HHO virtual group clinic week 2

[Wheels]

Improving the half halts

you can do this exercise anywhere you like but a good start is by going large with transitions at A, B, C, E or on a 20m circle with transitions every time you go over the CL

Medium / marching Walk on your desired pattern (large or 20m circle) and every time you pass A, B, C, E (or the centre line if you are cirling) you halt for a couple of seconds and then walk on again. Try to keep the rhtyhm and tempo and the circle size accurate, use your corners well if you are going large. After a few goes around then begin to apply the aids but just as your horse is about to halt then ask for forward again. if your horse doesn't pay attention go back to halting and attempt again later. Have a play around with using the lightest possible aids. If you and your horse are in tune then you should be able to just engage your core by pulling your tummy button back and that should be enough for your horse to pay attention.

Once you have mastered this try in trot, if your horse is able then go from trot directly to halt and then halt directly to trot (young / unbalanced horses indirect transition through walk). Keep the trot quite forward and active and ask for a halt at the relevant place as per above. Once the halt is coming easy then again apply the aids and just as the horse is about to halt (or walk) ask for forwards again. The aim again is to use as little effort as possible and to get the horse tuned in to a very subtle aid.

Moving on - you can do the same in canter, in lateral work, in the corners to help with the turn, between paces, within paces etc. If you can do direct transitions from trot to halt and canter to halt then this exercise works better but through walk can help with very buzzy horses who might not appreciate an abrupt change in pace

 

[Sheep]

That is brilliant, thanks for explaining so fully! Adding to my bank of exercises. I think it will sit very nicely with MP's kindergarten stuff from last week.

 

[Wheels]

That is brilliant, thanks for explaining so fully! Adding to my bank of exercises. I think it will sit very nicely with MP's kindergarten stuff from last week.

Yeah, you should be able to use them together. It's another tool that we should all use very regularly but I personally dont use enough

 

[McFluff]

Tried this one last night. It really does help to remind you to use half halts more clearly. Good fun as horse started to look for an instruction at every letter!

Thank you. Really enjoying these exercises as it helps me to focus better.

 

[rara007]

Anyone brand enough to post videos of it...?!
I tried this today, I used a 20m circle as our corners are a bit deep (surface wise). He’s pretty good at it in walk already but the trot was too much for us at all 4 ‘points’ of the circle. 2 worked well and got us both doing effective light half halts

 

[Wheels]

Anyone brand enough to post videos of it...?!
I tried this today, I used a 20m circle as our corners are a bit deep (surface wise). He’s pretty good at it in walk already but the trot was too much for us at all 4 ‘points’ of the circle. 2 worked well and got us both doing effective light half halts

On a 20m circle you should just pick 2 points - either the fence line or as you cross the centre line. 4 points would be too often I think

 

[Cragrat]

This is wonderful of you - thank you

Is this do-able out hacking? Is it the pattern in the arena that helps, because the horse starts to anticipate the halt aid at the markers?

 

[milliepops]

Anyone brand enough to post videos of it...?!
I tried this today, I used a 20m circle as our corners are a bit deep (surface wise). He’s pretty good at it in walk already but the trot was too much for us at all 4 ‘points’ of the circle. 2 worked well and got us both doing effective light half halts

I haven't ridden since the middle of last week as been too busy but I will try and remember later today if it's not raining (can't leave camera out if its wet).

 

[Wheels]

This is wonderful of you - thank you

Is this do-able out hacking? Is it the pattern in the arena that helps, because the horse starts to anticipate the halt aid at the markers?

Yes you can do it out hacking - pick every 4th lamppost or telephone pole. Pick every 20 steps of walk of trot or something similar to that

The horse does anticipate at the markers but if you are making transitions very often they will learn to await your instruction

 

[Duckanasteroidiscoming]

Yes you can do it out hacking - pick every 4th lamppost or telephone pole. Pick every 20 steps of walk of trot or something similar to that

The horse does anticipate at the markers but if you are making transitions very often they will learn to await your instruction

Will try this in my next schooling session, thanks!

Got any exercise suggestions for getting trot canter transitions more forwards Wheels?

 

[DabDab]

I've done a couple of sessions on this with Arts. It's quite hard keeping transitions quiet with her because she can get a bit rushy, so we were concentrating on doing very small aids. Walk halt, walk trot were all very good but I was having some issues just doing half halt in trot on the left rein. She was going flat and slightly wonky when i slowed the left rein trot. So i switched to direct halt trot halt transitions and found she was swinging her shoulders to the left as we came to halt. Partly her natural inclination, partly my shoddy riding. We managed to sort ourselves out though and so a few respectable transitions towards the end. And then finished off with some left rein canter which was the best I've ever felt on her, so something obviously clicked in place ?

