Thursday, July 30, 2009

How to do flying lead changes and changes over fences?

How can i get my horse to do flying lead changes and also over fences? I can never land with the right lead while jumping!
Answers:
Leads ok otherwise? The reason I ask is could there be a soundness/balance issue? Often horses are "one sided" (mostly because us riders are). It's just always a little more natural to be better in one direction. It helps to try and get a tiny bit of a bend over small jumps to practice and put your leg behind the girth a little and ask for that lead over the jump. (you know, right leg back for left lead...) I wouldn't over do it at first as you don't want to interfere with the horse's willingness to jump. Cantering over poles helps too just in an effort to maintain going over an obstacle and sticking to the proper lead after it. If it's a problem in a straight line you can try a few in a larger circle although to do this continuously would put added stress on the horses legs. Really you just have to try little things and be persistent and make sure that the horse is balanced in both directions at the canter. It will happen.
To land on the correct lead look the direction you are planning on going from the point that you turn to jump the fence and as you are in the air and landing. A large percentage of the weight is in your head, so the horse can feel when your head is turned and this automatically shifts your weight letting him know which lead to land on. If you are not successful with this you could try pulling the rein out to the side that you want to land on, this somewhat turns the horses head in the direction that you want to go.
When asking for lead changes on courses make sure you use the entire arena, ride straight after the fence and then turn, this will help keep the horse from ducking their shoulder and avoiding switching leads.
You mean you want your horse to change in mid air over the fence? Yikes. Sorry, can't help with that one.

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