left leg to control the left lateral biped, right leg to maintain the haunches straight and to change the lead from right to left, since we are now riding at left hand.
One should practice the half-volte several times in the simpler form before trying to add the half-passage, and should not attempt the latter movement until the figure is perfectly clear in the mind. But the ordinary half-volte is nothing more than the ordinary pirouette, taken at walk, trot, or gallop, and continued by the twelve steps of the half-passage with a change of lead.
THE REVERSED HALF-VOLTE
In the reversed half-volte, the horse travels over the same path as in the direct figure, but in the opposite direction. Thus, for the reversed half-volte, done at the right hand, a half-passage to the right of twelve steps takes the animal away from the wall of the manege. Then two changes of direction or a half-circle to the left complete the return to the wall with an about-face and a change of hand.
The means are, therefore, for the half-passage at walk or trot, the right diagonal effect—right rein, right leg near the girth, and the haunches pushed over to the right by the left leg behind the girth—with continuance of the same effect to produce the two changes of direction, until the horse is once more straight, but at the opposite hand.
