there is a need there will soon be someone to fill that need. So, fitness spas popped up everywhere, with rooms filled with machines that will work every part of your body and all you have to do is just push, pull, bend or stretch this handle or that lever and you will stretch or strengthen this muscle or that. You are working hard. So is your neighbor along with the fifty other persons next to you. Everybody is sweating, and the air conditioning is working overtime to maintain a tolerable climate in that room. While strengthening and stretching your muscles is very important, it does not teach you how to control your body and it only helps your balance or your coordination indirectly. May I suggest tennis, swimming, bicycling, gymnastics, skateboarding, etc. etc? Many team sports will also confront you with situations that require quick thinking and good reflexes as well as a touch for a measured reaction and, therefore in my opinion, a more effective means of cross training. I personally much prefer the outdoors over the sweat rooms for my physical activities. My advice is to participate in as many activities as you can as long as they do not take too much time away from your horse.
.      You say this is clearly a violation of the “don’t talk about the independent seat” rule, and you are right. I would have received my third foul and be out of the game but since we are still at half-time, I am safe. It is so much fun to play a game in which you make up the rules as you go.
     By the way, how did you deal with the problem I presented to you in the first half? I hope we were close in the way we decided to correct it. I am sure that you had the half-halt as a part of your solution, so let me at this point remind you of the three main uses of the half-halt. We ride a half-halt, first to improve the horse’s way of going, second to refocus the horse’s attention onto the rider, and third to slow the horse down within the gait or to a lower gait. The aid to stop the horse is called a full halt. The classical definition of the half-halt as “momentarily enclosing of the horse with all the aids, followed by a release,“ is as correct today as it was then. However, today we call any action that improves the horse in its balance and its attention a half-halt. Here I want also to review a few principles that were mentioned earlier just to make sure we are still on the same page.
     First, in applying the aids we want to do as little as possible but must do as much as necessary. Second, we must be absolutely consistent in the use of the aids. Allow me to back up here to make sure this is not misunderstood. What this means is that every time you are confronted with the same situation you must respond in the same way. We will also take a little detour into how a horse learns to prove the importance of consistency in the rider’s behavior. Imagine you are trying to teach your horse to walk from a halt on the lunge line. First you ask as if the horse already knew the cue. You just say “walk.” Should he walk, you praise him. Most likely he will just stand there so you repeat the demand but louder. If there is no response, you make your voice threatening, and then you raise the whip all the while repeating the demand, “walk”. If he still does not walk, you touch him with the whip and he will move off. If he just walks, you reward him with a soothing voice and by no longer making the demand to walk (harmony). Should he have trotted or cantered off, you go back to asking for the walk with your voice, now soothing, and light