustible, which it is. But yes, we check the horse for a moment, before he has a chance to lean and pull downward. Every now and then, it may take a strong use of the legs to drive the horse into the pressure, very momentarily, in conjunction with the action of the hand. But for me that is and extreme case. Certainly not as the norm. It can be as light as a little lift, that re balances the horse. I find it a hard style that crams the horse together between leg and hand. It's just a quick check with the reins. The half halt may lead to collection, by preventing the horse going onto his front end, but it is not the way collection is obtained, in my opinion. Ride your horse with some lightness from the beginning, and he won't need to be half halted so strongly as I see in the Warm blood world. Better yet, ride light quick horses. The thought of putting legs on them as usually described, with a strong driving seat, and resisting with the reins, would send one of these horses through the roof! Those are the horse I like. Then you don't need to write a book on the half halt. I think there is a certain amount of usefulness to the academic description of things like the half halt. The information should be held somewhere for people who are not able to find or afford appropriate lessons but know that there is a way to improve their riding and their horsemanship. I think its easier to learn from someone who can provide immediate feedback, but I've learned a lot from reading as well. To be dismissive of the use of legs and seat within the application of the half halt, indeed any part of riding is poorly thought out. I prefer lightness and try to use the least amount of cue to achieve the results I'm looking for that the horse will still react to. Since horses notice a gnat landing on their hip, I feel like I have plenty of room to get light. I try to ride with body shifts and by shifting my body, my leg will touch the horse's side. That's physics. Everything is connected and therefore should be part of the description. It's about balance, timing and feel. I will use whatever cue works for the horse I'm riding, whether it's leg, rein, weight, seat etc or all in combination. Some horses need more. Some need less. As a rider, it's my job to figure out what the horse needs and will work with best. |
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Post by horseguy on Nov 19, 2015 13:13:16 GMT
Chamberlin was the highest functioning Military/Fort Riley Seat rider the U.S. has ever produced. One of the remarkable things about him is he always remained true to the Seat he learned and advanced. Not true of George Morris, for example. The description of the half halt Jimmy has posted is the "by the book" method. It was defined, written and taught for every rider from the recruit to the officer. It was the way to do it correctly. The uniformity of this in military riders is reflective of military discipline.
I have often wondered what Chamberlin thought to himself. I am absolutely sure, for example, that he could have ridden that Warmblood I described, solely with his breath. But he never, to my knowledge, wrote about the upper reaches of horsemanship, the haute ecole of riding. (There have long been, however, rumors of a correspondence between Chamberlin and Vladimir Littauer on their private horsemanship thoughts that has been lost to us).
My point is that I see the need to go deeper into the elements of riding with some intellectual energy, but this is dangerous territory. I understand that there are different types of learners, intellectual, emotional, physical. Educational methods changed in the US after this discovery in the 1960's. However, horses will and are always horses. For this reason I think it best to restrain excessive intellectualization of horsemanship. Our old friend ZD is fond of saying "Just ride". There is a lot to this approach.
Rideanotherday explained her learning history in horsemanship. Her process began with learning from the horse, followed by intellectual understanding from books. I would venture to say that the first part, the "just ride" part was the most meaningful and important. The later book study may have satisfied the mind, and there is nothing wrong with that, but the former was probably more important in her development as a rider/trainer. I have to wonder if the book side of her horsemanship education, the intellectual feels more legitimate and therefore may at times feel more important. I think the riding down the dirt road with no instruction is far more legitimate, and if I were rideanotherday, I'd put that out front and be very proud of it. After all, the great rider Alois Podhajsky entitled his book, My Horses, My Teachers. That's the point. In the end, what we know from horses is the most meaningful. |
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Post by rideanotherday on Nov 19, 2015 13:54:11 GMT
Bless my favorite teachers, the horses I have ridden. They have given me the physical side of riding, and I feel like they gave me the intuition of riding. Books gave me the words to describe what I'm doing. I think that some of the intuition and finesse of how I ride is a bit lost in translation when written.
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Post by jimmy on Nov 19, 2015 15:19:57 GMT
"squeeze with legs at the girth
drive and allow with seat
hold with hands (direct rein)"
Here is my reasons why I don't like this description.
When the half halt is used as a correction, the horse has evaded in some way, or in the process of pulling, going downhill, taking the reins from you, or pushing through the bit, speeding up, etc.
The primary use of the riders legs is to compel the horse forward. That will be the horse's first response. So by adding leg first, you are adding to the problem. Combine that with a driving seat, and you have added even more.
