HAVE A GO AT half-pass
Keen to dip your toe into the world of half-pass, but not sure where to start? While it’s easy to overcomplicate things, by keeping it simple you’ll make the movement far easier to crack
In this feature. . . Revisit the aids for travers and half-pass Troubleshoot common problems Boost his suppleness
Our expert
As told to Bethany Searby. Photos: Jon Stroud
Based at Pinfold Stables, Cheshire, Sarah Higgins is a Grand Prix dressage rider and trainer.
Our model
Fiddler (Felix) is owned by Sarah Higgins and Richard and Gill Davison. He’s 11 years old and currently competing at Prix St Georges.
Learning new dressage skills is a challenge that should always be fun. But with half-pass, it’s easy to get bogged down with the details. The movement is a feature of Medium tests and above, so you might picture dramatic leg crossing that you see in a steep-angled Grand Prix half-pass and feel that you need to replicate it.
Aiming to rival the elites won’t set you up for success but, whether or not you aim to perform a half-pass in competition, you can still unlock the next-level suppleness that half-pass brings by introducing it at home. By stripping back your expectations of half-pass and working towards it in stages, you’ll be sideways stepping in no time – and here’s how.
DID YOU KNOW?
Half-pass is essentially travers, also known as quarters-in, on a diagonal line.
Like leg-yield, half-pass is a sideways movement on a diagonal line that involves leg crossing