THE PARBERY PROGRAM DRESSAGE FUNDAMENTALS

TRAINING MODULE 4PACE CONTROL

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THE PARBERY PROGRAM DRESSAGE FUNDAMENTALS

TRAINING MODULE 4

PACE CONTROL

Pace Control

Today’s top dressage horses are able to demonstrate extraordinary elasticity, energy and expression, all while remaining obedient and almost foot-perfect throughout the difficult Grand Prix levels.

What usually underpins all this mind-blowing expression, is a rider with a training approach based around developing the three basic gaits of walk, trot and canter. In the Parbery Program we call this development of the basic gaits – Pace Control.

Imagine pace control as if you are driving a car. The three basic gaits of walk, trot and canter are like the gears 1st, 2nd and 3rd. You can go up through the gears (upward transitions), or down through the gears (down-ward transitions). Once you are in a gear, the accelerator gives you the option to go faster (forward) and the brake gives you the option to go slower (back). It is these dimensions that need to be understood when trying to understand Pace Control.

Although the car analogy is a useful one, Pace Control in reality is much more complicated.

Before we get stuck in, rest assured that this material will always be here for you, to learn more as/when you’re ready. You won’t be able to take this all in, let along put it into practice, right away or even in weeks or months. This takes time.

WALK, TROT AND CANTER

Let’s start with the basic gaits of walk, trot and canter.

Walk: Riding walk correctly can be difficult and requires a lot of feel. With four beats, neck and back movement, the walk requires a rider with ‘feel’ to be ridden well, and the purity of the pace and the relaxation within it can easily be ruined. The walk is developed through years of correct training resulting into four versions as required for dressage levels to Grand Prix. They are: Free walk, Medium walk, Extended walk and Collected walk.

Trot: Trot is the most adjustable of the three basic gaits and therefore has the most variations. Horses at Grand Prix are required to understand seven versions of trot. Working trot, ‘Pony’ trot, Collected trot, Medium trot, Extended trot, Piaffe and Passage.

Canter: When building a dressage horse to Grand Prix we need to develop five versions of canter: Working canter, Collected canter, Medium canter, Extended canter and Pirouette canter.

Before they change, first things must stay the same

We’ve discussed earlier that ‘in dressage, everything must be adjustable’. But, prior to training adjustability and pace variations, we firstly must be able to keep all things the same. You can only change that which you can keep constant.

So once again using the car analogy, we must firstly establish ‘cruise control’, i.e. a way of going that has a working rhythm and requires little to no effort from the rider to stay in that rhythm. This is called ‘in front of the leg and in your rhythm’, and on the German Training Scale is the combination of rhythm and impulsion.

It is crucial in all equestrian disciplines to have the horses positively in front of our leg and in a forward-thinking frame of mind. ‘In front of the leg and in your rhythm’ becomes the starting point for all things related to Pace Control.

Once we have consolidated cruise control, we have five elements of Pace Control to train;1. Upward transitions - Halt-to-Walk-to-Trot-to-Canter 2. Downward transitions - Canter-to-Trot-to-Walk-to-Halt 3. Forward (or activating) - Walk (forward), Trot (forward), Canter within the pace (forward)4. Back (or collecting) - Walk (back), Trot (back), Canter (back) pace 5. Tempo control - Walk (faster/slower), Trot (faster/slower), Canter (faster/slower)

At all times in training we should have these five variations of pace control in our mind.

PACE CONTROL AIDS

Provided your aids are within the rules of dressage and are accurate, clear and functionally useful, they can be absolutely anything you want. In all horse sports, there are some universally accepted aids that most of us use. More important than the aid itself, is the consistency with which you apply it. Aids have no meaning without consistency. As you work through the following information, as simple as it may sound on paper, I want you to think about your own aids and how consistently you apply them from one ride to another.

The Pressure/Release System and Shades of AidsHorses respond best to the pressure/release training system. Basically, it refers to a rider/trainer placing an aid on a horse by way of some form of uncomfortable pressure, to which the horse responds as it attempts to remove the discomfort. Once the rider feels the horse respond they decide whether to release the pressure or to repeat it. To release the pressure is the reward and encourages the horse to repeat that response when asked again. After time in training the horse usually becomes quicker and more reliable at responding, and a reliable aid is created.

