Training a dressage horse, year after year, results in the enhancement of his natural paces. The freedom and regularity of the horse's walk, trot and canter should improve, and the half halt is the trainer's tool for balancing the horse and enabling that development. During the half halt, the rider may apply one of countless combinations of the seat, leg, rein and weight aids. The seat and leg are the primary driving aids that make the horse more active and bigger moving. The hand (with support from the weight and leg aids) is the primary stopping aid, making the horse's frame more uphill as the hindquarters carry more weight. Over time, the horse learns to respond to the weight aid in the half halt, as I will explain later.
Ideally, half halts should bring the horse to a self-perpetuating, rhythmic flow, as you see in the working trot and canter on page 49. Usually, the half halt should be invisible to the eye--not only because it looks good, but also because it doesn't disturb the rhythm and flow of the horse's movement. If the half halt is consistently too strong or uneducated, the stopping aid predominates and restricts the horse's hind legs. The half halt then interrupts the flow of the natural paces and makes the horse move less, rather than more, which is counter productive to our end goal. Over-ridden or poorly ridden half halts, after a period of time, result in a reduction of the horse's natural paces instead of the improvement of them. The idea is to make invisible half halts within a "circle of aids."
The Circle of Aids
The relationship between the leg, the seat and the hand makes a circle of repetitive and invisible driving and half halting aids that are very unique to each individual horse, rider and situation. Within the circle of aids, little invisible drives and half halts happen by themselves, balancing the horse constantly and automatically every stride. This circle of the aids serves to make him responsive to the half halt and put him in front of the seat and leg.
The key to successful half halts is, first, to have a very clear idea of what you want to achieve: Do you want your half halt to create more balance? More collection? More flexion? Self-carriage? Roundness? Second, you need to recognize--with listening aids--when your horse responds correctly so you can soften or give at the right moment. During your softening moment within the circle of aids, your whole body rewards the horse and tells him, "That's what I wanted." The horse feels this instantly. The quicker you notice your horse's positive response, the better trainer you are.
Over time, the rider teaches his horse how to respond to balancing half halts by using upward and downward transitions. Here's how:
1. Everyday training repeatedly emphasizes the use of the driving aids that push the horse to the hand in upward transitions.
2. Anytime the horse gets too strong in the hand from the driving aids, the rider does a downward transition. These upward and downward transitions, such as walk-trot-walk, trot-canter-trot and walk-canter-walk, teach the horse to listen to the rider's body aids to achieve a harmonious balance.
3. Finally, with listening aids, horse and rider develop a high level of understanding, so the rider doesn't need strong aids. Instead of riding transitions to balance the horse, an invisible half halt will balance him. The rider gives little driving and restraining aids without doing the actual transition. The horse is relaxed, the rider's hips swing with the horse and his legs breathe with the horse's body.
Probably no two riders have the exact same circle of aids. Some riders--depending upon body style, the horse's build and temperament and the situation--will use more seat and some will use more leg. I can't say that one is better than the other. However, if the rider has swinging hips and quiet hands that don't disturb the rhythm of the movement, he can recognize whether or not his horse is responding to the seat, leg and rein aids. With a well-trained horse, the rider has to do very little in order to achieve a positive result. When the horse and rider are listening to one another, it looks like the rider is doing nothing, and it feels that way, too.
How the Circle of Aids Works
Use of the word "circle" seems to help the rider increase the roundness of the whole horse. When I ask my riders to make a horse rounder, they are always inclined to make the neck lower or deeper. Remember that every significant change you make in your horse's shape--whether it is to make the neck very deep or to make the horse very short--changes the horse's balance tremendously. The point is to make the whole motion roll in a rounder fashion within the circle of aids. Within the collection, I want my horses to move as big as possible with elevation and swing through the back. Within a nice, big, self-perpetuated collected canter, my half halt doesn't prevent my horse from moving big behind. Although it would be easier to see the circle of the aids live or on video, my horses' self-perpetuating, round motion is visible in these photos. Here's how the circle of the aids works:
