The Half Pass: A Simple Trick

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As a dressage rider and trainer, the 1/2 pass can be one of the most complicated and awkward movements for the horse and rider to learn and understand. In a half pass, the horse is bending and looking in the direction where they are moving towards and this makes things complicated. In a leg yield the flexion and leg aids are on the same side of the horse (for a leg yield right its left leg, left flexion). In a 1/2 pass, the rider applies diagonal aids. For example in a left 1/2 pass, the right leg pushes the horse over while the left rein and left leg are keeping the horse bending to the left. Coordinating all of these aids and keeping the horse bending in the body is very complicated!

It’s important to break things into pieces for the horse and the rider to properly understand how to ride a half pass. For a lot of riders, it is very helpful to think of the half pass simply as haunches-in on a diagonal line. Before starting the half pass, the horse and rider must master the concept of the haunches-in. Once the concept of the haunches-in is understood, the half pass is just haunches-in on a diagonal. The only difference between haunches-in and half pass is that the rider must control the placement of the shoulder in the half pass where as in the haunches-in the rail helps to control the placement of the shoulder.

It is so important in the half pass that the rider stays sitting on the inside seat bone! This is one of the biggest mistakes that I see riders make and it is so important that the rider stays on the inside seat bone so that they are over the horses center of gravity and helping the horse to move sideways in the half pass. If the rider gets to the outside in the half pass, the horse has to lift the rider up and over and this makes it much harder for the horse!

Hope you enjoy this week’s video tutorial! Stay tuned for some footage from the show in Wellington coming this weekend!

Happy Riding!
Amelia