half halting through the thigh ?

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angelish

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hi :)

i tend to ride with a loose knee with my weight in my feet and when half halting use my thigh's to kind of hug/hold my horse and softly "sponge" the reins

is this right ?

on my horse it's not a prob as i'm the only one who rides him and he'll just be hacking for the moment , a while ago i let my friend have a sit on him in the school and she couldn't get him to move he just stood there :o

i eventually worked out it was because she's quite tight in her knee's and grips with them

now the project pony i'm bringing on is doing the same , i let my friend's have a go on him at every opertunity (just 5 mins on returning from hacks etc) so he gets used to loads of different riders as he is to sell eventually and want him to be used to anyone getting on as he can be a little suspisous/nervious


should i try and change the way i ride as i want him to be easy for anyone to ride (reasonably experienced/won't sell him to kids/novice)

my friend got on the other day and he seemed to get "stuck" as soon as i told her to loosen her leg he went lovely for her


is it "correct" to use my thighs and half halt in this way or am i doing something wrong ?
how do you half halt ?

due to paying livery for said extra horse i have had to cut back on lesson's and instructor is not due out for another 3 weeks but am planning to get her to have a sit :)


thanks for and help
 
I can't really help. But that is the way i was taught too, squeeze the thigh and rein, my boy has picked it up really quickly so must make sense to the horses too.
 
Yes, I was also taught that way as well, but think there are alternatives. Another half halt could just be a gentle pull on both reins, not to knock them off the bridle, but the make them ' wait'. If your horse doesnt like a lot a leg contact you could do that. ie. I have a very forward tb, who just doesnt respond to a thigh squeeze and responds much better to a rein half halt.

I have another horse who is very sensitive however, and sometimes I dont even need to half halt properly at all; all i need to do is sit very still, and very tall and just 'wait' for a second, before riding forwards again. This is a much more subtle way to say 'wait and balance yourself'

Experiment with what works best for you and your horse, I dont think there is one correct way to do it IMO!
 
thanks everyone :)
thats really helpful i think when we progress he will respond to the "sit up tall" approach as he is quite sensitive and responsive
he doesn't respond well to a strong rein aid so ill stick with what i'm doing , i'm just a little worried as he can panic a little if he doesn't understand and want to make life as easy as poss for him :)

iv'e never really been taught how to half halt :o and sometimes left to my own devises my instructor turns up and has a bit of a "what on earth are you doing" moment :D
 
Thats how I was taught :) I find the same riders who tense with their knees/thighs end up with continual downwards transitions. The funniest was a girl who came to try my lad in canter she gripped with her knees/thighs but couldnt keep her lower leg still so spent a good few minutes unable to come back to trot as her aids were telling him to go but wait! Bless him he was giving me such a confused face! Got rid of her quickly! So the main area ive noticed a prob is with big horses with people moving off ponies as they arent used to the new big strides and feel they struggle to balance and so can grip with the knee. Think this is made worse by the fact they dont seem to have been taught to use their lower leg as a stable base from what ive seen so far anyway!

Depends on the horse/pony & what you want to do with them i suppose; a pony trained like this would teach a rider well for progression to horses :)
 
becca1305 said:
Thats how I was taught :) I find the same riders who tense with their knees/thighs end up with continual downwards transitions. The funniest was a girl who came to try my lad in canter she gripped with her knees/thighs but couldnt keep her lower leg still so spent a good few minutes unable to come back to trot as her aids were telling him to go but wait! Bless him he was giving me such a confused face! Got rid of her quickly! So the main area ive noticed a prob is with big horses with people moving off ponies as they arent used to the new big strides and feel they struggle to balance and so can grip with the knee. Think this is made worse by the fact they dont seem to have been taught to use their lower leg as a stable base from what ive seen so far anyway!

Depends on the horse/pony & what you want to do with them i suppose; a pony trained like this would teach a rider well for progression to horses :)
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hi good to know i'm on the right track :)

he's 14"3 with a huge trot and been ridden by novice riders since being backed and is a little nervous and looky ,i think when he's been looking at thing's they took a hold of him hence the slight panic

i really want a small adult to buy him as i want to find him a forever home ,i know it doesn't always work out like this but i'm thinking the better he is to ride = the better the home he'll get (if i sell him as i think i'm in love :rolleyes: )
but i see how he would be great for a young rider ,he would certainly teach them patience as if he's tense he's incredibly hard to sit on so i have to be really soft with him and the softer you are the better he goe's he has taught me loads in the short time iv'e had him

yes my big horse is great at making an idiot out of people as it doesn't matter how much you kick ,unless your loose in the leg he just stands there going huh ?
completely ignoring there efforts lol
 
Its swings and roundabouts. When someone tries your horse if not trained to ride like this they either have to listen, at least partially manage to do it immediately and learn or understand that it will take longer to get to grasps with but will benefit them in the long run. So this does reduce the number of suitable applicants but riding styles differ so much you will never appeal to everyone anyway and the type of people likely to buy will likely have the patient knowlegable/ willing to learn attitudes that you would want to have and ride your lad :). I personally wouldnt 'dumb down' your riding if it works and your lad clearly gets it plus it would be hard to stop & wouldnt do your riding any good! :)
 
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