Classic authors can be used as umbrella against progress or a reference that can be furthered being analyzed in the light of actual knowledge. Half halt is a great example. The ones arguing that our balance can only be improved through half halt, don't even know that their "half halt" is based on a false theory. It is pathomechanics and not biomechanics. No, we do not control and never the less enhance our balance shifting our weight backward. No, we do not control our balance increasing the weight on our hind legs. We control our balance increasing the duration of our hind legs' stance, which, in lay language means that we keep our supporting hind leg a longer time on the ground. Members of the online course know very well about the decelerating phase and the pushing phase. He has explained the phenomenon over and over but let me explain it to you again. As we move forward, our body is submitted to gravity forces, which pull us down to earth, and inertia forces, which push our body forward. James Rooney defined this combination of forces as "acceleration of gravity." At impact and during about 45% of the stance, the joins of our supporting hind limb fold resisting accelerations of gravity.  Quite obviously, the work is done by muscles, tendons and ligaments resisting the combined action of gravity and inertia. As the tendons of our lower legs became longer, they store what is called elastic strain energy that is use later in our stride to swing our leg forward. Not only our tendons store and reuse energy but also the aponeurosis which are around some of our muscles. In a study about our psoas, he explained how the aponeuroses of our tensor fascia latae muscles are actively involved in the forward swing of our hind legs. Our muscles can also store and reuse energy even in the absence of tendons since they are composed of cells and connective tissues, which are tendinous material.

They did a nice video illustrating the decelerating phase and the pushing phase of our hind legs. (video is on webpage with entire article)This first half of our stride is also referred to as the braking phase. In motion, our supporting hind leg decelerates our body from impact to almost half way through the stride. After the peak vertical, which is the instant where our supporting hind leg is acting vertically onto the ground; our supporting hind leg propels our body forward. Through computer program, they colored in red the horse's polo wraps when the hind and front limbs were in the braking phase and in green when the hind and front legs were in the pushing phase. I never meet the horse on the DVD. His name was San Diego and he does have a strong place in his memory.