Flying Lead Changes

[horselover]

Does anyone have any input on doing a flying lead change? I have never done one before(any horse I have ridden that has done one has done it on their own with no cue from me). I am going to be showing this summer in flat and jumping classes, and I need to be able to do one for the adult jumping classes.

Rascal, the horse I ride for lessons, has never done a flying change before either. He will change lead over a fence- we worked on that his past summer. At my lesson today, my instructor had me try it, but he Rascal always came back to a few trot steps before changing. My trainer is going to get her friend(who is really good with this, I guess) to come and help me, but I still would kinda like to have an idea of what I am doing.

Does anyone have any tips they could give me? I know basically how to do it now, the problem is actually doing it.

Thanks!!! =)

[Maci]

I can't really help you with the actual lead change, but I do know that it is hard for a horse to do one, unless your canter is completely balanced and rythmical. Keep your canter equally balanced and your hands steady before you give the cues for one. Sit up tall and stay calm, because they give you quite a jolt!

Good Luck!
Maci :)

[Showjumper]

If Rascal does flying changes over jumps, why not teach him to do it on the flat using this method: place a jump pole diagonally at the centre of the arena flat on the floor. Canter a circle in one direction, and when you reach the centre of the school, ask for canter on the opposite rein. Rascal should perform a little hop over the pole and that will be the flying change! I had drawn a little diagram in Paintbrush but it wouldn't post!

[horselover]

I will try both of your suggestions at my next lesson!! They sound like really good ideas, and maybe if I work on balancing his canter and then going over a ground pole, we can get it.

Thanks again!! :)

[Sarah]

hello!

Just to add to Showjumpers reply...

before you get to the pole, ask for the horse to bend the other way (ie the way he would need to bend for the circle he is about to do, not the one he is on). As he goes over the pole, just switch your aids, ie go from left canter aids to right canter aids and hopefully, if he was in a well balanced, collected canter, he should change.

good luck

[Anna**]

What is a flying lead change??

sorry to sound silly but I just don't know.

[horselover]

As I just learned when i asked a question here a couple days ago, no question is a stupid question :)

it's when the horse changes his canter leads from left to right or from right to left without coming back to the trot. If the horse, for example, is cantering to the right, he is reaching out further with his right legs than his left. A flying lead change here would mena the horse would start reaching out with is left legs. This is a more advanced way of changing leads. The simple lead change is when you bring the horse back to a trot before asking him to change leads.

[horselover]

I practiced trying to do some lead changes 2 weeks ago, and we couldn't get them. But it was at the end of my lesson, and we were pretty pooped by then. Decided to try them again later.

At my lesson on saturday, which was pretty bad, but had one good thing- rascal did a flying lead change! Unfortuantely, he did it without a cue from me, so now we have to work on that aspect. I was coming around a corner after a jump, and trying to bring him down to the trot b/c he was on the wrong lead. All of a sudden my trianer statted yelling to me "NO don't stop him- he's almost got it!" And he did it! I was ptound of him, and he knew he did something- he lifted his feet higher and kinda tossed his head and picked up the pace like he was saying "WHOOPEE I did something neat! Don't know what or how but WHOOPEE!" :)

[floppy]

my brothers girlfriends mum has a wonderful dressage horse keeps her horse in a top class riding establishment in turkey (i use to live there) anyway i went ridign once with my brothers girlfriend (she also has a horse) and she gave me her mums horse to ride and told me she was excellant at flying lead changes...so she told me to basically canter straight down the middle of the arena ina straight line and ask for the opposite lead and i did a couple down the middle of the arena and it was the most comfortable..smoothiest transition ever..i love them! but i havent been able to do them since..due to nto bneing asked to do it :) .i might also add that the arena we were riding in was a VERY big show jumping arena..minus the jumps that were being painted that day.
and if you got a good seat i dont think it jolts you so much...i think also it depends on the horses smoothness in canter as well..btu ti was wonderful...

[Lottie]

Hi Horselover,
I am mainly a dressage rider and can give you some exercises to help teach changes.
1. Ride on a straight line in trot and ask for canter sometimes for left lead sometimes right. This gets the horse to be obedient to the aids.
2. Ride across the diagonal in canter, trot through x then canter onto other leg. You must be able to keep straight,
the contact remaining soft and keeping your body controlled.
3.Working on counter canter will improve the quality of the canter and improve balance. Don't think that this work will discourage the horse to change when wanted. If you improve the canter, the horse will be more willing to change when asked because of better balance and confidence.
I wouldn't rush this training, it is very easy to knock the horse's confidence and then the horse stops trying. If you and your horse can do all these things effortlessly and in a calm manner then you can progress on to teaching a change with confidence and peace of mind.

[horselover]

I will try your suggestions as soon as I can. Rascal and I are getting ready for a show in a month, so we are not really worrying about flying lead changes too much at the moment- we already have enough to worry about. But we have been trying them at least once in every lesson.

Your suggestions might help him learn to pick it up quicker. Last night, I got him to change, but we had to canter in a circle a couple times on the wrong lead before he finally changed first on the front, then the back. The last time we tried it,he changed it up immediately. But I think that your suggestions will help him learn it better.

Thanks!!