ACTHA Monthly October 2015 | Page 48

Take The Mystery out of Teaching Flying Lead Changes

By Carrie Scrima

Carrie co-founded ACTHA in 2008, she is a life-long, avid horsewoman. Carrie and her husband Tom, advocate trail riding as a conduit toward the preservation of equine employment, which has become their life pursuit.

This is best done in a field or in an arena for training purposes. We’re going to use a slightly elevated pole. And, we’re going to assume (for the sake of this article) that you’re working in an arena.

You’re going to work in a counter clockwise direction holding your reigns in two hands. The left reign will be on the inside of the arena. Place the pole just before you make the turn to the short side of the arena. Trot to the pole, and as your horse elevates his front end, use your right leg and a slight left hand to ask for the canter.

The horse should land cantering on the left lead. When the horse in comfortable with this exercise, canter towards the pole on the right lead (you are

still going on a counterclockwise direction with the left reign to the inside) and ask for the change for the left lead over the pole. Your right leg and left hand will cue for the left lead once again.

Make sure your horse is straight on the approach to the pole, and not already leaning to left. You do not want your horse on the forehand. When he gets this comfortably, do the same thing going clockwise, which would mean you would approach the pole at the trot, asking for the elevation just before the turn.

This exercise can also be done with the pole diagonally set in the middle of the arena, but the object of it is to get the horse to elevate his front end by using the pole. This makes a change very easy. There are other ways to teach horses flying changes, but this is the one that I have found to be effective for me. So, start at the trot and work your way up to the canter, asking your horse for a flying change in mid air. Remember, that the flying change is just like asking for a side pass in mid air. You may ask, “Why do I need a flying change on a trail ride?” To this I say, the better trained your horse is the safer you are. This keeps your horse in balance, and balance is very important on the trail. Have fun, see you on the trail.

ACTHA Discount Sponsor offering 15% off EVERY DAY and 25% off with ACTHA Bucks

www.healfasttherapy.com

Carrie