Lope/Canter Training
Just about every thing you do w/ a western horse is done at the lope. Ghymkana, reining, team penning, roping, horsemanship, etc, etc,... They all call for well executed lope control. This site, w/ all the supporting pages about tuff-to-solve-lope-departure-problems is only the beginning.
If you are serious about training your horse correctly, check out the Online Clinic. There I'll show you how to develop your horse step by step into a well trained western horse. We cover such things as stop-lope departures, western pleasure lope (the correct one, not the peanut rolling), and flying lead changes. And as you train, you will also develop your own riding skills.
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.
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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.
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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.
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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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.
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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.
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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.
The pattern I used...
The set of pics below is from a week later. Wendy has clearly learned
my signal and is cutting out the trot steps almost completely.
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A
stop and a couple of steps back... |
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The
beginning of the turnback... |
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Finishing
the turnback, asking for speed... |
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Lightening
my seat, indicating the lope... |
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"There
ya go... good girl..." |
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Catching
balance in the next steps. |
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.
Here is the
pattern...
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