"Yes, those hind legs" and the need for making a deposit

Remy was a gem in my lesson, we were able to start where we had left off. He was nicely forward, and I could feel a real push from behind. It prompted Judy to exclaim "Yes, THOSE hind legs, you found them!". Yay, finally! It means that Remy is working over his back, carrying more weight behind. One of the main aims when training a horse.

The other "aha" moment had to do with half-halts. You can't do a correct half-halt if the horse is not in front of your leg. As Judy put it: "It's like the bank, you have to put a deposit in before you can withdraw" (Well, Jude, unless I go to a loan shark, but that's a different idea -- or perhaps not, the humongous penalty would correlate to driving the horse on the forehand).

So, the idea of putting a deposit down  (having Remy nicely in front of my leg) before I make a withdrawal (half-halt)  made perfect sense. It  allowed me to use the half-halt as re-balancing aid, and voila, we were centered.

Banking and Riding 101: Don't spend more than you have!