Half passes vs. leg yields, reclarified

Remember how stuck I get on the half pass vs. leg yield issue? I think I have my brain wrapped around it now.

Watch this video (sorry, can’t embed it here—you’ll have to see it via YouTube).

Notice how much collection and impulsion the horse has. Also notice they are doing a shoulder in to the half pass—by the end of the video, it’s a five meter circle to the shoulder in to the half pass. Look at how much reach the outside hind has to have, and how it’s the outside hind pushing the horse forward and sideways, not that the horse is dragged towards the wall by his shoulders. Even for a horse with less extravagant movement, you can see that the horse would have to be collected and pushing from behind to do this movement.

So now I can understand the progression. One of the first lateral moves you teach to horses and riders is the leg yield, because you don’t have to worry about collection. You’re establishing the idea that it’s possible to move both forward and sideways. Then you refine that with the shoulder in and renvers, where you’re moving part of the horse’s body laterally (vs. the whole body movement of the leg yield). But for a shoulder in to really work, you also have to teach a degree of collection—the horse has to rock back on his hind end and push from behind, otherwise you’re just yanking his shoulders off the rail with the rein and you’re not going anywhere. And then—well, you can see in the video that they use the shoulder in to establish the correct bend, and then ask for sideways movement as well as forward movement in the half pass. To get that movement, you need an even greater degree of collection.

So that last post I had on this issue, about the bend of the horse, isn’t quite right. It’s not the bend in and of itself that makes the half pass more difficult—it’s the degree of collection required. Watch some YouTube videos of leg yields, and then watch some of the half pass. I found it especially helpful to watch the outside hind. There’s a significant, obvious difference in the degree of strength and engagement required for the half pass, and that’s going to come from the horse being able to collect.

I asked about the leg yield vs. half pass in my lesson today, and we ended up working on them for the whole lesson. Then I came home and watched YouTube videos. Amazing how that helps clarify things.