Train for Western Riding

Nancy Cahill

Copyright Ó 2009

Lesson 1

In this course I will explain the things you as a rider and trainer need to know in order to teach the skills your horse must master.

I will start with the basic knowledge and skills necessary before you move to the high level maneuver, the lead change.

The three most important components of the lead change are forward motion, elevation and lateral motion. We will talk in detail about these components: how to teach them, how to achieve them, how to perfect them and, finally, how to trouble-shoot them. With the education of these three most important skills and a lot of practice, the lead change can be taught to any horse in a quiet and repetitive manner. So let’s get started.

When you were a child, riding a stick horse or just pretending to ride a horse, as you loped along you had a leading leg. Well, riding a real horse and doing a flying lead change is just as easy as it was when you were changing leads on the stick horse. First you were leading with the left leg, and then easily and smoothly you were leading with the right leg.

For me, the lead change is really just transferring the horse’s weight from one side to the other. It’s as easy as that if you have three elements in place —forward motion, elevation and lateral movement.

The flying change of leads is not difficult, but it requires careful preparation—the advanced, high-level maneuver depends on successfully learned and applied elementary education of both rider and horse. Think of the smooth, cadenced, reliable lead change as a college-level skill. To prepare for college courses, you first master elementary and then high school basics. It’s the same with training the horse for the competitive class Western Riding. Whether you are starting a two-year-old or re-schooling an older horse, the basics (elementary education) come first.

I am going to assume you and your horse have these basics in place. (If you haven’t already done so, you should complete the required course Training Performance Horses before you begin this course.)

The basics include stopping easily and smoothly, moving from side to side easily, turning quietly, taking a lead on command and moving in an easy and relaxed manner in all three gaits. Then you can begin the process of mastering the foundational elements of our college-level skill, practicing and increasing the level of difficulty until you ultimately master the new skill.

This course will take you and your horse through the steps required to teach your horse to perform a smooth, effortless, relaxed flying lead change. Whether your goal is to perform a change for competitive Western Riding classes, Horsemanship or Equitation classes, jumping, or simply for fun, this course will help you achieve your goal.

We start by learning the underlying concepts of how the horse moves, how this affects the lead change and the movements required before starting to teach the flying change. Next you will learn specific exercises that will give you control of every part of your horses’ body. Then I will take you through your first attempts at a lead change, and help you recognize how to perfect the maneuver. Finally, you will learn some of the problems that may develop, what to do about them and how to actually complete a class such as Western Riding that has multiple lead changes.

The time it takes to teach a flying change depends on many factors, including your understand and experience, and your horses’ natural abilities and level of training. In general, the best advice I can give is not to rush this program. Make sure you and your horse master each concept and exercise before moving to the next. In this way, you will achieve a great “change” and a happy horse.

Talent and Ability

Luckily lead changes are a natural movement for all horses. Without a rider, the horse makes the lead change effortlessly. After all, she’s been doing it since she was hours old.

That means you are not teaching her to do something she doesn’t already do naturally. You are merely teaching her to do it on command.

This is easier said than done.

When you add a rider who wants the lead change to be done in a particular spot, at a particular speed and time, you have the makings of a complicated, advanced maneuver. The horse also has to deal with the rider’s added weight. This is the challenge.

What about the talent level of your horse? Can any horse learn to do flying lead changes? Yes! While all horses can do flying lead changes, not all will excel in competition, as the quality of the lead change will vary with each horse’s ability. Like any other skill in the horse world, each horse can do things that come naturally such as trotting, loping, or changing leads. However, talent and athletic ability do let some horses perform some skills better than others. The same is true of flying lead changes. If you have a “natural” with a good, cadenced lope, then teaching the flying lead change will be easy and you will likely end up with a nice lead changer.

