Train for Western Riding

Lesson 2

Nancy Cahill

Copyright Ó 2009

Getting Started

Perfect flying lead changes evolve from a strong foundation of skills as one basic exercise builds on another.

I like to think of teaching the lead change as you would teach a child to read. Before you can teach a child to read a book, you’ve got to teach the ABCs, and then the formation of words, the meaning of punctuation and finally the understanding of sentences.

It’s the same with the horse. The ABCs for the horse learning to do flying lead changes are: collection, responding to leg and rein pressure, side passing and turning on the forehand and haunches. These are built on the basics of stopping and backing, and turning.

Put another way: you must develop control over every part of the horse’s body, and the horse must respond willingly. This takes time, repetition and patience. It also requires complete understanding on your part.

Understanding the Lead Change

Once you understand the fundamental processes of loping and lead changing, you can begin exercises that will teach both you and your horse the movements and control needed to perform flying lead changes.

So let’s begin by examining the processes. The lope is a three beat gait. To take a left lead, the horse begins the action with a short right hind foot (opposite from the lead) movement. This is the driving foot. The second beat is the left hind foot on a long stride and the right fore foot on a short stride, moving and hitting the ground together. The third beat is the left fore, or leading foot, moving by itself in a long stride. This is the lead leg.

As the rider you feel the contracting of the horse’s muscles on the driving side and the extension of the horse on the leading side. When the horse changes leads, the rider feels the change in contraction and extension.

Essentially, a lead change is simply the horse changing her driving action from one side to the other.

Lead changes can also be described in terms of feel, where the lead change is simply the transfer of the horse’s weight from one side to the other.

These actions, kept in mind, will help you learn to feel the lead change.

To help you understand the movements, take some time, and watch some horses lope. As you watch, identify each element. Notice how the weight and balance of the horse shifts as the lead changes. You must have a clear picture of this in your mind before you move on.

There are some critical basics you must master. Don’t be discouraged if you find you have to repeat these basics again and again. Repetition is good for a horse at any level.

The key basics you will need are stopping and backing, turning, collection, and moving off the leg. This lesson will focus on the first two of these.

Lead Change Basics

If you are starting a two-year-old, you will not be asking for a flying lead change for quite some time. But preparation for the change can still begin with the horse’s first lesson. It will take the form of building a foundation of control of every part of the horses’ body.

With an older horse, it will be a bit different. You must first evaluate the older horse to determine what and how well she has mastered the basics. You can do this by riding the older horse several times. You’ll soon learn if she skipped any of her primary work; if she has, you’ll have to go back and teach her the missing skills. This may seem like wasted time to you – but in fact, it is critical in your flying lead changing training since while you are teaching (or reviewing) the basics with your horse, she is giving you information about her ability.

Is she stiff? If so, you’ll work on exercises to make her more supple. Does she fail to perform one of the basics well? Now is the time to work on improving that basic. For example, does she stop easily without resistance when asked? Does she turn easily? If these basics are not firmly in place, you must start here in your flying lead changing education. Perfect these basics.

You may become a bit impatient with the delay of working on the flying change, but basics are essential to a good change, and in the long-run you’ll save time and avoid problems.

Stopping and Backing

The first basic I want you to perfect is the stop and back.

If the horse has this lesson repeated many times during a ride, the physical “pulling” of the reins to stop can be reduced to an invisible cue.  If you think of the best stopping horses, reining horses come to mind.  They sit on their hindquarters and walk with their front feet when asked to stop.  While a good stop doesn’t have to include a slide, if you picture the body position of the horse and rider in a reining stop, you get the idea of a correct body position for an ideal stop.

It takes three components to begin stopping and backing.  The universal word, “whoa”, your body English or position, and the physical pull on the horse’s mouth with the reins. The last one is what we want to disappear in order to get that invisible cue for the stop and back.

Now the key to a good stopping exercise is to not go very far each time before asking for a stop.  Start at a walk and only go four or five steps.  Say, “whoa”, drop your heels, and sit down on your pockets (the body English).  This will feel like you just softened your back.  Simultaneously, you pull back on the reins until the horse is backing.

Somewhere between going forward and backward is a stop that turned into a backup.

As the horse gets softer in the backup, your pull should lighten.  When you have backed up five or six steps, just sit and let your horse think about it.

Repeat the exercise until the horse anticipates that when you assume your stop body position and say “whoa”, she will stop and begin to back.  However, the horse won’t really know what you want for awhile, so repetition is very important. Be sure to be consistent and repeat the exercise often.

Once the horse begins to understand, you can perform the same exercise at a trot.  Remember, the key is not going very far between stops.  They just don’t remember for long.

When the horse understands the skill at a trot, try loping. Maybe go three to four strides before using your body English and saying “whoa”.  You can insert this drill into your ride anytime the horse fails to meet your expectations for stopping.  When the horse really begins to understand what you want her to do, you can stop her with your voice and your body alone, leaving the reins slack.

Turning

Another basic maneuver is turning on the haunches and on the forehand. The importance of these maneuvers can’t be over stated.

Establishing control of her shoulders and hips will be essential for a good lead change. You must be able to move each of these body parts separately. When you can move each piece by itself, then you can begin to combine the moves.

I will briefly review these maneuvers and some related exercises, but assume you already know how to do this.

The first exercise is a simple one that I repeat often. Combining my legs and hands, I teach the horse to turn on her haunches. Remember, this means that her front legs are crossing over each other while one hind leg is planted. She should keep her rear in place, moving only her front around her rear.

We are just making sure that we can move the horse's body parts independently from one another. This can be done at any time during your session – but don’t forget to always balance it up and go both directions.

If the horse is responding well, then do not dwell on it; move to something else.  You can come back to it later.  She is only expected to be somewhat better than yesterday.

Next I will teach her to turn on her forehand, using the same ideas as turning on her rear. This is actually easier for a horse to do.

Assignment:

1. Send me a brief note evaluating your horse’s basic skill levels.

2. Name the three (3) components to begin stopping and backing.

3. Load a short video to YouTube, PhotoBucket or another video hosting web site demonstrating your stop and back; send me the link to view the video.

Send your report and video link to: nancy.orders@gmail.com