Rebalancing the halt

Here you will find a collection of short videos with a description on some tips when beginning to work with your horse in hand. This is a skill which for some people (like myself) can take some time to master, so be patient and kind with yourself, don’t be afraid to make mistakes and PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE (even if it’s for only for 5 minutes!)

Rebalancing the halt allows us to show the horse good posture, where the joints are stacked and the body is aligned. In this position they should find relaxation

Once we have alignment and balance, asking the horse for movement can be achieved with ease and confidence

If we ask the horse to continue when they are not balanced (falling on the chest, crooked etc.) our first few steps are less likely to be balanced, smooth and relaxed.

How to ask: once again it’s mainly down to your body position, keep your chin up, send you energy backwards and shift your weight onto your toes. Try to imagine you want to shift the horses’ chest and sternum up and back, like lifting the bow of a boat out of the water.

Do not look down and make yourself heavy, this will translate into the horse, the rebalance is a light and lifting motion.

If you need to add pressure on the halter ensure the head remains straight.

RELEASE the pressure as soon as the horse SHIFTS back.

If you release the pressure once they have stepped you’re too late.

The end goal is the horse is able to lift one leg and place it under them, not actually step backwards (but this will take time! So stepping back at the start is ok, we are building up to it being a smaller movement).

IF you want to add a voice cue make sure it’s DIFFERENT to your FORWARD cue. I see this all the time. I make a kissy sound but you can do whatever you want as long as it’s not clicking if you use that for forward.