By the time you use the reins to hold, you are now all ready holding three times as much horse as you had when the evasion began. The amount of force needed at that point is much more than if you had simply checked him with you fingers or hands first, before it had a chance to build.
I see this technique employed by many dressage riders on big warmbloods, and it seems to lead to a lot of tugging and struggling. By using the half halt in this way as dogma, what I see is a degeneration into the use of tighter nose bands, more leverage, more heaviness, and rolkur. Rolkur is just a form of leverage against the horse, with the hope of lightening him up to a heaviness created in the first place by the over use of the seat and legs..
The horse learns the meaning of the half halt through the process of the escalation of the aids. The way I use a half halt, it is over in about the same time it began. I take it literally. It is half a halt, which means you need a good halt for a half halt to be effective. And if you don't have a good halt, then being able to back up well will improve the halt which will greatly improve the half halt. That is the escalation of events that will lead to being able to half halt with just an action of your hands.
The last thing I am thinking of is the action of the panniculus or the antispinous or any of that.
All of those things may be happening, or may not, at any one time. But imagine trying to start with that with a student.
Paralysis of analysis.
I would rather start with horsey street smarts than book smarts.
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Post by rideforever on Nov 19, 2015 15:47:29 GMT
Jimmy- you are right in that a student should not be introduced to the half halt using rideanotherday's description.
However, for someone who wants to take a deeper dive into theory? Gold.
My first introduction to the half halt was in a university riding class : Basic Equitation. I was struggling to get a horse to collect, for a variety of reasons. The instructor told me to use a half halt. I asked "what's that?" And the instructor stared at me.......... Finally, she said. "It's just something you feel"
Well, that was helpful.
For me a half halt is a moment of compression, and depending on the horse, I may only need to close my hands on the rein.
I don't know that I see it as a correction, but a communication tool to help the horse out of a problem, whatever that looks like at the time
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Post by rideanotherday on Nov 19, 2015 17:59:07 GMT
"squeeze with legs at the girth drive and allow with seat hold with hands (direct rein)" Here is my reasons why I don't like this description. When the half halt is used as a correction, the horse has evaded in some way, or in the process of pulling, going downhill, taking the reins from you, or pushing through the bit, speeding up, etc. The primary use of the riders legs is to compel the horse forward. That will be the horse's first response. So by adding leg first, you are adding to the problem. Combine that with a driving seat, and you have added even more. By the time you use the reins to hold, you are now all ready holding three times as much horse as you had when the evasion began. The amount of force needed at that point is much more than if you had simply checked him with you fingers or hands first, before it had a chance to build. I see this technique employed by many dressage riders on big warmbloods, and it seems to lead to a lot of tugging and struggling. By using the half halt in this way as dogma, what I see is a degeneration into the use of tighter nose bands, more leverage, more heaviness, and rolkur. Rolkur is just a form of leverage against the horse, with the hope of lightening him up to a heaviness created in the first place by the over use of the seat and legs. The horse learns the meaning of the half halt through the process of the escalation of the aids. The way I use a half halt, it is over in about the same time it began. I take it literally. It is half a halt, which means you need a good halt for a half halt to be effective. And if you don't have a good halt, then being able to back up well will improve the halt which will greatly improve the half halt. That is the escalation of events that will lead to being able to half halt with just an action of your hands. The last thing I am thinking of is the action of the panniculus or the antispinous or any of that. All of those things may be happening, or may not, at any one time. But imagine trying to start with that with a student. Paralysis of analysis. I would rather start with horsey street smarts than book smarts. To isolate the half halt as simply as "half a halt" is to diminish it's uses into being almost useless. The half halt as I know it, is not only a correction or a half a halt. It's so much more! It's preparation and a way to rebalance or reset the horse's frame prior to a change in bend, direction, speed and potentially as a correction. Metering the application of any of the aids that go into the half halt is the rider's prerogative entirely as to how much or how little is necessary to effect the change necessary in the horse. The amount of time to apply the aids takes INFINITELY less time as it does to write them or to even read them. I'm not sure I even "think" the appropriate aids to any given maneuver as much as I simply "do" them. The reaction in the horse tells me everything I need to know about how well I'm doing in that respect. My theory is that as a rider I should be doing less and the horse doing more. Rollkur...we should move that to a different topic entirely. I don't feel that a half halt has ANYTHING to do with rollkur. A half halt takes a breath...maybe less. Rollkur is a method that the horse is forced to move in for longer periods of time. If a horse is taking the reins away from me, it's no longer a half halt in use. Jimmy, I think we are coming from vastly different uses of leg aids and seat aids. Legs might be primarily for "forward", but also for influencing bend, lifting of rib cage and back, hindquarters, shoulders etc. Seat also affects the body parts of the horse, forward motion only being part of the equation. And for a good half halt, all of that must be affected. As to where you "start" a rider with this information, absolutely I agree, you wouldn't start a rider that way. I hope that I have gotten past just wanting to know what to do and how to do it. I also want to know the why, the theory. Not everyone does. I only brush off words like panniculous in company where it's appreciated. |
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Post by jimmy on Nov 19, 2015 18:17:03 GMT
We are probably talking about the same thing, from different perspectives.
