Flying changes

[Caz&Irena]

I'm trying to do flying changes on my horse by cantering figures of eight but she still stays on the same leg. What aids do you give? If we are doing a small jumping course then she changes leg automatically so it must be something I'm either doing or not doing! If anyone can help I would be very grateful:)

[cvb]

I guess the question is "what aids do you give over a jump to change lead?"

Can you ask for a specific lead of canter regardless of what rein you are on ?

I was thinking ahead for changes, and realised that I was in a bad habit of just asking for "canter please" not "left canter please". So how could I expect her to know that I wanted counter canter ? Or a lead change ?

We can also do walk-canter. So when we get brave enough we could do simple changes as a preparatory exercise to changes.

The other thing you can try is putting a pole down at the X of your figure 8. (Or even a small jump). Then do the same as you would over a jump. If you use an actual jump, gradually lower it til its on the floor. Then just take the pole away and use the same aids !

[baby_steps]

if you are asking for canter on the left rein then your inside (left) leg will be on the girth and your outside (right) leg should be slightly behind the girth. your horses head should be slightly flexed to the left so you can just see his inside eye. to ask for canter on the right leg you just have to change to position of your legs and get your horse flexing to the right. your right leg will now be on the girth and your left leg will be behind the girth. I can't really remember what way you shift your weight, but maybe someone else can answer that one. to start with you may want to make your turn sharp as this will make the horse unbalanced and it will probably do a flying change automatically so then it will get used to doing them and it will help them understand what the aids really mean. Well good luck, let us know how you get on.

[cvb]

on one of the western videos I have, the trainer actually adopts a really obvious counter-flexion as preparation for the change. This is partly for illustration and to get a clear signal to the horse. My concern about this is that you are building a "wiggle" into the change. Which may be ok for reining horses (couldn't say) but could well cause problems later in a dressage horse. i.e. if you use the bend as part of the aid, how do you then ask for a "straight" change ?

I've never (yet) trained a horse up to do this, and when I had the pleasure of sitting on a trained horse it was a very subtle shift of weight, almost just through the change of leg and hip without any extra emphasis - and away we went.... it was heaven !

But I have been doing the appropriate preparation work - counter canter, loops in canter, simple changes etc - with my mare.

[Lgd]

Two absolute don'ts for teaching changes:

Never throw your weight around or turn sharply to unbalance the horse

Never teach them over a pole unless you are only teaching it for jumping - this is because it teaches them to change in front before they change behind and it is very difficult to stop that once they do it. It is penalised VERY heavily in dressage tests.

Now after the dire warnings :rolleyes: how to do it properly.

The horse must be capable of a good balanced collected canter, in an outline as to do a true flying change they must spring off the hind leg.

The transitions from canter to walk and walk to canter must be well established and done in balance and self-carriage.

Then start by riding simple changes through walk (without trot) and gradually reduce the number of steps (steps not strides) until they can take only one step of walk before going off onto the new lead in canter. When they have the balance to do this well, the next step is to half halt and instead of asking for walk you ask for the new canter lead. The 'ask' should be just before the moment of suspension as the change happens during the 'off the floor' phase.

[Caz&Irena]

Thanks everybody!!:D

[cvb]

Lgd - thanks for explaining why NOT to use a pole. I'd never thought of that but have heard it advised ! Mind you, I've also heard someone say "give 'em a whack so they buck and then they'll land on the new lead" ! :eek:

[Caz&Irena]

Cor cvb that is one piece of advice I would definitely ignore. If I smacked my horse I would end up on the floor and she would probably do a perfect flying change as she side stepped over my head............!!:D

[cvb]

LOL - images of GP riders going across the diagonal going thwack thwack thwack thwack !;)

Have to say, was not particularly impressed with the "horsemanship" of that suggestion !:rolleyes:

[IrisSilverMoon]

Originally posted by cvb
on one of the western videos I have, the trainer actually adopts a really obvious counter-flexion as preparation for the change. This is partly for illustration and to get a clear signal to the horse. My concern about this is that you are building a "wiggle" into the change. Which may be ok for reining horses (couldn't say) but could well cause problems later in a dressage horse. i.e. if you use the bend as part of the aid, how do you then ask for a "straight" change ?



I"ve actually used that method before, it doesn't cause problems later on in flying changes either. What I did was do a canter serpentine, you do the turn and you keep turning a little bit before you ask for the change and change the bend and everything, the extra turn and bend frees up the outside shoulder so it can move and change easily. Its just making it easier for a horse that doesn't quite get it yet. Once a horse is balanced in his changes you can start refining your aids a little. Teaching them the shift in weight that YOU do to ask for the aid, not the horse. As with anything new you might have to overexaggerate it a bit before you can refine. Once the horse really understands the aids you can do changes on the straight no problem.

[cvb]

ISM - imagine you are on right hand circle in right rein. As you come across X you strongly position horse left i.e. bum to left and left flexion for 2-3 strides - and THEN ask for change....

I think what you described is a bit more subtle than this ! ;)

[Colorado Sunset]

I cant do them very well!! So im not the greatest person to give advise!! But to get your horse used to what your doing, and in teaching it, start by cantering on say the right rein. Change the rein across the diagonal, come back to walk for 3 strides, and pick up left canter from walk. Once you can do this happily, try with only 2 strides in between and then one. When this is perfect, your reactions and aids will be a lot quicker and your horse more responsive. Now you can try doing a flying change as the way the others have described!

Good luck,

Jo

[Caz&Irena]

Thank you Colarado Sunset, I'll give it a go over the weekend!