In this video we will be going over several movements you can use to prepare the horse for the half pass. In part two we will cover a few more movements as well as the half pass.
To start off we are working on much more than the half pass, not only are we teaching the maneuver but we must not lose sight of the whole horse. As humans we have an uncanny skill to over focus on one thing, and when we do that we lose sight of the big picture i.e. the whole horse. Teaching lateral movements like the half pass require looking at the big picture so you can see what the horse is struggling with and not be so focused that you can’t detach and resolve his anxiety if it arises. Now that you are thinking along these lines we can move to the mind of the horse. WE must have the horses mind working and in a learning, eager, frame of mind before beginning half pass instruction. Check in with your horse…. is he soft? willing? moving out well? If so we can continue onwards. As we go through the lateral movements leading to the half pass make sure to keep those three things at the forefront of your mind. For instance in you go to leg yield your horse and you find his neck to be stiff and resistant, you need not continue. Your horse just showed you what he needs help with, in this case it would be the flexion, so slow down improve the horses understanding of the flexion and then proceed. That’s us looking at the big picture part, if you run into trouble try and understand where it is stemming from, fix it, allow the horse to gain satisfaction and peace finding the solution and then move on to something else.
As always I hope this helps you with your horse, Tristen Baroni.