Still, overthinking the thing is what leads to the half halt being mysterious or esoteric.
Many riding descriptions I read sound like the horse is just a mass of meat and muscle we manipulate around, and all the hubbub seems to be on whether we are moving the meat in the right way.
I see it that we influence the horse and he moves himself. We don't bend or lift or do any of those things. He does.
As far as the leg. On one hand, it is hard to imagine anything more important in riding and training.
On the other hand, a horse can work in hand, with just reins and a person holding the reins walking next to the horse, and the horse can perform all sorts of collection and bend and practically everything we want under saddle without legs bending him or pushing him. All he needs is the impulsion and activity. Our hands direct and finesse the show.
Compared to the multitude of actions of the hand, legs are crude in comparison.
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Post by rideanotherday on Nov 19, 2015 18:38:49 GMT
We are probably talking about the same thing, from different perspectives. Still, overthinking the thing is what leads to the half halt being mysterious or esoteric. Many riding descriptions I read sound like the horse is just a mass of meat and muscle we manipulate around, and all the hubbub seems to be on whether we are moving the meat in the right way. I see it that we influence the horse and he moves himself. We don't bend or lift or do any of those things. He does. As far as the leg. On one hand, it is hard to imagine anything more important in riding and training. On the other hand, a horse can work in hand, with just reins and a person holding the reins walking next to the horse, and the horse can perform all sorts of collection and bend and practically everything we want under saddle without legs bending him or pushing him. All he needs is the impulsion and activity. Our hands direct and finesse the show. Compared to the multitude of actions of the hand, legs are crude in comparison. When I'm riding, I certainly don't "think" about how to use a half halt. I don't want to give lessons, so moot point there. It's only for the sake of discussion boards like this one that I will break down what I do and when I do it. The written word doesn't allow for as much nuance and finesse as hopefully I achieve when riding. |
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Post by horseguy on Nov 19, 2015 20:07:34 GMT
The instructor told me to use a half halt. I asked "what's that?" And the instructor stared at me.......... Finally, she said. "It's just something you feel" One thing I miss now, after moving from the farm and teaching very part-time, is living at a place with a cross country course. If I was training a horse there I could just go to a slope, steep or not so steep and work on half halts. That's my favorite circumstance for getting a horse to listen to my seat and diminish many of the other elements of cueing a half halt. On a slope our weight becomes so much more of an aid. This is when, if we take a deep breath and exhale bringing our diaphragm inward with our back firm and gently braced, our seat "drops" sharply into the horse's center. A horse cannot evade that aid. That circumstance on a steep enough slope causes a horse, even a contrary SOB, to pull themselves together and come under us in an effective way and half halt correctly. This "forces" the horse and rider into a kind of unity that I have sometimes called "scared straight". Teaching a horse to do flying lead changes on a side hill with wet grass is also a "scared straight" exercise. As a kid I was very lucky to have good instruction from a Cavalry rider. The Army format for a lesson was saddle up, get in a circle, walk-trot-cater in what was an outdoor arena that was essentially a stone walled barnyard. The warm up was really an equipment check. If your girth was not tight, your saddle could slip around to the horse's belly. You had to fix it. But when the instructor was sure everyone's equipment was secure and safe, he rode to the wooden gate, leaned over, open it and said "Follow me". That was when the lesson began. We rode terrain and learned to use our body as much as the reins, etc. I think it was then I learned to ride and to train by means of unified balance. At any rate, "It's just something you feel" is the means I primarily use to train a horse. I do enjoy analyzing the biomechanics of the horse and of a unified horse & rider. But I do that to satisfy my curiosity more than to improve my methods. I also use analysis to figure out what is not working with a horse in training, but typically this is not about movement as much as it is about the horse's mind. |
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A half halt on this horse was aligning the horse in a nice soft rhythm, and a gentle steady exhale with your back softly braced. Voila, a half halt, no leg, little or no rein. 
