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[RC] [RC] Lead changes - Lucy Chaplin TrumbullRay O'Donohue: > I'd like to hear pros and cons re dictating > this for various situations/horses.Always?Never? > sometimes? Since Provo's trot is pretty rough, we canter quite a lot during a ride (when most others are trotting, which is a bit embarrassing <g>). It seems to be more comfortable for both of us. He prefers his right lead, although will occasionally pick up the left unasked. I've been trying to pre-empt his choice of leads by asking for a specific one when I know he's about to canter, and have had varying degrees of success. We will be working on this more over the next few months. > (I don't even know how to do it.) The easiest place to practise it is in an arena since you can have the horse going around in a circle which balances him in a way that pre-disposes him to pick up the inside lead. If you don't have access to an arena, try asking for the canter on a slight curve in the trail. Say you're going around the right circle/curve - you're going to ask him to pick up the inside or right lead. A (very) basic explanation of "how to" is: * shorten that inside rein slightly (to tilt his head towards the inside) and * apply *left* leg behind the girth (when horses start to canter, they strike off on the opposite back leg - so you're basically asking for that leg for extra impulsion to push the horse into the canter on that lead) As Cindy says, > Typically horses only ridden on the same lead/ > diagonal eventually go lame on that front leg. At the end of American River 50, at our final vet through, the vet said he could see "something" on the left rear and to keep an eye on it. Since Provo bowed that tendon a few years back, you bet I'll be keeping an eye on it. But it made me think - if he's tending to keep on the right lead while cantering, that left rear is doing most of the work, isn't it? So I need to switch more often to avoid that leg getting tired. (OTOH, he also has something going on in the right rear, so maybe he's just protecting that by over-using his left rear... <sigh>) > If your horse is bending to the right, you should > be on the right lead, etc. It will make a tremendous > difference in your horses athletic ability, balance... American River ride has a prime example of this in the first few miles - you are travelling on a dirt road that wends to the right and left, up and down. Being on the correct lead for the relevant turn was quite important to avoid flailing around and feeling off balance. The terrain was such that you would trot a few strides, canter a few around the turn and uphill, then trot a few strides and repeat for the opposite turn - so it would be the perfect place to practise swapping your canter leads to stay balanced.... * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Lucy Chaplin Trumbull elsietee AT foothill DOT net Repotted english person in the Sierra foothills, California * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
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