In the two images above, Manolo is schooling and preparing for pirouette work. The first image is a medium trot and the second a step of pirouette.
“Some schools define the half halt as a hold and release with or without a stopping of the back or hands for a couple of seconds or for a set number of strides to balance the horse in preparation for the next request.
In Manolo’s approach, a half halt is simply a slowing down of the horse’s tempo on a scale of 1 to 10, and a picking up of energy and tempo on a scale of 1 to 10 to prepare the horse to go in and out of transitions easily so the horse is constantly seeking his own balance and developing self carriage.
Piaffe would be a 1, a working trot would be a 5 and an extended trot would be a 10 so you modulate up and down the scale depending on the horse’s training, conformation, preference etc…
This scale is not about footfalls and strides but extension, collection and balance.
Think of the scale this way: Piaffe asks for the most gathering/collection of the body and extended trot for the most lengthening/extension of the body. Everything else happens between these two extremes and it happens progressively because with every step comes the need for balance and re-balancing.
Understanding the need to change the tempo to help the horse find this balance is how a rider is able to progressively help the horse develop the independent balance to extend and collect easily his entire body which is basically self-carriage.
You would not ask for the same range up and down the scale of a young horse as you would a trained horse who has the ability to slow the tempo quite a lot while remaining in balance. But you may not use the same scale variation for two young horses either because they may have different balance set points. There is no one size fit all formula, the rider has to figure out what the horse needs, day to day.
In this approach to helping the horse develop self-carriage, the idea is to create the conditions that help the horse enhance, maintain or gain his independent balance while remaining soft from the very beginning of his training. This will, in the long term, make collection easier for the horse.
As someone pointed out to us during that discussion “Many horses just automatically slow a little when seeking balance, because they find it harder to stay balanced the faster they go.” The way Manolo trains takes that natural reaction into consideration, he simply does what is easier for the horse.
This approach, gives the horse the time to process the request not just react to it.
Riding with a forward hand especially in canter and walk means following the bascule of the horse’s head and neck and following his body – it does require contact, but a soft, following contact. The most common issue Manolo sees while he teaches riders from green to GP is not following at all or not enough, holding the horse in short, fixed hands and then riding the horse abruptly into transitions and halts – and riding all the horses the same.
Sometimes a horse can be held together in a frame and the rider uses the “half-halt” to gain or regain more control over the horse. Or a horse can be asked to work over tempo and go forward, forward, forward as many young horses are today. This makes it difficult for a horse to develop independent balance.
Here, how horses learn to develop their own balance during upwards and downwards transition is by gently and progressively reducing and increasing the tempo temporarily. For example, going up the scale 4,5 6, 7 staying at a 7 a couple of strides even if the horse is a little flat to allow him to organize his body his better , and then coming down the scale 7,6,5, 4… Since the horse is learning and its body is developing we do not ask for work he is unable to create yet – it is not possible to hurry balance.
Its ok for the horse to use his neck a little high or low (not btv) in the beginning until it develops the strength to carry himself. This happens with older horses too who still have not developed the proper fitness and balance, not just young (age wise) horses. There is no driving the horse on , and no riding the horse into snail paces, instead there is a constant feedback/action loop at play, a constant evaluation of the state of balance and how the rider can help the horse carry himself better.
This ability to make decisions stride by stride and adapt the training to the horse is what all the schools of riding from the beginning of times seek, its hardly unusual or unique but the speaking of it is much easier then the doing of it.”
Following this posting, a question was asked about whether the tempo should stay the same and it is the strides that should shorten. This was our answer:
“What Manolo focuses on keeping consistent, is the horse’s rhythm, which is the most important quality we can preserve and help in a horse since rhythm=purity of gait.
Daily training is about developing the right combination of Impulsion, Regularity and Balance for each horse that will lead towards his ability to sustain himself in self-carriage and collection. It takes time and patience to get there. Playing with the tempo which refers to the rate of repetition is a way to develop the horse’s balance while keeping him soft in the body and confident in the mind.
The horse is able to keep the same rhythm and move from one movement to another, transition from one gait into another, to essentially collect and extend when he is straight, supple and balanced and even then, he has to be trained daily to maintain and continually develop the ability to do so.
This means that you have to develop his body in the manner that introduces the least amount of tension and help him regain his balance – essentially be able to re-organize himself – when needed.
The way Manolo achieves this is by modulating the tempo and doing what the horse does naturally when he is losing balance in motion: slow down a little bit, and pick up again when balance is regained.
The rider has the ability to give the horse as much time as he feels the horse needs to find his level, this helps horses remain calm in the work. As fitness and balance develops how the rider moves up and down the 1 to 10 scale and how long they stay at one number changes.
This flexibility helps to develop a loose, supple and flexible horse.”
A great big thank you to Chantelle Matthews, Manolo’s assistant trainer for her help with writing this post.