The Halfway and Shortest Path rules.

The Halfway Rule:

The halfway rule is one of the most important rules in flower dressage. It is really a very simple rule, but sometimes can be tricky to execute, depending on the pattern given.

It states that the pony, when executing a pattern, must walk at least half a circle around a letter before being allowed to move on to the next.

Although it's simple to explain, it can be confusing sometimes, because the large circles on a flower field have *seven* different "entry points", and sometimes they can be a bit difficult to spot. The smaller circles don't suffer from this issue, because they have only two entry points, and it's way more obvious to see when you perform a halfway around them.

One thing to notice is: avoid the center unless it's absolutely necessary to use it. if you are walking around a circle, keep going around it until you complete halfway and can move to the next one.
Video example: A-C-E

 A-C-E

An illustration on the entry/exit points of a large circle is displayed below, to help you visualize when you complete halfway around it.

Every colored dot displayed here have a matching color pair. Every pair indicates a possible entry point, and it's matching exiting point where the halfway will be complete. Except for the red one (there is no possible way to enter "G" from the outer border), all others will often be used.

Video examples:
                                        

 AxB-C-D

 

The Halfway Rule applies on C.
Note that the entry point on C is where C touches A.

                                         

DxE-CxB

Again, the Halfway Rule applies on C.
This time, the entry point on C is where C touches the outer line of the field (outer cyan dot in the illustration).

                                       

  CxDxE-G

The Halfway Rule applies on E.
The entry point on E is where E touches the outer line of the field.

ExF-GxH

The Halfway Rule applies on G.
The entry point on G is where G touches E. 

 

The shortest path/center circle rules:

These rules are deeply connected, and may cause some confusion among ponies. One can say that the shortest path is an exception to the center circle rule (you can understand it like that, but technically that's not what exactly happens). Let's try do detail this.

The main thing to keep in mind is: avoid walking around the center circle, unless there is no other possible way to execute a pattern. When you can't avoid it, you must always walk *around* the center circle in a clockwise direction. For example, in the AxA pattern, which you can check on the video. That's the reason the center circle rule is the last on the hierarchy of rules. It's your last resource.

AxA

However, there are cases you will take a "shortcut", so to avoid the center circle, and that can give the *impression* you are going counter-clockwise in the center. Such a case can be noted in the B-H or BxH video examples.

B-H

BxH

What happens in these examples is that you are actually using a small section of "A" to make your way through, and you are just touching the center briefly, and not really walking around it.

I hope you enjoyed this content. See you next time. 

Curtsies and whinnies!