What is extremely important in creating the communication aid is the sequence of aids or pressure levels used by the rider/trainer. I call this shades of aids. Our ultimate goal is to train the horse to respond to refined aids of light pressure. The shades of aids sequence is similar to whispering, talking and shouting and should always start at the lightest level first, equivalent to a whisper. If there is no response we then escalate to the next level by applying a slightly more agitating aid until we feel a response. If there is no response, the highest level of agitation is applied, where the rider/trainer is seeking any positive response that is somewhat related to the initial request, to which immediate release of the aid quickly follows.

Please note that I use the word agitation, and not kicking or hitting with a whip. Inflicting pain is never a productive method in creating awareness of an aid. If anything, the horse can develop a negative attitude to the aid and this will be counter-productive.

In using pressure/release and shades of aids, you must be fair with your horse and very strict on yourself. Once the sequence is well trained, the horse should start responding to the light aid.

TRNSITIONS - UPWARD AND DOWNWARD

Upward Transition Aids

The Walk Aid (Halt to walk): The most commonly used aids for this transition are both legs on the girth and press both your heels inwards just behind the girth. Sometimes riders will put their legs too far back and lean forward which is not correct. Its best to hold your position (be strict on yourself) and place the aids into the correct spot. You will get a better reaction this way.

The Trot Aid (Halt/trot or walk/trot): These aids are similar for most riders and similar to the halt-walk aids. Both legs on the girth and inward heel pressure are the best aids for a trot transition. The optimum reaction is where the horse lifts up through the body and springs from halt or walk. This lift reaction becomes very useful as we start to expect more from our horses in all trot paces.

The Canter Aid (Trot/canter or walk/canter): The canter aid can vary greatly from rider to rider. There is usually an activating aid and a directional aid (referring to the canter lead). Some riders use their outside leg behind the girth as the direction and activating aid all in one, whilst others just have their inside leg on the girth as one aid, and some will use both legs with equal pressure, so you can see the canter aid is very personal to each rider. This also explains why flying changes can be difficult to ride on another person’s horse because the flying change aid is simply a canter aid applied in motion. For my own canter aid, I use my inside leg on the girth as the activator and my outside leg softly behind the girth as a passive directional aid. I like my inside leg as the activating aid because, in my view, a strong outside leg aid can be misunderstood as a request for quarters in, resulting in either confusion or crookedness throughout the transition. A clear understanding of inside leg on the girth as the activator and the outside leg slightly behind the girth as the passive directional aid should create reliable and straight canter transitions.

TRNSITIONS - UPWARD AND DOWNWARD

Downward Transition Aids

In any downward transition, we firstly prepare the horse with the half halt(s) to bring the horse to the optimum position of balance and speed.

Usually the optimum position of balance is one in which the horse remains in front of your leg and in your rhythm and is not anticipating the transition by slowing down or leaning forward onto the front legs. Balance in this instance would also refer to the horse being straight, with its shoulders in front of its hindquarters and with weight evenly dispersed from left to right. The optimum speed is the speed in which you wish to finish once you are successfully in the new gait e.g. Canter-Walk: The canter must be at the speed of walk and in balance prior to executing the transition to walk.

I would urge you to take the time to re-read this and to think carefully about the importance of good preparation and the effect the half halt has in this preparation. I have described the aids for the half halt in more detail later in this workbook.

The preparation for the downward transition must be as short as possible but as long as necessary to ensure that your horse remains in front of your leg and is not thinking backwards in anticipation of the transition.

The role of the half halt is to prepare the horse for the downward transition, but not execute the transition. It is important that we break this down for the benefit of the horses – after all, one of the pillars of the Parbery training system is intelligent horsemanship.

Intelligent horsemanship is working hard to develop a system of aids that are easy for your horse to understand, and identifying the parts in your system that could be confusing to your horse. When I ask riders about their downward transition aids and half halt aids, I have found that a lot of people will use the same (or even similar aids), which must be incredibly confusing for the horses.

Here’s the problem with confusing the aids. If your half halt and downward transition aids are blurred into one, your horse will usually always choose what is the easiest outcome for him.

Horses don’t understand the meaning of ‘same’ or ‘similar’. They understand black and white, clear and fair.We know that when the horse is in front of your leg, the horse should keep going in the pace by itself without your help. So, if you are having to put keep your leg or seat going just to keep your horse moving for the half halt, he is behind your leg. You can break this pattern by dividing the downward transition into two parts:

The preparation of the transition – the series of half halts that prepare the horse in speed and balance for the transition you wish to make The actual transition itself – application of the transition aids

We’ve discussed the preparation, but what is the signal to make the downward transition? For me, and for a lot of other international riders riding Grand Prix around the world, the downward transition aids clear and simple: a signal down the outside rein, and a soft short voice tone like a “Ho.”

