Can someone explain in depth how to do a flying lead change (Or give me a site with an instructional video)?

Question

I have been riding for 7 years. Riding horses in their 20's. Riding with a dressage trainer and a hunter jumper trainer but my dressage trainer is out of town. I would really like an instuctional video so that it is easier to follow.

Thanks,

horsezrmything

Answer 1

Look it up on youtube!

Answer 2

Its actually quite simple to do you just have to get a feel for it.

1) Make sure you horse is going straight (sometimes helps if going on the diagonal line)

2) Put your horse on the reign, with your leg, that he is going to be switching to. (example: if your doing a right lead canter you are on your left outside reign and you want to do a lead change you want to put your horse on the right reign because that will be your new "outside" once you change". You do this by putting your horse on a bend, while keeping them stright. To execute it you will (assuming you are switching from right lead to left lead) gently guide your horse to the right bend by applying left leg by the girth area and holding your right leg back slightly to keep your horse from drifting but still keeping him on the bend.

3) Once you have done this, you want to switch before you get to the fence. Switching at a fence will only make your horse use it as a flying lead change "crutch" and most of the time putting them more and more on the forehand the more you do it. While switching you want to have your horse on the bend (described above) and once they are on it ever so gently shift your weight to the right (assuming you are still switching right to left) and apply a little right leg (dont kick though just kind of guide it onto his side) and he should switch just fine!

I hope that this makes sense, sorry if it did not. Good luck with those fly changes!