HAULT!!!!!!!!

[HelloKitty]

These last few weeks i have really improved with my riding, but i still can't seem to get the hang of the hault , when i try the horse only seems to half hault, and its not just on one horse it's on all horses i ride. I pull on the riens slitly as you are supposed to ,then sqeeze whilst resisting at the same time, but this still dosnt stop the horse completly , sometimes the sqeezing even makes them go faster. Anyone any tips on how to hault, and why this is happening.

[LadyLimerik]

Try preparing the horse a bit by giving a half halt before asking the horse to halt. Then when you ask the horse to halt try aking a bit harder. Alot of horses wont stop just because they know that the rider isn't sure or wont make them.

[Wally]

Make sure you are fully in control of the muscles in your legs. When you pinch your bum muscles make absolutely sure your calf muscles are not tight too, which will make the horse walk on.

[Maci]

With some horses, you might have to sit back and deep to get them to halt. Western horses are that way. With others, you just have to pinch your butt to get them to stop.
*Put some tension on the reins (pull back a BIT), squeeze your legs, and try to stop the movement through your body- keep it still and sit a bit back. If that doesn't work, do the things mentioned above, but this time slow your body down and pinch you butt. Like LadyLimerik said, slow down first before you attempt a halt. Be positive when doing it, and try your voice for more encouragement!

Maci :)

[Dizzy]

HelloKitty, work out in advance where you want to halt, prepare yourself, in walk (until you get the hang of of it) about 3 to 4 strides before the halt, take deep breaths, totally relax, and ask with the rien with a gentle squeeze. When you make the final squeeze (block) with your bum, instead of a squeeze, imagine your sat in the centre of a clock face, and advance your hips to 12 o'clock, legs relaxed, head up, shoulders open, and at the same time as your hips advance to 12, gently close your hand, and don't be afraid to use your voice, a good whoa, never goes astray.

Hope this helps you

Lesley

[LindaAd]

I like that word hault - sounds like how I get Barney to stop when devils are chasing him: haul to a halt :)

I've found with him that you have to relax the reins as soon as he starts stopping - otherwise he pulls and goes on. If you just give the aid to halt, then relax, it works. (Haul to a halt is only for dire emergencies).

As for bum-squeezing, I found it made him go faster: you had to sit deep and block the movement to stop. But then I read somewhere (I think it was Sylvia Loch in Horse & Rider) that if you lighten your seat, the horse can round his back into the halt - and if I squeezed thinking about lightening the seat it worked brilliantly.

In other words, like Maci said, you have to experiment a bit with different horses.

[fionahogg]

Yes, when you ask for halt, you should squeeze your bum cheeks together. If you are moving with the movement of the horse in walk, then when you squeeze your bum, this blocks the movement, because suddenly you are not moving with the horse, and he senses this and slows. Squeezing the bum also raises you up a bit from the saddle - try it on a hard chair and you'll see what I mean. This in turn allows the back to lift during the transition, and this allows the hind legs to follow through. If you sit deep, then you make it impossible for the horse to raise the back and the result tends to be a messy transition, because the horse will inevitably hollow and fall onto the forehand. Squeezing the bum muscles will, however, only work to slow the horse down if you are moving in a synchronised fashion with the horse's back. (i.e. when, for example, the left hindleg moves under, the left side of the back dips; you dip your left seat bone. At the same time the right hind leg will be about to push off the ground so the right side of the back will raise up - you raise your right seat bone). If you are not moving with the horse, then he won’t feel the squeezing of the bum muscles as blocking his movement, because his movement will allready be blocked by the rider.
When you ask for halt, squeeze your bum, maintain a leg aid (don’t increase the leg - just keep it very lightly by the horse's side, otherwise he'll get confused. The leg is there to simply ensure that the hindlegs follow through). Only if the horse doesn't respond to the bum aid should you use your rein, not as a backwards pull, but more of a block. Gradually, as the horse gets more responsive to the seat aid, you will find that the rein aid becomes unecessary and he’ll halt when you just squeeze your bum.

Hope this helps!

Fiona.

[LindaAd]

Just been re-reading Heather's pages. She says that bum-squeezing only works if your legs are in the correct position. That would explain a few things ;)