Lope/Canter Training Questions about loping and cantering are frequently asked on lots of bulletin boards. Here is a whole section that deals with the most common problems. Picking up the correct lead outside of the Arena If your horse has problems picking up one lead or the other, try this. It is the easiest, no stress method I have ever used. Find a long side slope, preferably one that will let you up on a level spot easy enough. Trot along the side with the top of the hill to the side of the lead you want to pick up. In other words, if you want to pick up the left lead, you will have the top of the hill to your left, and the bottom to your right. You will be trotting along the side of the hill not climbing or descending. Ask for the lope. The way a horse's body is set up, it will be the easiest for him to pick up the left lead. If he is really set in the wrong lead, just pick a steeper hill. Here is the important part... Keep him loping on that lead as long as you can. Practice makes perfect for horses too. That is why it is good to be able to go to a flat place right after you pick up the lope.And if you can go uphill to get to a flat, it will be the easiest for him to keep that lead. For him to be able to pick up that lead easier the next time, he will have to practice loping in it for a while. So stay up there on the flat and lope big, wide circles for a few minutes. Then go back down below the hill and pick that lead up again. This horse is loping on the left lead. As he steps along you can see that the left legs are taking slightly more extended steps than the right sides. But the left legs are also not going to move as high as the right ones. But if the hill is on his left, it will still be the easiest to pick up the left lead for him. Don't ask me why this works, it just does. Associate the signal The horse's body and the way he manuevers the terrain do all the work needed to pick up the correct lead. But it's up to you to teach him the signal. So don't just ask for the lope... Ask for the left lope, or the right lope, whichever one you are working on. Say I'm riding a colt, and I'm wanting him to associate the right lead signal w/ the right lead. I'd pick A to ask for the right lead, then let him lope large lazy circles on the flat at the top. If I'm riding a horse that I know has an issue picking up the right lead, I'd pick spot B to get him to grab it, then bring him up to the flat to let him practice loping in that lead. Every time I let him rest, I'd bring him back down to that spot to pick the right lead up again. If I know my horse will not under any circumstance, pick up the right lead, I'm gonna bring him down to spot C to start the lope. At that spot, there will be very little signal time. I'm gonna mash him into the lope, get him to jump out of the creek bed, which will give him no choice but to use the right lead. Then I'm gonna let him practice on that easy flat above it. The circles on the flat will do more for his ongoing training than learning that first jump into the lead. In those circles, he would get to use muscles he hasn't used in yrs. Developing those muscles will help him get the right lead better than any lope departures. I'd use spot C a couple more times, but the next day I would definitely see if he couldn't graduate to spot B. These few pages of Lope/Canter training only get you started on the correct lead. Learn how to develop your horse's skills at the lope. Learn collection, control at speed, laterals, flying changes, transitions and sliding stops. Join the Online Clinic.
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