Flying lead changes????

[Winston]

#ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#Ok I'm trying to learn/teach my little goof ball how to do a flying lead change.  Any suggestions????#ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl#

[xena_n_joss]

#ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#there was a post on this awhile ago.. I will try and find it, it had lots of good advice in it. #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl#

[Winston]

#ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#Thats awesome thanks I really appreciate it!!!!!!!!!!!#ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl#

[Andy]

#ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#Here's a few sites #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl# #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#A href="http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/10631/61486"#ed_cl#http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/10631/61486#ed_op#/A#ed_cl##ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#A href="http://www.mindspring.com/~jonknop/horse/039704.htm"#ed_cl#http://www.mindspring.com/~jonknop/horse/039704.htm#ed_op#/A#ed_cl##ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#A href="http://pets.preferredconsumer.com/horse/training/flying_lead_changes.html"#ed_cl#http://pets.preferredconsumer.com/horse/training/flying_lead_changes.html#ed_op#/A#ed_cl##ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl#

[Winston]

#ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#This is awesome thanks Andy!!!!!!!!!!!#ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl#

[Keetee]

How is your counter canter, collection-lenthen-collection transitions
and simple changes (through walk)?  To do correct changes where
they change from back to front, your canter needs to be straight,
balanced and strong and those three exercises are a good measure of
when your horse is ready.  I am certainly not an expert on
teaching them but I have found, in my limited experience, that when the
canter is strong enough, you will be able to collect the canter to a
point where you feel like they will switch with just a switch of your
weight.  When they get to that point you can switch your weight
and generally get a change BUT you have to be careful that they change
and stay straight instead of swinging their hind end.  If you are
just learning how to do them, it would be best to get a professional to
help you since if you teach them to change crooked, it is hard to get
them out of it.

[xena_n_joss]

#ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#sorry winston, I couldnt find the post... I think it got lost when EC was hacked into.. #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl#

[graciespook]

#ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#When we teach the young hunters to do lead changes, they must be ready for it. You'll notice when changing direction, some of them naturally want to do it! #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl# #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#I start on the diagonal. Simple lead changes, and as someone mentioned above, strong canter (not galloping, but if you get a horse slow and behind the leg, theres no chance). A horse also does much better being light on the forehand. #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl# #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#The biggest mistake people make is galloping them through it or leaning in the direction they want to pick up the lead and pulling on the reins. It won't work. You'll never have nice lead changes. #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl# #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#Lets pretend I'm cantering on my left lead going to my right. I will canter across the diagonal and ask by shifting my weight (usually carrying more weight) in my outside or left stirrup. I will keep my outside leg also slightly behind the girth to support the hind end. I hold my outside rein steady keeping them straight, my inside rein nice and soft and my inside leg at the girth. You HAVE to keep the inside light and able to switch the leads. If you lean and pull, they can't lighten up and switch. What you're doing is making it easier for them. I never turn them either. Keep them straight! Don't turn! I usually get it in front if not in behind and I use a pole in the beginning to encourage them to take that little leap and switch. #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl# #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#I'm no expert on this. But this method has worked many times on different horses. #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl#

[Ruth]

#ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#I got my coach to teach Boomer, as he has a great counter-canter, and was quite resistant about learning changes. He didn't see why he should put forth the effort required for a flying change when he could canter around perfectly fine in counter-canter. So that's my suggestion! He would ask him on the diagonal and then once he hit the wall without the change would keep after him on a circle until he changed. Even the first time he schooled him it didn't take long to get a couple each way, and then we just put him away. I think he only had to school him 3 times before I started doing them, but for quite a few months afterwards I wouldn't try the changes unless my coach was there to hop on and do them if Boomer wasn't responding to me. We stopped working on them for the summer, I just started schooling them again and he finds them much less exciting. We have lost the acrobatics for the most part, and he is now doing them from counter-canter on the long side.#ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#A couple of pointers - at first be happy with one or two each way as long as they are clean. Don't overschool changes, especially at first. I don't worry if they are crooked at first as long as they are clean. Once the horse becomes more comfortable with the movement you can go back and fix the crookedness. Certainly with Boomer his right to left change was very crooked at first, pretty much in a haunches in left position, but as he has gotten more relaxed about changes they are straightening up nicely, and I'm better able to work on keeping him straight as he has gotten more obedient to the aids.#ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#Some people do find that if you introduce the changes and work on them until you know the horse is pretty much confirmed, then stop schooling them for a few months that they will come back to better changes. I did find that to be the case with Boomer, we didn't stop schooling them for the summer for that reason, it was because at 2nd Level I didn't want him throwing in changes when he should have been counter-cantering, but nonetheless, he came back doing better changes than when I was still schooling them in the spring.#ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl#