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Part 1 - Learning the Half Halt
Jane Savoie, 1992 U.S. Olympic Dressage Squad member, teacher, trainer and author of That Winning Feeling! A New Approach to Riding, demonstrates her systematic and highly successful method of teaching riders the half halt, as well as showing how to put horses on the bit.
She starts with the understanding that many riders, although familiar with the term "half halt," do not know what it is - or how, why and when to use it - even though instructors may have been asking them to "half halt" for years. Using several different riders and horses, she demonstrates how the use of the half halt assists riders in overcoming all manner of physical and mental imbalances in the horse, such as helping the animal that is stiff or falling on his forehand, calling to attention the
inattentive horse, or alerting the horse that he is about to be asked for a new movement.
Savoie's fresh and innovative approach to teaching this often misunderstood aid to balancing (and re-balancing) the horse will help all riders, many of whom may have struggled for years.
Once the rider has learned why and how to ride a half halt, Jane Savoie, in
Part 2 - Putting your Horse on the Bit, goes further and discusses when to use the half halt aid. One of the biggest
"when" is when to put the horse on the bit, and she demonstrates the many benefits gained: your horse will become more obedient, more graceful, and more athletic as a result of carrying itself predominantly with the muscles over its croup, back and top of its neck. She then shows examples of horses on the bit (as well as not on the bit). Finally, Jane explains how a rider can superimpose a half halt over the aids given for different movements in order to keep the horse on the bit.
More information on Jane Savoie |