 

[Wheels]

Will try this in my next schooling session, thanks!

Got any exercise suggestions for getting trot canter transitions more forwards Wheels?

I think it depends on what is happening, do you really want more forward or do you want more jump going into canter?

 

[Duckanasteroidiscoming]

I think it depends on what is happening, do you really want more forward or do you want more jump going into canter?

More forwards. Our transitions are obedient but the first few strides of canter are more up and down than forwards. It's probably as much me as her, I think I'm waiting for her to canter rather than giving the aid and riding the canter forwards from that first stride. We didn't used to have a trot canter transition at all so we're much further on than we are but our canter work is way behind our trot work in terms of quality.

 

[DabDab]

More forwards. Our transitions are obedient but the first few strides of canter are more up and down than forwards. It's probably as much me as her, I think I'm waiting for her to canter rather than giving the aid and riding the canter forwards from that first stride. We didn't used to have a trot canter transition at all so we're much further on than we are but our canter work is way behind our trot work in terms of quality.

My big horse has a tendency to do that. He did it all the time as a youngster largely I think due to his pssm, and then once he became physically more capable it had become a bit of a learned habit for both me and him I think. He would anticipate and go all rocking horse on me and I would over ride massively in some attempt to fix it. I had to make transitions to canter a little bit messier for a while to fix it. So I would give the aid once strongly, then up into light seat, loose rein and go go go. Not bothered if on the forehand etc, just had to be forwards. Then i could start picking the traditions back up again and sitting normally

 

[Wheels]

These things come with time but I would think about getting into the new rhythm as soon as possible, in fact before you even transition - use quite a nice forward trot, half halt just before you ask so your horse isn't running on, sitting trot and start thinking the new rhythm of the footfall in your head (one two three one two three) use as light an aid as possible and get the new rhythm going as soon as you can.

Transitions may help too - you can use a similar exercise as described in the OP but instead of a downwards transition A make an upwards one, canter a couple of circles until the rhythm is good then back to trot, rebalance then canter again at A (or any place on the circle as long as it is the same place for a few times, then you can vary it)

 

[Cragrat]

Yes you can do it out hacking - pick every 4th lamppost or telephone pole. Pick every 20 steps of walk of trot or something similar to that

The horse does anticipate at the markers but if you are making transitions very often they will learn to await your instruction

Thank you ! Will give it a go

 

[milliepops]

I haven't ridden since the middle of last week as been too busy but I will try and remember later today if it's not raining (can't leave camera out if its wet).

Well kira was *not* up for this today so although it was sunny I didn't get any video ? will try again tomorrow. I did find that we can't achieve immobility in halt ? but when she's sticky I feel that I shouldn't oppose her when she's offering forward thinkingness

 

[Roxylola]

I'd be brave enough to video, but supercob apparently really enjoys schooling on grass, especially medium canter so we just made use of the enthusiasm and worked on the canter today

 

[rara007]

I’ll see if I can get footage tomorrow My filmers don’t have much patience....!

 

[tatty_v]

Well that was interesting! This exercise resulted in a really pissed off pony ? I also learned just how wiggly and wobbly he can be in walk when he’s in a mood...!

Joking aside, it was a really interesting exercise and showed up just how much we don’t work on the walk (he hates it, dawdles and makes my life difficult so I don’t dwell on it in training - wrong move there!) He was better in trot, although still huffy!

We did get some nice half halts in amongst all the drama so that was good and I’m definitely going to try again and see if he’s in a better mood....

One question - I am schooling in my field which is flattish but if you’re going large, one side of my “arena” is definitely downhill. He finds this side harder than the uphill side. Is there anything I can do to help him stay engaged and soft when going downhill? He’s 20 and has medicated hocks, although these don’t cause us any problems on level or uphill surfaces! He’s also always minced downhill, even when younger.

 

[palo1]

Yes you can do it out hacking - pick every 4th lamppost or telephone pole. Pick every 20 steps of walk of trot or something similar to that

The horse does anticipate at the markers but if you are making transitions very often they will learn to await your instruction

This is what I have been doing (as also with exercises from Week 1 as madam doesn't particularly concentrate at home in the field!). It's working well for us and I am pleased to say that my mare (whose education has been very 'relaxed' to date) has started to offer a true contact - I think the exercises are really helping!!

 

[Kat]

Tried this last night. We had some poles out too so we mixed it up a bit and did some poles in the walk and trot too.

Generally found the exercise very helpful. Found the canter halt transitions really helped our trot. She can tend to rush and get a bit downhill in trot but the combination of the direct transitions and the half halts meant we could finish with a really nice trot.

Definitely an exercise I should practise more often!

 

[Sprat]

I clearly didn't read the exercise properly and was halting 4 times within a 20mtr circle which was actually a lot more difficult than I thought it would be. I will re-try again tonight with halting twice on the circle.

