In horse dressage, a half-pass in the canter is when the horse bends around the inside leg and goes sideways in the canter. Discover why half-passes shouldn't be rode too forward in the canter with helpful advice in this video on horse training and dressage.
So, I'm now going to perform what is called a half pass in the canter. Half pass is when the horse actually bends around your inside leg and goes sideways in the canter, so you want the horse to move sideways off your outside leg, be obedient, go over and it's very pretty to watch. I give those aids from my outside leg asking the horse to move away, my inside leg holding the bend and asking him to maintain the canter jump. This is performed in the collected canter, so you do not want to ride the half passes in the canter too forward, so I'm just going to circle here. And then go from a half pass from the long side here towards the center line. You can see that I start to ask for the bend, he moves nicely over, very obedient, I ride forward and then I'll do it once towards the camera to the right, that was a half pass left, now this is a half pass to the right. Again, setting him up, bending him, very good and then I go forward to a flying change which is riding a horse forward and then asking him to change his lead from the left lead canter to the right lead canter. Many different ways you can ride the half pass from the center line, from the long side. In a test situation, the half passes come very quickly where you have to move from the left to the right so you can alternate. Right at the half pass left, straight ahead, flying change, half pass right, straight ahead, flying change. One more time and a half pass right.
