half pass help

[canadianbeaver]

can anybody walk me through it please?

[Em 1]

Hiya

Do you know the aids for travers?

[canadianbeaver]

yes. what I'm doing at the moment is doing a few steps of shoulder-in before I ask for the half pass. if I'm going from C to A end of the school and want to end at K I do a few steps of shoulder in, then support with my outside leg and push him over with my inside one... is that correct?

[Willingbe]

Half-pass isn't generally ridden from the shoulder in, it's ridden from the travers. Look at this web-link for an explanation of how to ride half-pass:

http://www.classicaldressage.net/members/lesson_pages/half_pass.html

and at this web-link for a nice example of a Grand-Prix horse performing the half-pass.

http://www.ridinghabit.com/guide/animation/half_pass.html

[Colorado Sunset]

hmmm, i always got taught to start with shoulder-in, as then the front legs are leading and the shoulders dont get left behind. Will have a peek at that website :D

[Colorado Sunset]

the shoulders always a little in advance of the quarters. This is especially important since the shoulders are slightly narrower than the quarters and therefore the inside shoulder has to be brought that little fraction more into the direction of the movement.

So, wouldnt starting with shoulder in then pushing across be more useful? This is how i have been taught to perform it, by a dressage coach. Sorry if getting the wrong idea though :rolleyes:

[Willingbe]

:o Should have said "taught" from the shoulder-in instead of "ridden", ah-well that comes from sneaking onto the internet when I'm at work ;)

In shoulder-in the horse is asked to bend around and move AWAY from the inside leg, for travers, renvers and half-pass the horse is asked to bend around and move TOWARDS the inside leg.

Half-pass can be thought of as travers along a specified diagonal line. So it is usually taught once the horse and rider are proficient in travers. Since the aids are virtually the same they will cause less confusion to the "beginner" horse then riding the half-pass after shoulder-in.

Having said that the half-pass actually starts from the shoulder-fore or shoulder-in POSITION, however when teaching the horse half-pass the first step of the shoulder-in should be the first step of the half-pass with the aids the same (nearly) as travers.

Canadian Beaver said "I do a few steps of shoulder in, then support with my outside leg and push him over with my inside one... is that correct?" So the answer is no, in shoulder-in the inside leg pushes the horse forwards and sideways, in half-pass it is the outside leg that is responsible for the forwards/sideways movement.

I wouldn't use shoulder-in to half-pass on a horse that is new to the movement, only as a suppling and collecting exercise for a more experienced horse.

So I would suggest that the best thing for Canadian Beaver would be to ride a few steps of travers on the long side, then at K half-circle to the centre line, position to shoulder-fore and then half-pass back towards the track, but don't ask for too steep an angle and don't worry about actually making it back to the track, just a few steps will do. :D

[Colorado Sunset]

kewl, thanks for clearing that up :D i thought i had been taught completely wrong. In your post though, do you mean taught from the travers, but ridden from the shoulder-in. Sorry for being so nit picky, just would love to know for sure :D

Thanks for your help, even though im not the one asking the question! :p

[Willingbe]

Distinguish the "shoulder-in position" from the shoulder-in, the start for shoulder-in and half-pass is the shoulder-in position, however the aids once the position is established are different in respect to the leg-aids.

I'll correct myself again :D with respect to "taught from the travers" to "taught after the travers". The half-pass when first taught is actually "ridden" from the half-volte.

Once the half-pass has been taught it can be ridden from volte, straight line, shoulder-fore, shoulder-in and extended strides. There are no actual dressage tests which demand a shoulder-in to half pass transition.

[Colorado Sunset]

kl , thanks a lot :D