While the “natural” may argue a little with you or fuss in the beginning because she is confused or unsure what you are asking, ultimately achieving the goal will be a snap. Unfortunately, “naturals” are somewhat scarce (although we are breeding many more these days) and if you don’t have one, you’ll have to evaluate what you’ve got and work with it. The idea here is that you want to help your horse to reach her potential, and perform the best lead change she is capable of performing. Again, while all horses can do lead changes, not all will excel in competition.

My favorite illustration of this point is that you certainly could not make a ballerina out of me.  I don’t have the conformation for it. Even if I had started training as a small child, I have little talent for dance. No matter how hard I tried, I would not succeed at the same level as a person with natural dance talent and predisposition. But that doesn’t mean I don’t like to dance, or that I can’t learn ballet. Just don’t expect me to be a prima ballerina!

It is the same with a horse. So first, be sure to evaluate your horse’s mental and physical abilities. Then decide how far she can go, what her best effort will look like, and aim for that in your flying lead change training. You might take a minute to take this same look at yourself, and to have realistic expectations of yourself also as a flying lead change rider.

My Teaching Philosophy

As you have likely learned by now, there is more than one way to teach a horse something new. This is complicated by the fact that, like ourselves, our horses are all different, unique, and yet the same. With respect to teaching flying lead changes, while we are all seeking the same goal of teaching a great change, we often must take different paths. Because of the uniqueness of different people and horses and training methods, over time I have developed a variety of tools and methods for teaching flying lead changes. Some work better with some horses and riders than with others; only you can discover which work best for you and your horse.

But all of my methods are based on some foundational beliefs I have about training horses. I will share some of these with you as our first step as they form the framework of this course, and in order to understand my training methods, you must also understand my teaching philosophy.

Underlying all of my methods is the concept of consistency. It is paramount that you stay consistent with what you are trying to achieve and how you are interacting with the horse.  You can't ask for a maneuver one way on Tuesday, and then ask in a completely different way on Wednesday.

If you must change your training cues, the horse must be given a chance to learn the new communication. Constantly changing the methods, cues or communication is not consistent. Keep in mind the concept of consistency as you read the rest of my key philosophies – each must be used consistently.

An important part of my philosophy is to believe when teaching something new, it only takes 51% success to for me to win (that is, declare success).  I don’t need 100% to be successful. Let me say that again – 51% compliance with my lesson is a win – 100% is not even in my sights. So if I am teaching a new maneuver and I get 51% of that maneuver, then I have won for that day and I consider the lesson successful. My hope is that maybe tomorrow I’ll get 52%, which I would consider another win and definite progress.  However, I may stay at 51% for some time – in which case, I consider it practicing – another win.

World re-known trainer Dick Pieper agrees with this philosophy, and often points out that if you can make a horse 1% better each day, it would only take 100 days to train him. Considering how long it takes to train a horse anything, Pieper’s statement makes it easy to understand why even small accomplishments are so important in the long run. So when you succeed in getting just a little bit of improvement from your horse, quit for the day or simply go on to something else such as a different exercise. In this way, your horse will learn what you want. Consistency is not “drilling” the horse. You don’t want a training session to develop in a battle over the thing you are trying teach. Avoiding battles keeps you moving forward, which is ultimately the goal.

When teaching a horse something new, I always offer the horse a choice, no matter what exercise I am teaching. If the horse chooses the easy way, which is what I want, then she has chosen my way. If the horse chooses not to comply with my request, then she has chosen the hard way—the way with more work for her. Providing an option is an excellent way to give the horse an out and let them learn the consequences of their choice.

For example, if a horse won’t move off my right leg, I’ll make her work harder by turning quickly on the forehand to the left. Then I’ll stop and ask her to move off my right leg again; that’s the easy way. When she takes one step to the left, moving away from my leg, I will immediately move on and she will recognize she choose the easy thing to do. For me, that’s 51 per cent, and I’ll build on the one step she gave me.

