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Nov. 22nd, 2010 10:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
which_chickIn the wonderful world of horse things, Nick has flying lead changes, real ones. She had verified flying lead changes on Nov. 12, but that was on a big, easy, figure-of-eight pattern with one predictable flc -- where the "middle" of the eight was. That was verified by Trys, my spotter of choice for this stuff.
So today I (still sick, but not so sick as to bypass a 60-degree day in mid-November) took Nick out in the fading light of the day and worked on leads some more. First off -- does she take the correct lead when I ask on a reasonably large circle? Yes. Yes, she does. Both ways. Does she take the *wrong* lead when I ask? Yes. Both ways.
That's all the lead stuff I actually know how to teach. Actually, official riding lessons didn't get any further than "simple change of lead" because I couldn't get along with Cole, big dumb TB that he was. (Not his fault that I rode an alarmingly small, hot, brilliant arab... but he suffered in comparison. A lot.) However, I figured that counter-canter was like asking for the wrong lead (bend horse very slightly wrong for the arc of the circle, ask for lead that goes the way she's bent) and then keeping it... so I did and she did and there it was. Go me! And I figured that flying lead changes were "set up figure of eight, do at trot once or twice so that horse KNOWS it's a figure-of-eight, pick up canter, canter, at crossover turn and ride on the other lead -- your horse will fill in for you and make it work" and that's what happened there, too. (It helps to have a reasonably bright horse.)
Flying changes on a straight line are, well, something I know about in theory. In theory, you kind of go along in a nice, upright canter, racked-back off the forehand (horse on forehand has trouble with flying lead changes) and you go "right lead, right lead, *swap*, left lead, left lead, *swap*, right lead, right lead..." On the *swap* part, you pick up the new "inside" rein and shift your hips/shoulder/head toward the new "inside" direction, new "inside" leg at the girth, new "outside" leg slightly back. It's best if you can do the whole *swap* move as a single body-wide adjustment. Like if you're playing "horse" (skipping with one leg forward all the time is "cantering") and you go to "change leads" so that the other leg is forward, how your whole body moves like that, all of a piece, all at once.
To understand flying lead changes, I watched a lot of youtube videos of better riders than me on horses worth more than I make in a year, riding along in their perfectly level dressage schools with wonderfully soft and fluffy footing. (No, I am not envious. Not at all.) This preliminary research on the subject of flying lead changes suggested that the correct TIME to do the *swap* move was after the "lead" leg had struck the ground. (This is the last leg to hit, the point when the horse's head is lowest during the canter stride.) The reason that this is the correct time is that, near as I can tell, the leads come from the back legs. If you get the back legs correct, the rest of the canter stride will fall into place like dominoes. (This video is very helpful in seeing how things work.)
The canter is a three beat gait with a rhythm that we will herein describe as BA-DA-DUM(air). If your horse is on the RIGHT lead, he or she is hitting with the LEFT HIND first. That's BA, the opposite-side hind. Then the RIGHT HIND and LEFT FRONT hit the ground together, for DA of the stride. Finally, the RIGHT FRONT hits the ground on DUM. Then there's an (air) part where the horse is in the air and no feet are on the ground.
When you go to change your horse from the RIGHT lead (where left hind hits the ground first) to the LEFT lead (where the right hind hits the ground first), he has to shuffle his hind legs around. Changing which back leg hits the ground first has to happen when the back legs are IN MIDAIR because when they're ON THE GROUND, they can't be shuffled. D'oh. This is a very important concept, so I'm saying it again: A horse can only do the back leg shuffle to initiate a flying lead change when his or her back legs are IN THE AIR. The back legs are IN THE AIR when the front lead leg hits the ground. That moment, there, is the time for you to ask for a flying lead change. Asking your horse for a flying lead change in the wrong part of the stride (like during the BA or DA part of the stride) is UNHELPFUL because your horse can't do the right thing then even if he knows what it is. (I wish to hell someone authorized to teach people about flying lead changes would make this information a lot more public. It's hardly ever mentioned in discussions of flying lead changes yet it is the single most helpful piece of information about flying lead changes out there.)
It is your job as a rider to make the right thing EASY by asking at the right time for the horse to comply.
So, you need to shift your body from "right lead" to "left lead" as a unit. You need to be aware of the rhythm of your horse so that you can find the correct moment in time to ask for a flying lead change. You also need to be rhythmic and steady with your seat while riding so that your horse knows you're not just randomly flopping around up there but actually asking for something when you DO go *swap* with your body.
On the timing, as I've said, a canter is ba-da-dum (air) ba-da-dum (air) ba-da-dum (air). You ask for a flying lead change in the space between dum and (air)... more towards (air) if you are more organized, more towards "dum" if you and your horse are n00bs because it will take you a little time to get your shit together at the outset. Give your horse the benefit of the doubt -- make sure you're asking for a flc between "dum" and (air) because he PHYSICALLY CANNOT GIVE A CORRECT RESPONSE TO YOUR REQUEST at any other part of his stride. Yanking and yelling and crap WILL NOT HELP if your timing sucks.
