Building a Half Halt
B Y A NDY M ARCOUX
The half halt is referred to endlessly in equine texts in almost every equine discipline. I have
found it nearly universal that few amateur owners and many trainers really do not have a clear
idea of what a half halt really is. Here is the stinger, it’s just as easy to answer what god is.
That’s because there are as many interpretations of this movement as there are horsemen.
Some use a half halt for every movement, others only to slow a horse. I’ll give you my idea of
what a half halt is, how to build it, and how to keep it as tool in your toolbox of horsemanship.
This interpretation has been honed over many years of training and learning from horses,
instructors and students.
M Y D EFINITION
A half halt is a command given through the reins, body, and voice, to ask a horse to, balance,
collect, and prepare for a new movement. When I use the term half-halt, I mean both reins
equally. Some instructors will tell you to half-halt the left or right rein. In my definition this is
not possible since the half-halt is intended to balance the horse equally over four legs.
A half halt is often thought of when preparing a horse to slow, or transition from one gait to
another, or to prepare a horse for a halt, it means more than that. A horse who understands a
half-halt will respond by engaging the abdominal and quadriceps muscles, bringing the stride
of both hind legs further forward and under their body. Weight bearing shifts toward the hind
quarters creating collection and engagement. These actions balance the horse both laterally
and longitudinally, and puts more of his body into a position where the horse can make the
greatest use of it.
Everyone uses one form of half halt or another, even if they do not intend to. The half halt is
instrumental in every kind of driving. It’s use is not limited to the dressage ring. It should be
used as a tool of communication through cones, hazards, in the pleasure ring, and even on
recreational drives. A half halt is useful for movements such as bending, changing direction,
yielding and putting in that extra length of stride to make an extension spectacular.
When I teach, I use a scale of 1-10 to describe contact on the reins. 1 would mean that you are
just holding the rein light enough that you can barely feel the bit in the horse’s mouth. 10
equals putting your feet on the dashboard and pulling as hard as you can. If you see a number
in parenthesis (5), assume that to be out of the number of the contact level out of 10. Be careful
that you do not confuse squeezing the reins, with pulling the reins. I’ve had students convinced
that they were in an eternal tug of war with their horse, only to find that they were just choking
the reins tighter and tighter, without actually moving the bit in the horse’s mouth.
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CAA Master Evaluator ~ ADS Judge ~ Clinics ~ Lessons ~ Training
Training and Instruction for the Sport of Carriage Driving
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A Q UICK N OTE O N L ANGUAGE
Because you are literally building a language, the human has to be steadfastly consistent in how
that language is used. When you begin building that language think of how a computer
responds to commands you give it. Giving the horse a little more intellectual credit, think of
how you might teach a language to someone who has no knowledge of yours.
In a computer you’ll have to define “stop”, then “halt”, then “whoa” all to produce the same
result. If you enter “who”, the computer will not respond as it would for “whoa.” If you use
“stop”, “halt”, and “whoa” to mean the same thing, it will take at least three times as long for
the learner to respond correctly every time. Likewise, the horse hears “stop” and you compel
him to stop, but then the next time you want him to stop you say “halt”. There is no reason the
horse should correlate the two words to mean the same thing until you have established that.
If you interchange the use of these words, you’ve just required the horse to learn twice the
vocabulary. If you use three words to stop the horse it’s three times the vocabulary. That is
why when we learn a new language we start out with as few words to get started as we can. To
someone fluent in that language we may sound stilted and formal, but we are able to
communicate.
You should understand that your horse has no understanding of words in the same way we do.
Their vocabulary is based on sounds. They do not recognize the word “trot”, as much as the
sound of our voice saying “trot”. For that reason you should help them out as much as you can
by changing the inflection (the tone, pitch and syllable emphasis) to suit what you are trying to
communicate. The reason clicks and chirps work well for forward or slowing is because they
sound different than our words.
