Jane Savoie said instead of half halt one should say or think better half go - or watch Robert Dover horsmanship week ....a well ridden half halt is a feeling and if u felt it its very difficult to put it in words but half halts are the essence of riding

Your sit must be good in order to slow down your horse. The easiest way (the first time) is in rising trot: slowing down your up/down/up/down, so slow that you almost force your horse to go to walk. It takes a lot of core muscle strength! Once you can do that AND you can keep a nice sitting trot, you can do what he's suggesting.

As good as he is and he is top notch he does assume we all are at a certain level and does not explain the aids throughly for many movements on these videos.His horses are all at a very high level of schooling.

To be honest you can't learn these things as a rider on a green horse, or watching a green horse trying to learn when you're trying to teach someone else. The better the horse the clearer you can see what is been asked. Unfortunately we don't all get perfect school masters to ride but we shouldn't be asking for things until the horse is ready for them. You wouldn't ask a young green horse for a half halt until they are more advanced, straight, listening to the outside rein, completely balanced, forward on the bit and brilliant in all transitions. It can be used as a stepping stone to collection, getting them shifting the weight onto the hinds with half halts once everything else is lovely. I thought quite clear using this horse. I suggest you look at a video of how to ask properly for a halt if you're still confused.

In the Spanish Riding School they do not let riders have the reins till they can do a transition with their body. This is balance.

+Penelope j i don't get it You made this comment a year ago but the video was put on the internet on 3 augustus this year? :O

Louise's Leven xD

don't use your hands, use your seat. As you come to half halt use your butt to woah the horse, like your anchoring him but it's imperative that when you do this you keep him forwards don't just lean back and collapse your tummy. Keep your leg on! If you aren't able to use your seat independent of your reins and legs then you'll struggle with this but in terms of re teaching the horse start off with how you normally half halt but emphasise your seat and weight aids, repeat this very clearly to the horse and then gradually reduce the a,punt of rein aid you need and they should start to half halt using just the seat. Imagine the horse is conned to your chest and hips and think woah from there and not from your hands!

+ImogenG Perfect explanation! He did say it.

@@imogeng1246 okay but what exact aids do I use to to a half halt? I thought it was a preparation to transitions but in the video it what an actual half stop. I'm so confused

@@riderbr772 What sort of aids would you use when halting the horse from a trot to a walk or from a walk to a full stop? Hopefully not only your reins, right, and hopefully you don't just collapse into a slower pace or full stop, but you do it in a way that is controlled and balanced? You at least should be also deepening your seat and sitting "around" the horse and halting the movement with your hips and core. You could think of it as letting out a big sigh like air out of a balloon and your body getting heavier in the saddle. The half halt has the same idea of slowing down, but also focusing and shifting the horse's weight to the back legs in preparation of a transition or a task, so not a full halt.

Yup you can! Rise the trot slightly slower than his pace and he will adjust to you :) this is not specifically a half halt, but it helps slow down a fast horse :)

If you can manage it and the horse is not too strong and able to ignore it, try rising slowly and with the rhythm you'd like the trot to have, to make the horse adjust to your rhythm instead of you trying to keep up with his. Also keep in mind how high you rise in the trot and be careful not to swing your hips too much forward-backward, it should be more up and down to not encourage the horse to bee too forward. Instead of quickly rising up, you could also try to extend the time and "weightiness" of your "sitting down" part of the rising trot, to calm the pace down even more.

you can do a half half at stand at the walk at the trot at the canter AND at the gallop. I know a half halt at stand sounds weird but you can get them more on the hind and alert etc while standing. for rising trot ..can you try skipping a beat? so i wouldn't try just slowing down that will just make it bumpy and in the real world really forward going horses don't always like to just slow down because you want them to it can take a good few minutes or even longer can you like maybe sit for three? or stay up for three? that way you will still be on the correct diagnal. You should stand for three instead of one then sit for one. although i think the horse would respond more to sitting for three up for one. I know this sounds complex when written ...because its going to be comfy for you to ride for 15 mins but i would say a slightly off beat trot just slightly slower is going to be uncomfy plus iffy if you are outside an arena and there are obstacles? when i rode really forward horses it would always take ages for them to give in a bit so i wanted to feel comfy when i was 'half halting' otherwise it would be awful.

@@danielabackstrom I am aware of slowing your post to adjust the horse's pace, but that is not a half halt, in my understanding of that cue.

I have just watched this video and two others by recognized trainers and they were all different. The second trainer actually used the word 'back'. This one is the best, but then so is the rider and the horse. The one with the Australian trainer Kerry was in total contrast and she emphasized pulsing the reins.

He means the walk is not a backwards movement, forwards means to keep the momentum and impulsion :)

+Michelle Sabga Aboud thank you so much for the reply. I understand now. So the trot to walk transition should be smooth and subtle, still moving forwards rather than the rider thinking of it as pulling backwards to slow down. I'm loving watching my daughter progress with her riding and I'm learning so much along the way too! Thanks again 😊 x

susan wingblade have you watched his video on getting a horse forward? That’s quite a well explained video (:

I think the problem you are experiencing is not his way of teaching, but the title of the video. It is a poor title. It should have been titled the Myth of the Perfect Half Halt. Let me add a disclaimer here. I am a western rider. Actually a ranch rider. I use horses to do a job. To do the job better I am always looking at what other disciplines have to say about riding. I'm here to learn. I would use something like the half halt when moving cattle from one place to another. I want to move them as slow as possible so as to not take weight off of them. Horses tend to move faster than cattle. At times some of the cattle will stray or move away from the herd. I must speed my horse up and move them back into the herd then slow down again. Up and down transitions that are quite similar to the half halt. Emile starts this video by explaining that a perfect half halt is more about feeling than action. He then tries to explain how to develop that feeling with a number of mental pictures. Mentally you don't think of it as a backward transition but as a forward transition from the trot to the walk. This is the exercise you must get proficient at before going on to the true half halt. The point of the exercise is to not to teach the mechanics, but to start developing the feeling. Another mental picture he uses is that you don't think of it as using your arms, you thing of it as using your shoulders and the back of the neck. Good riding, training, learning, and teaching have 3 components that are extremely intertwined. These 3 components are feel, timing, and balance. I think Emile did an excellent job of explaining how to develop these 3 components for the half halt in a 4:08 video.

@@stephenqueen6211 Thank you. A pretty "noob" rider here... Please, correct me if I get this wrong... After looking a few vids on this subject I get the impression that the "half-halt" can be done in many combinations starting from pure intentonal thinking, combined with your seat, leg and eventually also y using rein aids. All in all a very situational set of aids to perform. The goal: Preaparing the horse to react for a specific manouver.