It did get her quite hot and buzzy, which was good fun but then she becomes really gobby and I get too handsy, so attempt no 2. tonight I'm going to work on quieter aids.

Really enjoying reading everyone's experiences with the exercises!

 

[Wheels]

I had a go today with M, we have done this exercise before in walk and trot but not canter so we had a go at all 3 today.

We worked large, the same thing happened in all paces which was after we worked on the full halts and moved onto the half halts, after a few half halts he started to ignore me so we had to full halt again a couple of times then back to the half halts. Note to self that the next time we do this we will mix it up a bit and do some full halts mixed in with the half halts.

Some observations, he wanted to trot and canter quite slowly once he realised what was going on but if you half halt from an already slow canter on a young horse then the canter breaks or there is no response so I had to keep reminding him that he had to go forwards in between. I got a really lovely feel the few steps after the half halt in all paces, I think this will build into more steps over time as he gets stronger.

I had set my camera up but it ran out of battery part way through my ride - charging it now to see if it caught any of the exercise

 

[rara007]

We used it as warm up today before doing an online test. Maybe I’ll have spare filmed minutes tomorrow...! Def getting more switched on to the halt halt, almost too extreme now...

 

[milliepops]

we also did it today, just reviewing the video now

 

[Sprat]

So I tried again both going large, and within a circle. She really switched on to minimal aids quickly, the halt from trot coming sweetly for the seat. Moved onto a few other bits to check the connection was still there, and it was nice and soft and supple which is often difficult to achieve. Played around with the simple changes and the downwards trans were much better and a hell of a lot less tense due to me not hanging on to her gob for dear life. I’m not sure who benefited more from this exercise, me or her! She seemed to enjoy this, and became quite hot and reactive but in a good way so it’s definitely one to keep in the toolbox for future. No photos or vids as I forgot to bring my phone into the school, I’ll try to remember next time

 

[DabDab]

Haha, well tried again tonight on Arts but had to abandon the attempt because she was away with the fairies tonight. Doing very obedient transitions, just all while floating around gazing into the distance somewhere outside the school. Never mind ?

Will give it a go with the big idiot tomorrow and will get a video if there is a willing victim around to film. He's generally quite good at transition exercises because he's such a lazy arse that he gets sent to transition boot camp frequently bless him.

 

[milliepops]

OK so here we have a video story of our attempts today. This was HARD with Kira so maybe the videos will be of use to other people who are struggling, (or maybe just entertainment for those with more obliging steeds). She can be strong in the hand, rude in the contact and also tends towards being quite backward thinking, common issues really.
it was also hard for me, I am hypermobile and some days I feel like a loosely strung puppet, today was one of those days and I barely knew where my legs were half the time Anyway, here goes:

Walk was difficult until I twigged that I had to get her more active. While she was just doing normal walk she was too much in my hand and yawping against my aids. We also struggle to get a definite *HALT* from walk which is probably a multifaceted issue. She does know how to square up but I just couldn't get enough activity today. This would be better from a properly collected walk-piri type of walk which was just not there today. I did find that she was diving left particularly on the left rein, so once i got that under control it was better.
DabDab i sympathise on the away with the fairies bit. I find in walk it's particularly hard to establish consistency and self carriage because K wants to gawp into the hedges

Started in trot, and encountered our usual problem when I am without training for too long : i'm inclined to hurry her trot in the misplaced search for forwardness. So we started out with me chasing her a bit, and she was a bit tight over the back. When I stopped rushing her, and gave the rein more during/after the half halts then she started to swing and get looser.

Trotting right I started from the point of not rushing her but I noticed i was letting my outside rein get too long so I was affecting the straightness. When I got on top of that the outside hind stopped trailing in the halts (it's the weaker one anyway).

Right canter first. Again in search of forwardness I let the canter be too open to start with and so the halts were scrappy and the half halts lost connection and security of the rhythm.

When I noticed that and rode a more connected, more collected canter then it all improved. I experimented with when and how much I could give the rein, she is inclined to disconnect then but it's good to play with. Next vid starts on right and then via a bad change goes to the left.

I think the learning points for me are about activity and appropriate level of collection - Kira is an advanced horse and I should have started out riding her in an advanced way of going. And also that I need to use the contact to maintain the connection better rather than throwing it away trying to ride only from my seat. Her natural build tends towards being IFV and she needs "softening" for want of a better phrase in order to make sure the hind legs stay under Only then can she hear my more subtle aids.

 

[Roxylola]

We used the halt transition in walk and trot, the canter isnt organised enough for it yet, but it gave us a nice half halt to balance our canter work so I consider it a success. Really working on getting him more up in the poll and some self carriage which both weeks have helped with