Very simple. No combination of these aids = no transition. If my horse has felt me using my half halt aids, I school him to stay forward thinking, positive and in front of my leg and at the point I decide that we are ready for the downward transition, I apply those aids and there should be no confusion. There will be mistakes and oppor-tunistic responses from your horse but if you have the discipline to stay clear with him, he will learn the system.

It’s important to note that you can be penalised at a competition within a movement if you’re heard using your voice repeatedly. Nobody wants to be penalised, but I don’t know a judge in the world that’s not trying to promote softness and kindness in riding, so if you’re sensible and restrained you should be OK. Your horse can hear better than anyone and his ears are close to your mouth (way closer than the judges!) so there is no need to speak loudly. They hear in tones so a short single tone under your breath, combined with your other aids should suffice.

TRNSITIONS - UPWARD AND DOWNWARD

Importantly:

Please note the use of a short tone. I don’t use short tones for anything else in my horse language except downward transitions. When lunging, riding, and doing in-hand work, it’s always the same. I use long soft tones for praising, and short tones for downward transitions.

FORWARD (OR ACTIVITY) WITHIN THE PACE

One of my least favourite words in dressage is ‘forward’, but even I end up using it sometimes! The reason I don’t like ‘forward’ as an instruction is that it can imply that the horse needs to react in a forward direction by offering either big long steps/strides. Usually the response I’m seeking is less related to distance, and more about the level of effort shown by the horse.

There will be occasions where certain horses will benefit from becoming longer and slower or quicker, and forward will be the correct instruction, however, as we develop our horses for Grand Prix we quickly realise that energy and effort within the pace is much more productive than simply forward. Therefore, words or thoughts like ‘more energy’, ‘more effort’, ‘try harder’ can produce better results. If we allow the horse to cover ground then the forward response is achieved but this has to be determined by the rider. The aids I will use to achieve forward (or activity) within the pace are;

Activating the walk: We can’t have it as both legs on the girth because we have already decided that that aid is the Trot aid. I use alternate legs in the rhythm of the walk – right, left, right, left - in the rhythm and swing of the walk, when the back swings right use the left leg and vice versa. If you use your legs in a slightly quicker rhythm than your horse is walking, and then relax the aid when the horse responds, you can build an aid that will help you create more energy in the walk when required.

Activating the trot: I use both legs on the girth. If I’m trotting along and if I want more energy in my horse, I press inwards with both heels on the girth and at that moment, I’m looking for response. When I feel a response of more effort, I will relax the aid and give praise by a pat or my voice. The key is that when the horse responds, the aid disappears and the reward is given.

Activating the canter: The position of your legs in canter should be inside leg on the girth and outside leg slightly behind the girth. Your inside leg is poised ready for activation, and this is the best aid to energise the horse for a few reasons. In my system, it’s the aid used to activate the initial canter strike off and therefore is consistent with activating the horse; all other activating aids in all other paces are placed on the girth; and if we use too strong an outside leg the horse will think hindquarters-in. My advice is to try to limit confusion for your horse by intelligently separating your aids and being clear.

BACK (OR COLLECTING) THE PACE

We need to have a good reason to use such an insufficient word as ‘back’, and in this instance, we have one. We are simply creating a contrast to forward. What we’ll discuss here is one of the most mysterious concepts in riding – the Half Halt.

It took me a long time to work out exactly what a half halt really was and how important it is in equestrian sport. A half halt is simply half a halt. The rider will apply a group of aids and the horse responds by performing half of a halt whilst in motion, and then continues on. Hence the continued barking of some coaches to “half halt, give!”.

The half halt is only as good as the result it creates, and for me, about 90% of my half halts are about the rebalancing of the horse. It’s important to be able to perform a half halt while maintaining the rhythm of the pace.

The Half Halt Aids

To make half halts appear as subtle as possible, it’s important that we choose the correct moment within the horse’s footfalls (timing), and that we use a sequence of aids that the horse becomes comfortable with over time. As always, it’s extremely important that our half halt aids don’t conflict with any other aids in our system, to avoid confusion.

The appropriate timing for any half halt is the moment when the horse is picking its feet up and starting the step or stride.