T HE D IFFERENCE B ETWEEN Y OUR T RUCK
AND
Y OUR H ORSE
Sure there are many differences, but in the context of this article your truck is a lever operated
machine, your horse is command operated. When you drive your truck, you use a series of
levers to control it. The steering wheel is a lever that acts on the steering linkage and
eventually the wheels. The brake pedal is the lever that operates the brake calipers, and the gas
pedal operates the fuel injection system. These levers only act on the parts of the vehicle while
you are physically manipulating the lever. When you want to slow or stop the truck, you
depress the brake pedal as hard as it takes, and as long as it takes to have to desired effect.
Likewise for the gas pedal. However, the cruise control is a command operated machine. You
“tell” the cruise control how fast you want it to make your truck go.
If I were giving you a lesson right now, I would ask you to halt. Because you and I share the
same language, I would not have to physically pull you to a halt, or continue to say
“hhhhaaaaaaaalllllllltttttttt”, until you finally stopped moving. If you ignored me, or perhaps
didn’t hear me I would simply ask again. If you still didn’t understand me I would say “halt”
again louder, and perhaps put my hands up stand in front of you. After repeating this several
times you would surely understand what I mean by “halt”. This is the same way you should
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CAA Master Evaluator ~ ADS Judge ~ Clinics ~ Lessons ~ Training
Training and Instruction for the Sport of Carriage Driving
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endeavor to communicate commands to your horse. Since they are not lever operated
machines, but logical learning machines, you should teach them to respond to commands. If
you truly believe you are physically manipulating your horse to do your what you want, the way
you do a truck with levers, I need only to ask you to make your horse lie down.
H OW
TO
B UILD
A
H ALF H ALT
I use the term “building” because that best describes to me what it is like to make this
important tool available to you and your horse. It is a common mistake to think that a horse
will instantly recognize a half halt and respond correctly. Even horses under very skilled
drivers or riders have to learn the language of the equestrian before they can respond to the
commands.
Start with the very fundamentals. Your horse should have very good ground manners, and
understand what it means to halt when he is just wearing a halter and lead rope. Chances are,
that if you can’t get your horse to halt on command and stand in these circumstances, you have
little chance of success elsewhere. It’s worth taking a little time to work with your on the
ground to develop the halt command.
Lead your horse as you normally would, then ask for a halt. Walking in a large square pattern
gives you 4 defined places to request the halt (halt targets.) Give your horse ample warning
before each request for the halt both verbally, and with the lead. Use the same verbal
command that you will use when you are long lining, riding or driving your horse. Your goal is
to get the horse to halt with in a stride of your request, and remain still until it’s time to move
off again.
In tack (long lining, riding or driving) you’ll want to give the same level of preparation for the
halt. That preparation should be what you seek as your ideal command for a half-halt. It’s
important that this is a separate and discernible command from your regular rein handling and
body position. A small quick release of contact before the preparation for a halt goes a long
way to help define that preparation as it’s own command.
From the walk, choose the very spot at which you want the horse to halt (your halt target.)
Give a quick release of contact, followed by your predatory command. Take a nice quiet
squeeze, squeeze on both reins accompanied by a “chirp” from your lips, followed by a release.
Even if you know your horse is going to completely ignore this, use that ideal command every
time. This is your goal, and therefore the “language” that you will use to prepare the horse to
halt. Follow that command with a firm “whoa” and a firm squeeze and pull on the reins, hold
for one Mississippi, and release. In a wonderful world your horse will halt just at the end of
your release.
If you live here on earth, your horse may just keep walking at this point, perhaps with little or
no adherence to your request. If so, repeat and double the volume of your halt command,
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CAA Master Evaluator ~ ADS Judge ~ Clinics ~ Lessons ~ Training
Training and Instruction for the Sport of Carriage Driving
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increasing both your voice command and the strength of your pull to halt, followed by a
release, then a crisp little tug at the end of the release.
If that doesn’t stop him, double again, now four times as strong as the original command. (If
you are in the unfortunate position that this does not stop your horse, do anything it takes to
stop him! At the walk it may feel like you are in an OJ Simpson style low speed pursuit. If this
is the case, go back to teaching the horse how to halt for you in the halter.) When he does stop,
maintain a light contact and tell the horse he is good.
