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Teaching Correct Lead Departures Tricking your horse into the correct lead I like to let my horse's natural body work for me as much as possible. And here I will use his natural inclination to want to get back to the other horses. Only very well trained horses won't lean towards the gate (the exit point of the arena, or the point where the other horses are tied). And when my horse is on the farthest point away from it, his own body and mindset will make him pick up the correct lead. All I have to do is ask for the lope a few steps before that point, and get out of his way. Unless he's been loping on only one lead for a long, long time, he will pick up the correct one and not even know he did it. 
Wendy is a 7yr old mule that has been ridden quite a bit on trail rides. She has a beautiful disposition, but very little balance.1. You can see clearly how she is leaning in the direction of the other horses here. 2. I set my legs and seat for the lope signal ... 3. And basically just let her run into the lope. At this point I only want her to recognize the lope signal. Later on, she will realize that there are two different signals, one for each lead. But for right now, the transition to the lope at the point when I give the signal is good. 4 & 5. She picks up the lope in the correct lead, and this early in the game, I am sure she has no idea what she just did. Seeins I am also working on balance in a circle, I will keep her on the circle for a while. Then I will let her drop to the trot, and do it 2 or 3 more times to the same side. New colts don't have any history of being allowed to just pick up any old lead, so I usually wait for the next day to go to the next step, but ole Wendy was ready for a little more this same session. |
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Lope Aids The normal way to ask for a lope, is to lay your outside leg back, to indicate you want him to pick up the inside lead. I have found that it actually has very little to do with the outside leg, but a lot with how your hips are lined up, as you put your leg back. It pushes your inside hip forward and weights your outside hip to the back. So, seeins I want the little guy to associate the signal, I over emphasize it, by not only putting my outside leg back, but also putting my inside leg forward, and making sure my weight is correctly (outside hip weighted a little more) distributed across the saddle. If the horse has serious problems, I will also go as far as shifting my weight more to his inside shoulder.  Here is another way to ask your pony, using the fence. This will have the same effect as Pony leaning to the inside, making him pick up the correct lead on his own. Remember, at this very early point, we are just trying to "trick" him into hitting the correct lead, so he gets used to catching the correct lead and how much easier it is to be on it. Start asking for the lope somewhere between A and B, depending on how responsive your horse is. The main thing is that you need to hit the first step of canter on L. That is where the shoulder drops and the inside hind comes underneath. After your horse is loping, just continue on the full arena for about 3 or 4 times around on a loose rein. This will allow him to practice the lead. As your horse gets better at recognizing your signal, and as he developes more balance, you can close the distance between the point of where you ask him for the lope(A-B) and the fence. If your horse doesn't get it on a large circle, size the circle size down, till he responds to the fence setting his balance. |
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Teaching the Signal Part 2 Wendy picks up the wrong lead in this picture, because I timed the stop on a spot where a turnback and several steps of trot before the lope put her close to the spot where she is usually leaning for the other horses... oops!!! But the way I give my aids is clear to see here, so I used this set of pics anyways.  1. Right after a stop, I ride a turn back. It doesn't have to be fast, just so that she is bent into the direction of the lope circle I am about to ride. 2. The aids for the turnback are almost identical as the aids for a lope departure. 3. I lighten my seat a little, lean forward, to indicate that I want forward movement and speed. But I keep my legs in exactly the same exaggerated position, the inside leg well forward, the outside leg well back. You can tell by her swishing tail, that I got my outside spur in her side. 4. I am balancing her thru several steps of trot, hoping my seat and legs will influence her to catch the correct lead. 5. But getting into the lope immediately in response to that particular set of signals is important to me, so even tho I know she'll catch the wrong lead, I encourage her to lope. 6. She catches the lope on the wrong lead, leaning like crazy for the other horses. I keep her on the circle, but she won't be able to balance, seeins she is on the wrong lead. So in the next few steps I go back to the trot, and this time I place the turnback into a different spot, helping me time her lope departure better. And that time she catches the right lead, and has one more opportunity to associate my over-exaggerated signal with that lead.  1. A stop and a couple of steps back..., 2. The beginning of the turnback... 3. Finishing the turnback, asking for speed... 4. Lightening my seat, indicating the lope... 5. "There ya go... good girl..." 6. Catching balance in the next steps. |
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Making the signal clear Recognizing the signal is the most important part of clean lope transitions, whether you are asking for a trot-lope or a walk-lope transition. As soon as I am sure that she recognizes my seat and leg aids from the turnback to the outside, I up the ante and start doing turnbacks to the inside. Doing the turnbacks to the inside involves changing my aids from turnback to lope, which will "explain" the difference to Wendy.  From right to left... 1. After the stop, I ask her to do a turnback to the inside of the circle. Wendy responds to my aids by reaching nicely with her inside leg, and rocking back fairly well onto her hindend. 2. You can clearly see that my left leg is pushing her to the right, and my right leg is giving her lots of room to move to the right. 3. My legs have changed to the lope aids, the inside (left) leg is well forward, and my outside leg is moved back behind the cinch. Wendy is still in the beginning stages of learning what I want. But a more experienced colt might try to take off at the lope too soon, and end up in the cross canter. For those I usually finish the turnback with one or two steps sidepassing in the same direction as the turnback. 4. My outside (right) leg is pushing for speed, and my seat is lightened asking for the lope. You can see by her swishing tail that I am using my spur asking for speed. She takes a couple of steps at a trot, and then steps into the left lead lope. Join the Online Clinic |
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