The Art of the Half Pass with Zoë Vorenas

This article is from the December 2020 Horse Deals magazine.

Zoë Vorenas is a Para-Equestrian Dressage rider based in Melbourne, Victoria. Zoë and her horse, Neversfelde Kipling, were named on the Equestrian Australia shortlist for Tokyo 2020, as well as the National High Performance squad and the Victorian State squad. Alongside her busy competition schedule and training, she coaches and trains out of the beautiful Trojan Park in Wonga Park, and has a keen interest in learning from others to help aid the development of her own riding.

The trot half pass has to be one of my favourite movements to ride. Set up and performed well, not much comes close to rivalling the feeling of gliding effortlessly across the arena… One image that always comes to mind when I think about the trot half pass, is that incredible photo of Lyndal Oatley and the talented Sandro Boy back in 2012. If you haven’t seen it before, do a quick google search. You won’t regret it.

So what is it?

The half pass in trot is a lateral movement performed in higher levels of dressage and demonstrates further development and improvement of a horses’ suppleness, cadence, balance and strength. In the half pass, the horse travels on a diagonal line, with the bend (nose to tail body bend) around the riders’ leg and in the same direction of travel. The horses’ body must remain nearly parallel with the long side whilst the shoulders remain slightly ahead of the hindquarters. The outside hind and foreleg will pass and cross in front of the inside legs.

It is often associated with competing at a higher level and perhaps feels unattainable to many riders.

I’ve had the privilege of working with some pretty incredible horses, horses that have been bred and trained for dressage who find the work easy. However, more importantly, I have been lucky enough to develop my skills and knowledge base on a massive range of horses and ponies, from eventers, pleasure horses, show jumpers, pony club horses, off the track horses and youngsters. Whilst some horses have had a more natural ability towards lateral work, it has been pivotal to my riding to have to adapt and develop new techniques and approaches for horses who find the work difficult for various reasons. One of these horses is one of my own, Minty. Minty is a horse that is naturally stiff through the body and joints. He can get tense and this shows in his work and movement. Consequently, he has had his struggles with the lateral work, from shoulder in, leg yielding, all the way up to the trot and canter half pass. However, Kip has been the polar opposite. Kipling is a horse who will easily fold himself in half, if you asked nicely. He is flexible, supple, bendy and reactive to the leg – all the best ingredients for the best half pass. No matter what horse you’re sitting on, and regardless as to whether you’d like to reach the half pass or not, I believe that all horses have the ability to complete and work through the steps towards the half pass. And, better yet, I believe they benefit from it!

Where to begin?

There are two movements that I feel are “pre-requisites” to beginning the half pass: the shoulder in and the travers. Why do I need to do these first, you may ask? Well, good question, and there are several answers to that. The simplest answer is that this is the first step to developing the strength and suppleness you’ll need in your horse to maintain a good half pass, and these movements will assist the rider in developing a feel for the outside rein connection and bend. However, once you begin with the half pass, there will be moments where you find that the hindquarters are trailing, or perhaps leading, and this is where we return back to movements such as the shoulder in and travers to correct these issues.

One thing I will say, is that if you have the chance to learn the feeling of these movements on a horse who is educated, whether you own an educated horse, or perhaps you can have a lesson on one, or convince your friend/coach to let you have a sit on their horse… do it. It will help you to grasp the movement without having the added difficulty of also having to teach your horse at the same time. However, if this is not possible, don’t panic! There’s more than one way to skin a cat, or I suppose, more than one way to learn and teach a half pass?

The Shoulder In

I could write a whole other article about the shoulder in, because it’s a difficult movement to perform well. In the shoulder in, we require the horse to bend through the body, with their hind limbs remaining on the track whilst the forehand comes slightly to the inside. They should travel at a 30 degree angle with their body and when viewed front on, they should be on three tracks: inside fore and outside hind travel separately on their own tracks whilst the inside hind and outside fore share the same track.

