We are doing it already !! So happy with this chap. He came just over a year ago with no muscle tone, an upside down neck, very weak quarters and a back that had no muscle nor desire to be lifted. Okey was in a bit of a mess, physically and mentally.
The school halt it is an exercise to explain the horses that we want them to bend the haunches and to flex the hocks.
Little by little I taught Okey to shift his weight back into his quarters, making sure he was equally putting the same weight on both hind legs.
This is my second training lesson on the school halt with him and it looks very promising already. Who would imagine this was unruly and menacing stallion just a year back.
Some people train the school halt from a very short/collected trot or from the piaffe, but I rather do it from a good square halt, at least on Okey’s case.
The magic of the school halt is that, if you prepare the horse properly by giving it time to develop its flexibility on the hocks and strength on the quarters, then it becomes natural for the horse to give it to you.
When the horse shifts the weight correctly on the hindquarters and has the right bend and flexion, then the chest rotates up, and the inside front leg lifts up naturally, and voilà, you have a school halt.
My aids are quite exaggerated in this demo, but the more you involve yourself in the movement, the more the horse involves himself, I find.
With time and practise only my thought will be enough for Okey to read it and execute it.
The school halt is mostly used as a preparation for the levade and to further the strengthening and the flexibility of the horse.
I just love the way he thrives working for me, and of course, the treats!
