The former director the Spanish Riding School in Vienna, Austria, described the half-halt as a “call to action.”  I like to think of the half halt as a call to attention. It is the time to say to the horse “okay, listen up, I’m about to ask you for something.” It’s a rebalancing, a recentering, a way to lighten the horse, to improve contact, or as a corrective aid for a horse that lays on the rider’s hands. It is used to go up or down in gaits or prior to a new exercise or a request to do something different. Podhajsky described the aids as the same as those used for the halt but executed to a lesser degree. As one does to ask for the halt, the rider uses his seat, back, leg and reins to ask for the half halt. The goal is to keep the horse balanced, in the same frame, and to transition smoothly. The aid is imperceptible to the viewer.

However, others have found that a half halt can be executed simply by the straightening of the rider’s back or by slowing one’s post at the rising trot or by simple lightly pushing the horse with the inside leg into the outside rein while squeezing the outside rein like a lemon. Some may find use just by squeezing their thighs and positioning their backs a little behind the vertical momentarily. Others may find that stepping into their stirrups  left and right can be enough to achieve that call to action. If one wishes to lighten the horse’s front end a bit, just leaning back in the saddle a bit more may be enough of a half halt to allow the horse to lighten.

The half halt is requisite in dressage but is also crucial to jumping and can certainly make a hunter look even more smooth and easy to ride. Consider that if a horse is accustomed to knowing that the half halt precedes a new directive, gait transitions will be much smoother and far more appealing to a judge.

In jumping, imagine you are riding deep into a corner, out of which you will be heading for a 3-foot oxer, roughly four strides away. Half halt into the corner to collect your canter, keeping the horse lighter in front and carrying more in his hindquarters. Apply leg immediately following the half halt and coming out of the corner to drive him up into the bridle and extend the stride. Another half halt three strides out keeps him from rushing the fence. The half halt in between fences keeps the horse balanced, light in the front and prevents him from dropping onto his forehand and rushing the jumps. Again, like in the hunter example, the aid is imperceptible to the audience but makes the picture more pleasing to the eye.

Regardless of which procedures are used to employ a half halt, the rider should keep these principals in mind:

·        The horse should be moving forward energetically

·        Never use just the rein aid with a half halt. Every half halt should be preceded by use of the leg and/or seat.

Simply devising a system between you and your horse to determine which ways of achieving a half halt will help improve your communication and should, ultimately, improve your performance.