When I correct a horse, I get in and get out quickly. Some horses you can kick barefooted and it scares them, while others need some aggressive leg and a good spur. Either way, make the correction and then move on. One cautionary note: if it takes a spur, that’s fine, but it must be used with discretion and education. Use the spur only to the degree necessary to get the desired response, and then quit.  Do not use it to inflict pain or punish. If you are not experienced with spurs, it is better to use either very dull ones or none at all.

After I have corrected the horse, I sit quietly on her and let her think about what just happened. By doing this, I am giving her time to figure out that in responding to my request, she has found the easy way of doing things and now gets to rest and relax. This might be one of the hardest things for you to learn to do, and you may make mistakes. But just keep thinking when you are correcting a horse – is it time to let go? Can I take that little response as positive and quit now? By thinking this way, you will master this technique.

One of my favorite sayings is, “I’m going to cut one more cow.” I laugh about it because it is a temptation we all have. That is, when a horse is working really well for us, we want to do the exercise “just one more time.” Maybe we do that to assure ourselves that the horse really “has it.” Or perhaps we do it just once more because it is such a reward to us that the horse finally did it correctly and we want to see if that was chance or true learning. The problem is that usually when you do just “one more lead change,” that’s when everything falls apart. Your first thought will be “I wish I had quit while I was ahead.” So do that - quit on a good note. Don’t do one more lead change.

If your horse did the change just 51 per cent correct, quit. She’ll be happier and you’ll happier today and tomorrow. An added benefit is that she has been rewarded for doing what you wanted, to some degree, which will help her to learn “the easy way” and to maybe try harder next time.

We are all so busy these days. I expect you have run into the situation that you are riding on a very regular basis, your horse is learning a bit more every day, and then you can’t ride for several days or a week. Perhaps the weather is not conducive, or you have to travel. I have a training philosophy I use in that situation.

When training a horse, I try to put plenty of pressure on her right before I won’t be able to ride for awhile. Maybe I am going to a horse show – but I am not taking her. So she will be at home and her lessons with me are interrupted. However, I have found that those few days that I’m gone serve a good purpose…they allow her mind time to rest and reflect. Then when I return to the lessons with her, she is fresh, over any anxiety or nervousness about learning the new skill, and often she makes a significant leap in her learning. In this way you can use times that you cannot ride to your advantage.

Finally, I always work to establish trust with a horse. Trust is essential to teaching. It is particularly important with teaching lead changes. Here I really want that horse trusting me before I ask for a complicated maneuver. You build trust by not violating the natural desire a horse has to trust you (herd instinct). One way to do this is to show a horse something that is new to her, something she might fear, and then take the time to let the horse use her senses to touch it, smell it, see it, hear it and taste it. For example, it is okay for the horse to take several minutes to smell the log you want her to cross. It’s okay if she wants to bite it. This is like a baby putting things in her mouth – it is a way to know something. By being the horse’s protector and partner in this process, by not pushing or shoving or forcing her, but being there as a comfort and support, you build trust.

You are also developing trust by just staying with her and proving that what you are asking is okay. The horse will begin to trust that you won’t allow her to be hurt or put into a dangerous position. Later, the horse may still have a fear of the object or activity, but her trust in you will translate into her expectation that you will not put her in danger. So she will take your lead in how to react. However, one caveat – trust that is built and then lost is extremely hard to rebuild.

So never betray her trust after you build it. If you lose your temper one time, that betrayal can ruin 10 days of work in 10 seconds.

In summary, having realistic expectations for individual horses, providing them with choices, making a correction and moving on, quitting while you are ahead, having a systematic program for correcting her, and earning her trust are essential foundations to my method of teaching the flying lead change. And remember, everyone needs a vacation, even your horse!

Get Ready!

Don’t expect to read this course once and understand all there is to lead changes. They are difficult to do, and difficult to explain. So if you’ve got questions or problems, e-mail me nancy.orders@gmail.com. Lead changes are a maneuver you’ll have to work on to master, in part because timing is so critical. But once you master them, you’ll be able to perform them on any horse you ride. And we will master them!

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