Quiet Riding

Horses and Riders Working in Harmony


Horses in the Fog

Halt

[As additional resources, links to book reviews and book purchasing information can be found beneath the quotations when this information is available.]

"A halt, no matter how sudden it may be, should be smooth; if it is not so, it is badly executed."

James Fillis, Breaking and Riding
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"As a rule, the halt ought to be made progressively and not abruptly."

James Fillis, Breaking and Riding
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"The halt should be made without concussion. It is then painless for the rider, saves the horse's loins and hocks, and is easy, because the hocks and pasterns bend."

James Fillis, Breaking and Riding
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"The means for stopping the horse is always the same — namely, raise the snaffle reins while drawing them back with an equal feeling on both reins, so as to bring the weight on the hind quarters; at the same time, close both legs strongly to bring the hocks under the animal's body, and feel the curb reins. The horse is then between the hands and legs."

James Fillis, Breaking and Riding
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"He'd stop as soon he got the message from the feel of your whole body that you'd stopped wanting him to move."

Bill Dorrance and Leslie Desmond, True Horsemanship Through Feel
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When stopping: "It's important to experiment with your posture and the feel on your reins."

Bill Dorrance and Leslie Desmond, True Horsemanship Through Feel
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When stopping: "There's no advantage to a fella sticking his feet way out front, or too far back either. He's a lot better off with his legs hanging down underneath him...."

Bill Dorrance and Leslie Desmond, True Horsemanship Through Feel
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"It's not ever helpful to have a horse that overdoes the anticipation when it comes to leaving after you've stopped."

Bill Dorrance and Leslie Desmond, True Horsemanship Through Feel
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"One thing I'm pretty careful about on a horse that's just learning to get with me, is that I don't ever want to surprise him with the feel for quick stops or sharp turns."

Bill Dorrance and Leslie Desmond, True Horsemanship Through Feel
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"The key to success lies in not jamming your seat bones onto the horse's back, but allowing him to round his back under your light, but following seat."

Sally Swift, Centered Riding
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"Don't squeeze your legs against the saddle. The action of the upper legs around the horse is like that of the old-fashioned wooden clothespin on a line. It doesn't bring its sides together but does become increasingly firm as it drops down."

Sally Swift, Centered Riding
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"The hind feet walk up into your hands; your hands do not move back toward your body and toward the horse's hind end."

Sally Swift, Centered Riding
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"During the transition, you will feel your hip joints opening toward your hands — never the hands coming to your hips."

Sally Swift, Centered Riding
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"Breathe out during this transition."

Sally Swift, Centered Riding
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"As your knees drop down unhindered, your soft ankles enable the insides of your lower legs to have contact with your horse just below the saddle, six to eight inches behind the girth. This position tells your horse to bring his hind legs under him as his back fills your open seat."

Sally Swift, Centered Riding
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"Don't jam your horse into the transition. Allow him the strides he needs for balance....throughout keep the feeling of a dance through the transition, with his hind legs stepping under to carry his body lightly."

Sally Swift, Centered Riding
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"When stepping into the halt, your horse should always look like he's closing himself up from the back to the front."

Jane Savoie, Cross-Train Your Horse, Simple Dressage for Every Sport
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"The downward transition to the halt should be crisp but not abrupt."

Jane Savoie, Cross-Train Your Horse, Simple Dressage for Every Sport
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"His [the horse's] last step of trot or walk before the halt should look just as active as the strides that he takes when he's motoring along with lots of energy."

Jane Savoie, Cross-Train Your Horse, Simple Dressage for Every Sport
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"If the downward transition looks abrupt, it's a good indication that you used your hands too much or too sharply, or that you suddenly and harshly applied all of the aids."

Jane Savoie, Cross-Train Your Horse, Simple Dressage for Every Sport
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"It is also necessary that the horse remain straight in the halt so that this action is achieved on the haunches; because if one of the back legs is off the line of the shoulders, the horse moving sideways in this action, he cannot be on his haunches."

François Robichon de la Guérinière, The School of Horsemanship, Part II
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"The advantages derived from a well executed halt are to collect a horse, steady his mouth, head, and haunches and to make him light in the hand."

François Robichon de la Guérinière, The School of Horsemanship, Part II
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"When, in indicating a halt or half-halt, the horse continues to lean on the bit, to pull at the hand, and even sometimes to force the hand by moving forward despite the rider's will, it is thus necessary, after having halted the horse, to back him up as punishment for this disobedience."

François Robichon de la Guérinière, The School of Horsemanship, Part II
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"Halting or arresting energy should have little to do with hand action. It is simply a question of dropping the rider's weight straight through the centre of the horse from an upright position of knee and thigh, thus uniting the horse to the ground through gravity."

Sylvia Loch, The Classical Rider
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"More comfortable halts come from the horse shifting its weight to the hindquarters, leaving the forelegs with less weight too carry than when the horse brakes to a halt by bracing its forelegs."

Kathleen Schmitt, The Seamless Seat
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