Maintain the halt for about 5 seconds or more then ask him to walk on. Choose your next halt
target and repeat the exercise. Regardless of the results of the first effort, prepare the horse to
halt in the exact same way you did the first time. It takes a lot of repetitions to get this right, so
try, try again.
T HREE C OMMON F AULTS
If you have trouble getting this exercise to work, there are three main areas that you may be
having trouble with. Look to these areas first as a place where you can improve your
communication to give your horse the best chance to understand your goals.
TOO LITTLE ESCALATION: A well meaning soul will often make the mistake of making very
small increases in the volume and intensity of the halt command. The first request to halt may
be a 4 out of 10, followed by a 5, then a 6. A horse can easily mistake this as a request for him
to pull the reins forward against the rider or driver, thus teaching the opposite of the half halt.
If the horse didn’t listen to the first request (4), make it obvious that he missed something and
escalate to (8), and release. If that fails go to (16), he can’t miss that, and you’ll only have to do
it once or twice.
SLURRING THE LANGUAGE: If the commands are not crisp and clear, it is hard to
understand. Think of trying to understand someone who slurs their speech. Now imagine that
person slurring in a language you are only just beginning to understand. If the initial
preparation command takes more than 1 stride, the horse may think it is just an incidental pull
on the reins. He can also interpret a long pull as a request to pull against the rider or driver.
This highlights the reason for the release after each command. If you were to follow me around
from lesson to lesson you will hear me repeat, “The growth is in the release.”
NO RELEASE: Sure I’ve said it already, but I’ll say it again, release the rein toward the horse
after each component of the series. If you do not release the contact there is no definition to
the command, or communication. Here’s an easy exercise to illustrate what I mean:
•
•
•
•
Make the thumbs up sign with your hand.
Now point the thumb down.
Thumb Up
thumbdownthumbupthumbsidewaysthumbdownthumbup
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CAA Master Evaluator ~ ADS Judge ~ Clinics ~ Lessons ~ Training
Training and Instruction for the Sport of Carriage Driving
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Without the spaces and punctuation the words became one long mess of nonsense. In fact, had
I started the exercise with the commands all strung together, you probably wouldn’t have even
recognized the words in the string of text. The release of the reins to the horse acts as the
punctuation and spaces in the text of commands.
B UILDING U PON Y OUR S UCCESS
When you have completed the walk,-halt exercise several times your horse should begin to
anticipate the halt as soon as your give him a chirp accompanied by a squeeze, squeeze. The
horse will engage his hind quarters, and may even halt before you have a chance to ask. If this
is the case, go with it. Do not punish him for stopping off of the half halt alone when he is
learning.
Make sure you have equal success in both directions. Horses need to learn new things on both
sides of their mind. They do not always take what they know, and fully apply it to either
direction of travel. Now begin to work on the same exercise from the trot.
Allow your horse to take several walking strides transitioning from the trot to the halt. As your
horse gets better at transitioning from the trot to the halt you can ask him to do so with fewer
and fewer strides. Use the exact same technique as you did to halt from the walk. From a
steady contact of 3 out of 10, give a slight release to 2, then two squeezes (5, 2, 5) accompanied
by a chirp, release (1) for one Mississippi, and “Whoa” accompanied by your halt command,
followed by a release. If your horse doesn’t halt, repeat and escalate the whoa command as
needed.
If your half-halts are working correctly you should feel the change immediately after your halfhalt in the window of the release. If you do not feel the horse preparing to stop at that time,
your half-halts are probably going unnoticed. Start over from the walk-halt exercise. Make
absolutely certain that you are giving the horse a release of at least one, but no more than two
Mississippis.
C ARRIAGE C ONSIDERATIONS
Make sure your breeching is adjusted properly, with very little slack. Adjust the breeching so
there is no more than one hand width of space between the horse and the breeching when your
horse is pulling the full weight of the carriage. To check this, stop with the horse up hill, and
have an assistant check and adjust accordingly. If the breeching is too loose, it will give your
horse a double bump when he tries to stop, and will discourage a good clean halt.
