How to do flying lead changes and changes over fences?

Question

How can i get my horse to do flying lead changes and also over fences? I can never land with the right lead while jumping!

Answer 1

Practice, practice, practice!  Here's what worked for me:

In an empty field/grassy area, set up two standards and just leave a couple of poles on the ground in between.  Working at a trot, start a big figure eight with the poles as your center point.  Make the figure eight like two circles touching each other, not like two ice-cream cones, as an instructor explained to me.  Do this a few times, and make sure both you and your horse are paying attention to switching direction and bend at the cross-over point.  Then work up to a canter, and do a simple lead change through the trot at the center point.  Do this a few times, again paying attention to changing your bend.  Flying changes are in my opinion easier to get if you have a jump in the middle, because your horse's motion is broken anyway by the jump so it's easier for him to understand what you're asking.  Once you're ready, you can attempt that flying change.  Ask an unmounted friend to put the poles up into a small crossrail.  You will squeeze with your new inside hand and new outside leg as you're in the air.  (i.e. if you approach the jump on the left lead, where your horse is leading with his left foreleg, you'll squeeze with your right hand and left leg.)   It will take a lot of repetition before you get it right.  A lot.  But once you do get it, you've got it!

What also helps is visualizing at random times.  I know this sounds weird, but it helps.  Before you go to sleep, picture what you want in your mind.  Imagine your muscles working.  It really does do wonders for muscle memory when you get to your horse.

Answer 2

its all about the weight of your body, you have to turn your body to the rein you want to change onto ask your horse to look the way you want to and put your outside leg back and ask them to change hope that makes sense your horse will soon learn what you are asking him to do xx

Answer 3

Ask this question in the horse section and youll get a better response....ask it and when it asks for a category click on pets then horses.....

Answer 4

Start cantering one way, then as you change directions across the diagonal, shift your weight to the new outside (if you were going right and you're switching to the left, then you'll shift your weight to the right) and put the new outside leg on at the same time (your right leg for the right to left switch).  Don't bend your horses head to the new inside until you're asking with your legs for the switch...  if you bend their head first, it's harder to get them to switch...  you should change the bend at the same time you shift your weight and put your leg on.

Over fences...  I have been told that there's something to do with your reins to control which leg they land on...  but i'm not really sure.  I think it was that you're supposed to pull with the outside rein to make them land on the opposite leg.  You can play around with that and see if it works.  Good luck!