• In walk it is hard to get the timing, because there is no moment of suspension, but timing your half halt with the outside front leg works just fine. • In trot, the timing is when the diagonal pair that you wish to influence are coming off the ground e.g. If you are in rising trot and assuming you are on the correct diagonal, it could be when you are in the motion of rising. • In canter, the best moment for the half halt is when the horse is on its way up for the long moment of suspension between canter strides.

Getting the timing right sounds easy, but it’s actually quite difficult.

BACK (OR COLLECTING) THE PACE

The half halt aids are personal but for me, I like to take my shoulders a little back, contracting from the shoulder blades and drawing little bit backwards, visualising that I have the reins attached to the tips of my shoulders. This in turn goes into my core and seat and draws my body slightly against the forward direction of travel. My shoulders moving slightly back enables me to stay light in my half halt and obvious to the horse. If my horse hasn’t responded to the body cue, a second or so later I will apply a rein aid, usually with even pressure through both reins but sometimes slightly more through the outside rein. This group of aids must always be poised at the ready to assist in rebalancing your horse.

The result we are looking for in the half halt is to feel the horse’s feet come back underneath us. This is the moment where we must have the riding sensitivity to feel our horse right through to their feet and to feel if the horse has responded. Don’t think that the horse will suddenly become better in front or lighter in your hand from the half halt. This may happen and it may not, but if the horse has shifted its weight back, rebalanced and has put their feet back underneath their body then the half halt has been successful and the horse must be rewarded.

In terms of how often you make a half halt, the answer is something like ’how many times did you use the brakes in your car when you drove to town the last time?’ You wouldn’t be able to tell me, but I bet you used them when you needed them, and it’s the same with half halts. Use them when you need them and don’t use them when you don’t. Be sure to get a response from the half halt(s) when you use them by being clear.

In the dressage arena, use half halts the same way as you would if you were driving. Just like in a car when you’re going onto a curving line (corner) you’ll generally slow the car down so it remains balanced on the road. So, when we ride in a dressage arena, we come to a corner, before the corner ask the horse to wait and balance before going through the corner. Likewise, for a circle. Sometimes when introducing half halts, it is good practice to blend the half halt and the turning shoulder aids together when doing a smaller circle. Any circle less than 15m in diameter cannot be done in working paces and therefore needs the rider to balance the horse through the half halts. You can only ask a horse that is in front of you to wait in the half halt and see the benefits. If the horse is behind your leg in the half halt it will only result in the horse doing less and you left helping them even more.As you spend more time training and working on your half halts you’ll find that the half halt is what improves the horse’s natural paces. The horse is in front of your leg and on your half halt, not held but in between the two….it’s a fabulous feeling when it happens and very addictive.

TEMPO

You might think that a faster tempo should end up with more forward, but that’s not correct, and that’s part of the challenge of training a dressage horse because in the test when you’re competing, the forward paces should actually appear slower (like in extended trot), and the more collected paces should appear quicker (like in piaffe). So, the challenge of Tempo Control is being able to control the speed of the horse’s footfalls both within the pace and within the length of step/stride of the pace.

Tempo control is quite a complicated concept because it ties in both the slowing down and activating of the paces, which, once trained, can be manipulated on cue.

As we put the pieces of the puzzle together, it is important that we layer the aids carefully so we don’t add too many elements at once and end up confusing the horse or creating resistances. Your horse will give you enough resistances throughout the training process, you don’t need to be adding more due to a poor training system.

Be clear about what you’re trying to achieve and be sure that the horse is always in front of your leg and in your rhythm. Be certain that your activating aids are clear and well understood by your horse, your half halt aids and downward transition aids are not the same or similar and that they are completely understood by your horse. You can only achieve this by doing thousands of repetitions and by demanding consistency from yourself.

Once you and your horse have a thorough grasp of these levels of control over pace, start experimenting. When you are in collected trot, in front of your leg and on your half halt, ask your horse to wait from a small half halt, and then ask to wait again, and again. Keep the activity and be sure the horse stays in front of you but ask them to wait again and feel yourself slowing the rhythm slightly. Your horse will probably need a reminder about being active and in front of your leg again but in time, this small tempo adjustment will result in the Grand Prix movement of Passage. Staying true to the basics and by layering the aids in a systematic way, can help you to not only train one of the most difficult of Grand Prix exercises, but have it reliable and adjustable. Do it again and again, with your aids asking them, “come on, try harder,” and when the horse gives you some more effort reward them with relief of the aid and voice praise or a pat. Vice versa with training piaffe. Ask your horse to wait, in front of your leg and in your pony trot. So long as your horse stays in front of you, you can ask them to come back more, into shorter steps. No need to kick all the time, they are either going by themselves or they aren’t. If they aren’t, let them stop and then correct them for not going on their own. Once your horse goes by itself and lets you close-up the pace, then introduce your leg and see if you can speed up the footfalls.

