Flying Lead Changes

When teaching your horse to do a flying lead change, you'll want to make sure they can turn on the forehand first. Start your horse on a flying lead change with help from a horseback riding instructor in this video on horse training.

Hi I'm Teri Carter of Saddlebrook Stables in Castle Hayne, North Carolina. And today I'm going to talk to you about how to start your horse on a flying lead change. The first thing you need to be able to make sure your horse can do is a turn on the forehand. The lead is generated from the rear end. So, you need to be able to push the horse's rear end around its front end in both directions with either leg. In order for your horse to be able to accomplish a lead change, the second thing that you want to start doing then is when you move forward you want to get your horse going in a figure eight pattern. You would pick up a canter on the right lead traveling in a circle to the right. When you come through the middle, you would want to break down, take a few trot steps and then pick up the left lead circling horse to your left. Then you would want to complete this maneuver over and over again, each time on the straight line in between the circles, breaking your horse down to a trot and changing leads according to the direction that you are going. This will give your horse the idea that he is suppose to start changing leads whenever he starts changing direction. After your horse has gotten very good at that maneuver, it may take a couple of sessions. Then you want to start trying to just canter through the center and change directions without breaking to the trot. That is how you start your horse on a flying lead change.