N O B RAKES !
I strongly discourage the use of the carriage brakes during this exercise for several reasons:
CARRIAGE WEIGHT: Your horse should be able to stop the carriage without any trouble on
any flat, or moderately down hill surface. If he is slipping at all from the weight of the carriage,
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CAA Master Evaluator ~ ADS Judge ~ Clinics ~ Lessons ~ Training
Training and Instruction for the Sport of Carriage Driving
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check that he is shod correctly for the surface he is working on. I use a thin layer or “wash” of
medium grit borrium or Drill Tech on all horses for driving. This is plenty to keep them from
slipping, even in hazards, but not so much that it effects the weight or give of the shoe.
Making the horse responsible for stopping the weight of the carriage has the added benefit of
demanding a higher level engagement. A horse has to lean into the breeching to slow and stop
a carriage, the way he would use his hind quarters to carry himself down a steep hill, or
perform movements of greater collection.
OPERATOR ERROR: The most frequent mistake I see made in this regard is the driver using
the carriage to stop the horse. This happens when the driver brakes the carriage before the
horse has made, or often even begun to make the halt. The traces tighten, and the horse stops
from the weight in the breast collar. There are several pitfalls in this scenario. From the
prospective of dressage and engagement, the horse is learning to use his front end, and the
breast collar to stop. This sends the balance of his weight forward, over his front legs leaving
him “on the forehand”. Horses that halt on the forehand often are heavy in the reins
(especially if the brake isn’t applied). They halt over many many strides, do not halt square,
and move off from the halt crooked, with their head in the air.
From a more practical standpoint, using the brake to stop a horse trains him not to pull the
carriage when it gets heavy. The next time you are at a rainy CDE listen to how many people
complain “my horse wouldn’t go forward because dressage ring was too deep.” Often times
those are the very same people who use the brake to slow or stop their horse. It’s only natural
for the horse to back off if they encounter heavy going with the carriage. The horse has no way
of understanding if the carriage is harder to pull because of mud, or because the driver is riding
the brake.
B RING
THE
H ALF H ALT F ORWARD
When you have built your half-halt successfully you can go on to use it in other places.
Approaching a turn the half-halt will balance your horse and give you the space to
communicate the bend that you want through the turn. When you work your horse on a figure
8, or a serpentine a release, half-halt, release just before changing directions will balance and
prepare your horse for the change of direction. This will reduce or eliminate rushing or
counter bending through the changes. If you use this technique when changing direction on
courses such as cones, jumping or hazards, you’ll have a much cleaner round.
A half-halt is essential in developing a collected trot. From a working trot half-halt, then drive
the horse forward with a “click” when you release. Right away give another half-halt, then
click, several close together. The horse will progressively shift the balance further back on his
hind quarters while trotting, producing a big powerful collected trot.
It often seems counter-intuitive to people when I explain that a well built half-halt is necessary
for a nice lengthened or extended trot. People often make the mistake in think of these
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CAA Master Evaluator ~ ADS Judge ~ Clinics ~ Lessons ~ Training
Training and Instruction for the Sport of Carriage Driving
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movements as fast, running movements. In fact a proper extended trot requires a great deal of
collection. For a horse to float those front feet out there like a figure skater, he must have his
weight and balance in his hind quarters to lift the front end. It’s not unlike a dragster doing a
wheelie. If that car were front wheel drive, there would be no wheelies at the start line. The
half-halt asks the horse to shift his weight and balance to the hind end, when followed by a
“trot-on” command, the result is an extended trot.
Certainly the subjects of bending, collection and lengthening need greater explanation than I’ve
given here, but the pre-requisite to all of those topics will be the half-halt. So focus on the
exercises to build that half-halt, and you’ll open a door to a whole world of wonderful riding
and driving.
© Andy Marcoux ~ www.CoachmansDelight.com ~ (508) 298-8504
CAA Master Evaluator ~ ADS Judge ~ Clinics ~ Lessons ~ Training
Training and Instruction for the Sport of Carriage Driving
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