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Hone your horse’s responsiveness with this super-simple exercise you can practise anywhere

Martha Terry Martha Terry

    • Improving your horse’s way of going doesn’t require a perfect arena or a strenuous workout – this halting exercise is an excellent example. You can make significant gains using simple transitions without ever moving faster than a walk. You can ride this flatwork exercise out hacking, in the field or in an arena.

    Aims

    • to improve your horse’s responsiveness
    • hone your horse’s walk-halt transitions, so you can perform them on demand with light aids
    • for the horse to understand that go means go, and stop means stop

    Setup

    No setup needed: You can practise this exercise in an arena, field or out hacking.

    Diagram of exercise for horse practising walk and halt.

    How to ride this exercise

    1. Once warmed up, establish an active walk. Choose a marker, whether it’s a letter in the school or a bush on a hack, where you will aim to halt.
    2. Sit up tall and reduce the amount your core and hips are following your horse’s back, then gently close your fingers around the rein to ask for halt.
    3. If the horse doesn’t stop within two strides, check your aids. Were they clear? Repeat and be black and white. As soon as your horse halts, release the rein and praise, with the voice or a stroke on the neck. How long it took to achieve the halt will give you feedback on how early you need to prepare next time, but your horse should become more responsive as you practise.
    4. Take a moment to assess the halt. Is it balanced? Is your horse square? Does your horse stand still when you release the reins?
    5. Ask your horse to move off in walk by giving a light leg aid. If he doesn’t react positively from first touch, immediately reapply the leg clearly. If he still doesn’t react, don’t nag, but give a stronger leg aid – it doesn’t matter if the horse trots off as long as he goes forwards. More refined seat and back aids can come later, but the horse can only interpret a limited amount of information, so start with the basics.
    6. Practise this exercise at regular intervals until your horse is responsive while remaining soft and in a good balance through both the upward and downward transitions. You can do it after four strides or after 40 – what matters is that the horse is listening and responding to your aids.

    Tips and troubleshooting

    1. It’s a conversation

    Give your horse a chance to understand what you’re asking him and try to make it enjoyable. When he tries, show him you appreciate his effort.

    2. Don’t fidget with your hand and leg

    Many riders never stop twittering with their hand and leg, so the horse learns to ignore them as he doesn’t understand what’s being asked. Ride with clear intent. Ask for a reaction and then leave your horse alone as a reward. Be decisive and have clear boundaries.

    3. Let your horse find his balance

    If your horse needs to put his head up initially to find his balance, let him. To start with, it’s about the legs: do they go, do they whoa?

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    Martha Terry
    Martha Terry

    H&H features editor
    Martha is an experienced journalist who is mad-keen on horses and dogs. Her reporting CV includes the Paris Olympics, European championships, Aachen World Equestrian Festival and World Cup finals. After growing up with assorted liver and white springer spaniels, she enjoyed 14 years with two rescue dogs. Now, her constant companion is Fidget, an extremely energetic and habitually muddy black and white springer. Martha has written on topics as diverse as a top horse’s clone to the best GPS trackers for dogs, as well as equestrian and rural matters for Country Life, The Field, The Times, The Spectator and The Telegraph alongside Horse & Hound.
    Martha Terry

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