Common issues that occur with the shoulder in which later translate into difficulties with the half pass:

• Riders push the hindleg to the outside as they attempt to bring the shoulder in. This means that the horses’ body is lacking bend to the inside and will restrict the hindleg from stepping through nicely. A loss of rhythm and impulsion can be seen, as well as the feeling that the horse is “drifting” or even pushing the hindquarters out. You do not want to displace the hindquarters off the track to give the appearance of the shoulder being in front. Later, when you go into the half pass, this will result in hindquarters that often trail behind, a movement which lacks bend around the riders leg and does not have the cross over and elasticity that is desired. Test yourself and your horse and ride the shoulder in off the wall or even on a circle, that will quickly tell you what’s going wrong with the hind legs.

• Overuse of the inside rein to pull the horses’ shoulder off the wall and to the inside. Now this is a very, very common mistake that I see, and a very normal reaction to have when asked to bring the shoulders off the wall! Horses can have a few reactions to this issue. Mostly commonly, the horse will offer up a pretty impressive amount of flexion to the inside and give the illusion of the shoulder in. However, when viewed from the front, it’s easy to tell that the horse is still only on two tracks. The rider will generally lose contact or a good connection to the outside rein. You may even see the horse fall to the inside if the flexion and pressure on the inside is drastic enough, or if there is not enough support from the inside leg and outside rein. In the half pass, the overuse of the inside rein is common as riders attempt to lead or pull the horse across in the direction of travel. This will result in a horse that is overloading the leading forelimb and unable to achieve the freedom and reach through the hind limb due to being blocked.

The Travers

Travers is a movement where we require the horse to bend around our inside leg to a slightly greater angle than the shoulder in (35 degree angle). The forehand of the horse remains on the track and the hindquarters are moved in. It is a four-track movement where the bend remains in the direction of travel.

A common issue that occurs with the travers which later translate into difficulties with the half pass:

• Not enough bend through the body to the inside. This is very common, especially when you’re working with horses such as Minty who find bending through the body difficult.

When we start the half pass without having an established bend in the traver, it results in a half pass with the exact issue, and often ends in the hindquarters leading as the horse offers up too much angle and not enough bend! Bring them back to the walk, develop the bend and flexion from there and work up. Be mindful that you’re not asking for too much angle and that you’re training the traver in a small number of strides in the beginning – this is another strenuous exercise for them. “Reset” the horse with a volte to the inside to re-establish the bend and rhythm.

Putting it Together: The Half Pass

Oh, so you’ve made it. The holy grail, the pinnacle of lateral work: The half pass.

So you’ve gotten to the point where your horse is responsive to the leg aid, they are light in the contact, travel with rhythm and impulsion… Or at least, they seem to most (read: some) of the time.

You’ve got an established shoulder in, you have a consistent outside connection, good flexion through the gullet. Your horse is light in the inside rein and the inside hind swings through and under the body.

The travers is good and consistent, you can maintain the bend and not get too much angle. Again, your outside rein is well connected and you can feel that your horse has gotten stronger and more supple.

On second thoughts, ok maybe 50% of the time… but hey, you want to give it a crack anyway.

The half pass is ridden with the outside leg positioned behind the girth to influence the hindquarters, the outside rein maintains good connection as we want to use this to both keep your horse parallel but also move them in the direction of travel and the inside rein remains soft, light and flexible as we maintain the bend and flexion. So, the inside leg seems pointless, right? Nope! I have always referred to the inside leg as the pillar or post that you want to imagine wrapping your horse around in the bend. This imagery can be applied in all lateral movements, in fact!

With your seat, it’s easy to fall or slump into the outside in an effort to help “push” the horse across. Another very common mistake and one I’ve made often and still do (particularly if I’m tired!). Instead, I like to have the feeling of in fact stepping my weight into the inside stirrup and seat bone to assist the horse within the half pass and to help with those first steps away from the track or arena wall – it’s amazing how much our body weight can influence the direction of travel, right?

So how do I set it up?

