In my early equine education, I remember being told to half halt my horses all the time and only vaguely knowing what it meant. Some trainers seemed to want me to pull back on the reins, some squeeze the horse down with my seat, and one even told me to bear down, as if to poop on the horse. These are all confusing and unhelpful descriptions of the half halt. The answers of what it is, what it’s for, and how you do it vary dramatically depending on who you ask. In this post, I will explain how I’ve come to understand the what, how, and why of the half halt, and respond to some definitions and descriptions I received on Facebook when opening the discussion to my equine community!

Sometimes we focus so much on the horse that we forget about ourselves in the training process. We want to see what the horse is doing and how they are moving. We want to help the horse move and feel better. We want to study the horse and know the horse. But if all of our awareness is on the horse, we cannot support them. Part of that awareness needs to be on ourselves. Our own sensations in the body. The thoughts in our heads. The breath in our lungs, diaphragm, and pelvic floor. Our balance and alignment. Our posture and muscular engagement. These are the things which we use to connect with and influence the horse, so we are ineffective guides to them when we exclude ourselves from our focus.

Educating the horse to the bit in-hand is a kind, rational approach to training. Through soft, intelligent hands, we can teach the horse to unlock their jaw and tongue, thereby unlocking their whole body from the neck, chest, belly, back, to the hind legs. We can teach the horse to bend and extend the neck, engage the thoracic sling, steer, and so much more through methodical training in hand. (Remember to start with Part 1: Self-Bridling if you haven’t read that blog post already!)