Leads in Horse Riding

In horse riding, leads can be a frustrating thing for new riders, but everyone can learn them with proper assistance from the ground. Master the right and left leads with help from a riding instructor in this video on leads in horse riding.

Hello, my name is Chelsey Sawtell, primary riding instructor at Black Fire Farm in Kingston Springs, Tennessee. Today, we will be discussing leads, how to ask for them and what are they? Once you are comfortable cantering at leisure, you might want to begin to incorporate leads. Let's begin with asking for the left lead. Begin at the trot. As you are trotting, gently elevate the left rein. This will provide a bit of a tip and lift to the horse's left shoulder. Using your right leg slightly behind the girth apply pressure and release with your inner seat bone asking the horse to move forward. Leads are often very difficult to tell for a new rider in tack. It is often helpful to have someone on the ground assist you and tell you if you have picked up the proper lead or not. When cantering on the left lead you should look down and be able to see the left front shoulder of the horse in front of the right shoulder. Once you have mastered the left lead we must then move to the right. Anything you do one direction you always want to do the other direction or you can build the muscles of your horse unevenly. Glancing down at the horse's shoulders will help you to see if the right front leg is tracking first. In the right lead canter the right front leg should be leading. Leads can be a very frustrating thing for new riders. With the proper assistance from the ground and practice everyone can learn their leads.