Lead Changes of Jumps

[Stephelia]

I'm working on getting my horse to land on the correct lead after a jump. My instructor has me pulling the inside reign and pressuring him w/ the outside leg while we are going over the jump. It seems to be working well, although he sometimes goes too far inside when we land (I'm new at this and I'm sure I am pulling the inside reign too hard).

Anyway.... I was watching another lesson with another instructor, and she was telling her student to put more weight in the stirrup of the lead that you want as you land.

I'm trying to get a full idea in my head of what exactly I am trying to ask of my horse. Does anybody have info re this? Is there one way that works better than the other?

Stephelia

[rache]

i have also been told to put your body weight on the side you want the horse leg to lead on.

[galadriel]

All the methods have the same goal: to have the horse land on the appropriate lead. In order to get him to land on the appropiate lead, he needs to know which way he's going after the fence and be ready to land with his body balanced such that it's easier to take that lead. There are several things that he needs to know, and there are several approaches to showing him what you want.

You can accomplish this by pushing him where you want him to go (leg and rein), or by causing his body to be balanced more in the direction you're going (weight on the stirrup), or, if your horse is sensitive enough, just by *looking* in the direction you want to go after the fence.

It will all tell the horse the same thing, it's just different ways to go about it. The horse's training may have some influence on it also; if the horse responds better to rein/leg aids, then by all means use them :) If he'd rather have an absolute minimum of aids, then use what works there too.

If you think you're pulling the inside rein too hard, you could try experimenting with just using your outside leg and maybe a tiny touch on the rein, and trying to see what works :) Every horse is individual; you'll understand each other after some experimentation.

[louisesj]

i prefer to put my weight in the stirrup of the leg i want the horse to land on, but when i first tried this with my mare, she really didn't get the idea so i had to really lean over and turn her head until she got the idea. i did it for so long with my wee pony that he soon got the idea and all i had to do was look at my next jump and he'd sort himself out.

As galadriel mentioned, you could try lots of different methods to see what suits best but eventually i think you should be aiming for the most subtle aids when asking the horse to land on a specific leg.

[IrisSilverMoon]

If I am doing a lot of direction changes I try to look in the direction I'm going to be going. It doesn't always get the change of rein, but a lot of the times it makes a big difference.

One excellent exercise to teach both you and your horse to get used to changes of direction is figure eight jumping with circles. you might have three jumps one right in the middle of what is supposed to be your figure eight and two others on either side of the ends of the eight (the extras aren't necessary though) this will cause your horse to jump on a slight curve, so If you are looking at where you want him to go and positioning your body that way it will be easier for him to know what lead to land on. you can use that same jump to change directions on the circle and eventually what should happen is that he'll start listening to your body movements and taking a cue from those as to which direction he's going to be turning after a fence. you in turn will be able to lear what is working and what is not...:)

[fair~filly]

I'm not a confident jumper, but if I look where I want to go my boy sorts out his legs :) . If I try & use the reins I hamper him & we end up in a right tangle, with him off balance.
F~Fxxx
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[amadeorider]

i was told to look at the next fence and start turning towards it as you are going over the one before. then the horse knows before he lands which way he is going to be turning too.