With these tools, nearly every horse can be trained to do Grand Prix.

Whether or not they’ll be a Valegro is another story ;)

THE PACES IN DETAIL

When I think of pace control, I think of the requirements of the dressage tests progressing from Preliminary to Grand Prix, and how we can intelligently train these complex layers of control into our horses. The outcome of our training should give us the control over the four versions of walk, seven versions of trot and five versions of canter previously mentioned, and defined below.

WALKFree walk: The walk is asked to step forward and take longer steps. The head and neck position is encouraged to be as long and low as possible.

Medium walk: Medium walk is a pace of activity and regularity. It is developed as a stepping stone towards Collected walk. The horse should show a forward desire with energy and activity. The horse shouldn’t hurry or lose the clear four beats of walk and must remain in a good uphill balance with poll up, be in middle frame with the nose on the vertical.

Extended walk: Extended walk is when the horse increases the length of each walk stride to the greatest amount possible. A strong forward desire and high energy levels are required in extended walk. The frame of the horse is lowered to poll just below the wither, nose in front of the vertical, taking the bit forward.

Collected walk: Collected walk is developed from the Medium walk. Collected walk is an energetic and active pace suitable for collected movements such as walk pirouettes and walk-trot, walk-canter or walk-piaffe or walk-passage transitions. Collected walk is introduced in El ementary dressage and is required for all levels to Grand Prix. The frame of the horse is to be poll at the highest point and nose on the vertical.

THE PACES IN DETAIL

TROTWorking trot: A horse in working trot must feel like it is working. It must have a strong trot rhythm, be in front of the leg, push from the hindquarters and use its whole body to move. Some over track is expected (hind feet landing in front of front feet prints). Working trot is the foundation for all trot work and is usually found in Preliminary and Novice dressage levels.

‘Pony’ trot: As the name suggests, our horses must be able to trot like a pony, in front of our leg, short and active. Pony trot is a training aid used to develop piaffe steps (half steps) and can be used as a conduit when riding passage-piaffe-passage transitions.

Collected trot: Collected trot is developed from the working trot via well timed half halts. Collected trot must still have an energetic forward desire, and multiple half halts assist the horse to become lighter on the ground and more uphill through the shoulders. Collected trot is introduced in Elementary dressage and is required for all levels to Grand Prix. The frame of the horse is to be poll at the highest point and nose on the vertical.

Medium trot: Medium trot is a pace of moderate lengthening. It is the beginning of lengthened strides in trot and should be developed from collected and working trots. The horse should show a forward desire with energy and should clearly lengthen the stride to cover more ground. The horse shouldn’t hurry or lose rhythm and must remain in a good uphill balance with poll at the highest point and nose on the vertical.

Extended trot: Extended trot is when the horse increases the length of each stride to the greatest amount possible. The danger here is that the horse will lose balance and break into canter. Half halts are used to balance the horse but a strong forward desire and high energy levels are required. The poll is at the highest point and nose on the vertical.

Piaffe: Piaffe is basically a highly collected trot that is on the spot or nearly on the spot. The center of gravity of the horse should be more towards the hind end, with the hindquarters slightly lowered and great bending of the joints in the hind legs. The front end of the horse is highly mobile, free and light with great flexion in the joints of the front legs. Piaffe is closely related to ‘Pony trot’. The horse should retain a clear and even rhythm, show desire and energy, and ideally should have a moment of suspension between the foot falls. The poll is at the highest point and nose on the vertical.

Passage: Passage is basically a highly elevated and extremely powerful trot. The horse is very collected and moves with great desire and energy. The passage is closely related to the working, medium, collected, and extended trot however differs in that the horse raises a diagonal pair high off the ground and suspends the leg for a longer period than seen in the other trot types. The poll is at the highest point and nose on the vertical.

THE PACES IN DETAIL

CANTERWorking canter: A horse in working canter must feel like it is working. It must have a strong canter rhythm, be in front of the leg, push from the hindquarters and use its whole body to move. Working canter is the foundation for all canter work and is usually found in Preliminary and Novice dressage levels.

