How do you teach a horse to do a flying change?

Answer 1

when you are going across the diagonal pull your horse back to trot change their leg so they are on the right one . shorten the trot in the middle every time and soon you wont have to pull them up

Answer 2

Someone else has a complete answer, but meanwhile consider this - if you watch your horse running out in the pasture, you'll notice that he knows how to do flying lead changes. These are a natural movement for the horse. The difficulty is remembering therefore that we as riders are teaching them the CUE which asks them to do that flying change, rather than teaching them how to do the change itself. So perhaps a better way to phrase the question is, "What is the proper cue to teach your horse to execute the flying lead change?"

Answer 3

There are many ways to teach a horse to do flying lead changes. I would suggest having someone around that has taught a horse to do them before to see if you are doing it correctly. No mater how you do it, the leg aids should be consistent. The inside leg on the girth and the outside leg just behind the girth. When asking the horse to switch leads switch you legs to inside leg behind the girth and outside leg on the girth. You should keep your hands soft and supple to allow the horse to use it's back. The horse should also be in a nice steady collected canter to preform flying changes.

Answer 4

If you are teaching a green horse to do flying lead changes it'll be easier if you use the entire arena. First get the horse into a good collected canter. Then ride across the diagonal of the arena, keep your inside leg pressed gently into the girth and your outside leg pressed gently behind the girth. As you cross the center-line change the position of your legs, the inside should now be behind the girth and the outside leg on the girth.As you do this gently bend your horse through his whole body while keeping the canter at a collected and steady pace. Your hands should be gentle and allow the horse to use his back through the whole exercise. Continue to the corner of the arena even if the horse did not change leads. halt and try again.