Remember the whole “more than one way to skin a cat” thing? Yeah, here’s where it’s super important. Not every horse is the same and not every way of setting up and beginning the half pass is going to be right for your horse. But, here’s an idea of how I do it on my two.

Firstly, Minty. Mr. I-find-bending-difficult. After warming up and going through a lot of the traver/shoulder in, we start the half pass work. I’ll start by saying that your corner, before your half pass, is going to be an absolute telltale on how the half pass is going to pan out. No prep? No good. Better off doing a circle and going through that corner again. Set up and ride your corner! Use it to find that outside rein connection, develop that nice bend around that inside leg.

Ok, so let’s imagine I’ve just ridden the best corner you’ve ever seen in your life. 10/10, even Charlotte has called me asking for some pointers (a girl can dream, alright?!). For a horse like Minty, I can promise you now, if you set him up in the shoulder in position just before you leave the wall for the half pass, you’ll find his hindquarters trailing within the next five strides. Why? Because he finds bending difficult! So, I will set Minty up into what I call a baby travers. Perhaps not hitting that 35 degree angle, but I want to feel that I’ve got a good wrap and bend around my inside leg and a great connection to my outside rein. When I feel I have that great bend, good connection, I’ll move my outside leg slightly further back (and I mean slightly, because it’s already back for the travers position!), shift my weight into my inside stirrup to help positively influence the direction of travel, and with my rein, allow him to start to move away from the track.

Now, how do I set up the half pass for a horse that’s liked a piece of cooked spaghetti? A common issue I have with Kip is that he is too bendy and I accidentally ask too much of him, which results in his hindquarters taking the lead in the half pass. When this happens, I can feel it because he loses the rhythm and cadence – it’s extremely physically difficult for them to maintain the same pace if the hindquarters are leading! This is exactly what would happen if I set up Kip’s half pass the same way I do for Minty. So instead, after I’ve ridden my 10/10 corner, I’ll start Kip in a few steps of shoulder in, that way I’m sure that the forehand is leading right from the start. It doesn’t take much to move him into the half pass as he is pretty sensitive, so I’ll shift my weight to the inside, make sure my rein allows him to travel along that diagonal direction and keep my outside leg light to avoid pushing the hindquarters ahead of the forehand.

On a horse that is new to the half pass, like with any movement you’ve trained to this point: less is more. If you get one or two great steps, reward, turn off and then try again for another one or two steps.

A few pointers:

• If the hindquarters start to lead all of a sudden, don’t be afraid to ride back into the shoulder in on a straight line for a few strides, get the forehand leading and then step across again into the half pass. You may even find it useful to set up in shoulder in, do two strides in half pass, two strides straight again in shoulder in, two strides half pass and so on, until you have good control and feeling for maintaining the positioning.

• If the hindquarters trail, try the above but swap the shoulder in for the travers. If you’re still losing the hindquarter quickly and easily, then you may need to go back into the shoulder in and traver work to re-establish that connection to the outside rein, as well as to go over the bend to the inside. This happens a lot with horses who find the lateral work/bending more difficult.

• If you’re losing the impulsion, rhythm or cadence, or your horse is just struggling to move across, make sure you’re not asking for a half pass on too steep of an angle. Again, this is a movement that applies lot of force on the horse’s body, particularly the legs and tendons, so you must be sure that the horse is physically up to beginning this work.

• If your horse falls onto the inside rein in the half pass and seems to have more across movement and loses the forward steps, try a couple of half pass steps, followed by a leg yield back the way you came and repeat. This will help to put the horse back into the outside rein and bring the shoulder upright.

I’ve rambled on a bit here, I know, but I think that the shoulder in and travers are such useful exercises and that dressage is something that should be accessible to everyone. Have fun, enjoy your training and don’t be too hard on yourself or your horse when learning something new. Learning is meant to be messy, if we were always perfect at everything we did, life would be rather boring indeed! Welcome the mistakes and see them as an opportunity to learn.

Photos: Catt Vingerhoets.

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