Collected canter: Collected canter is developed from the working canter via well timed half halts. Collected canter must still have an energetic forward desire, and multiple half halts assist the horse to become lighter on the ground and more uphill through the shoulders. Collected canter is introduced in Elementary dressage and is required for all levels to Grand Prix. The frame of the horse is to be poll at the highest point and nose on the vertical.

Medium canter: Medium canter is a pace of moderate lengthening. It is the beginning of lengthened strides in canter and should be developed from collected and working canters. The horse should show a forward desire with energy and should clearly lengthen the stride to cover more ground. The horse shouldn’t hurry or lose rhythm and must remain in a good uphill balance with poll at the highest point and nose on the vertical.

Extended canter: Extended canter is when the horse increases the length of each stride to the greatest amount possible. The danger here is that the horse will lose balance and speed up. Half halts are used to balance the horse but a strong forward desire and high energy levels are required in a bigger slower canter stride. The poll is at the highest point and nose on the vertical.

Pirouette canter: Pirouette canter is the most collected form of canter. The muscle groups used are similar to those used in piaffe. The horse is collected to the point of almost cantering on the spot, and can properly execute a canter pirouette from this canter. The centre of gravity of the horse should be more towards the hind end, with the hindquarters slightly lowered and great bending of the joints in the hind legs. The front end of the horse is highly mobile, free and light with great flexion in the joints of the front legs. The poll is at the highest point and nose on the vertical.

As you can see, Pace Control is basic in structure but incredibly complex in practice. It is a multi-layered system of very simple aids that results in the complete control over the 3 basic gaits and their many variations. Usually at a dressage competition, the rider who has the best control over the frame and posture of the horse, the line and accuracy of the horse’s feet and footfalls, and the control over the paces of the horse, will usually win the test.

PACE CONTROL ACTIVITIES

1. Test if your horse is sufficiently in front of your leg

Higher level riders, don’t think that you’re off the hook with this one! Many higher level horses aren’t in front of the leg and this is something you’ll want to fix (or improve) as a priority in your training.

If you stop pushing/nudging/encouraging with your legs, what happens?

Test yourself. Ride around, let your legs off the horse – just relax your leg and see what your horse does, and they’ll tell you if they’re in front of your leg or not. And if they’re not, if the horse tries to stop the moment you relax, make the consequence known to the horse. So, when you touch the horse with your leg, make sure that the horse responds. And when the horse responds, relax your leg again. And that’s the results we’re after.

It’s really important that you’re clear with your horse – when they’re in front of your leg when you take the aids off, relax and let them go and reward them for going on their own.

Now, on the other hand, if the horse is running away and you can’t ask them to wait, and you can’t even get your legs near the horse, which is often the case with a thoroughbred or the horse that’s highly spirited, the most important thing there is to teach the actual halt reaction or the halt transition so the horse learns to wait and hold.

Some horses will get very nervous with this and some of them will get quite threatening – it really, really worries them because it’s against their natural instinct, which is to run. So, one of the things you can do there is to desensitise them a little bit with your leg, so wrap your legs around them and teach them to accept your legs. Now, that might drive them crazy, but if you turn onto a circle and just keep the horse coming round a circle and teach the horse to halt and wait and then walk off again, and with a nice hugging, not kicking, but just a hugging leg that almost works like a bit of a desensitising leg, you will then teach the horse to wait and accept your leg.

Accepting the leg is different to ignoring the leg, and it’s important that we identify what is the reaction we need to create in the horse. Do we need a more of a waiting reaction and accepting the leg? Or do we need more of a go reaction and understanding what happens when they come behind our leg? So, that’s what we needed to understand before when we talked about pace control, that we can keep the horse in the rhythm, which means the waiting to stay in the rhythm or going to stay in the rhythm, and then be in front of our leg, which means when we relax and stop riding, the horse just keeps going, and that’s important.

Try posting in the group a short video of a couple of half halts.

PACE CONTROL ACTIVITIES

2. Consider, experiment with and note your aids and the reactions they result in, for:

Halt to walk

Walk to trot

Trot to canter

Walk to canter

Halt to trot

Canter to halt

Canter to walk

Canter to trot

Trot to halt

Trot to walk

Walk to halt

More forward (energising) withinwalk, trot and canterHalf halt(s) in walk

Half halt(s) in trot

Half halt(s) in canter