So with all of this theory behind me, I was up in the buckwheat field, where my theory meets practice. Today, it was in the fading surgical-appliance-pink sky of November at 4:45 in the afternoon. Trysta came with me as observer. We set up. I did a circle to the right on the right lead, which I asked for and got. I did a circle to the right on the left lead, which I also asked for and got. I did a circle to the left, left lead. Circle to the left, right lead. I made a half circle, picked up right lead, did straight line, counted strides one... two... three... LEFT LEAD. No dice. Crap. I tried again. Half circle, right lead, straight line. Ba-da-dum, ba-da-dum, ba-da-dum LEFT LEAD. No dice. Horse accellerated, continued on right lead.
Horse getting pissy; Trysta getting bored. One more go, in the fading light. Half circle, right lead. Straight line. Ba-da-dum, ba-da-dum ba-da-dum*swap* (Trysta not watching) ba-da-dum ME: Holy Shit, she did it! (Trysta now watching to see if my horse is being bad.) ba-da-dum *swap* ba-da-dum ba-da-dum *swap* ba da dum ba da dum ba da dum ba da dum trot-trot-trot-trot. Trys saw two flying changes, on a straight line, when I cued for 'em. Horse v. pleased with herself. Rider also very pleased. It was like she had no idea what the hell I wanted and all of a sudden the light went on (or my timing came together or something) and we were all on the same page and voila, flying lead changes on a straight line. They are not very pretty yet -- she's still kind of forehand heavy and accelleration-prone -- but they are there and they are mechanically correct. It is definitely a start.
So today I (still sick, but not so sick as to bypass a 60-degree day in mid-November) took Nick out in the fading light of the day and worked on leads some more. First off -- does she take the correct lead when I ask on a reasonably large circle? Yes. Yes, she does. Both ways. Does she take the *wrong* lead when I ask? Yes. Both ways.
That's all the lead stuff I actually know how to teach. Actually, official riding lessons didn't get any further than "simple change of lead" because I couldn't get along with Cole, big dumb TB that he was. (Not his fault that I rode an alarmingly small, hot, brilliant arab... but he suffered in comparison. A lot.) However, I figured that counter-canter was like asking for the wrong lead (bend horse very slightly wrong for the arc of the circle, ask for lead that goes the way she's bent) and then keeping it... so I did and she did and there it was. Go me! And I figured that flying lead changes were "set up figure of eight, do at trot once or twice so that horse KNOWS it's a figure-of-eight, pick up canter, canter, at crossover turn and ride on the other lead -- your horse will fill in for you and make it work" and that's what happened there, too. (It helps to have a reasonably bright horse.)
Flying changes on a straight line are, well, something I know about in theory. In theory, you kind of go along in a nice, upright canter, racked-back off the forehand (horse on forehand has trouble with flying lead changes) and you go "right lead, right lead, *swap*, left lead, left lead, *swap*, right lead, right lead..." On the *swap* part, you pick up the new "inside" rein and shift your hips/shoulder/head toward the new "inside" direction, new "inside" leg at the girth, new "outside" leg slightly back. It's best if you can do the whole *swap* move as a single body-wide adjustment. Like if you're playing "horse" (skipping with one leg forward all the time is "cantering") and you go to "change leads" so that the other leg is forward, how your whole body moves like that, all of a piece, all at once.
To understand flying lead changes, I watched a lot of youtube videos of better riders than me on horses worth more than I make in a year, riding along in their perfectly level dressage schools with wonderfully soft and fluffy footing. (No, I am not envious. Not at all.) This preliminary research on the subject of flying lead changes suggested that the correct TIME to do the *swap* move was after the "lead" leg had struck the ground. (This is the last leg to hit, the point when the horse's head is lowest during the canter stride.) The reason that this is the correct time is that, near as I can tell, the leads come from the back legs. If you get the back legs correct, the rest of the canter stride will fall into place like dominoes. (This video is very helpful in seeing how things work.)
The canter is a three beat gait with a rhythm that we will herein describe as BA-DA-DUM(air). If your horse is on the RIGHT lead, he or she is hitting with the LEFT HIND first. That's BA, the opposite-side hind. Then the RIGHT HIND and LEFT FRONT hit the ground together, for DA of the stride. Finally, the RIGHT FRONT hits the ground on DUM. Then there's an (air) part where the horse is in the air and no feet are on the ground.
When you go to change your horse from the RIGHT lead (where left hind hits the ground first) to the LEFT lead (where the right hind hits the ground first), he has to shuffle his hind legs around. Changing which back leg hits the ground first has to happen when the back legs are IN MIDAIR because when they're ON THE GROUND, they can't be shuffled. D'oh. This is a very important concept, so I'm saying it again: A horse can only do the back leg shuffle to initiate a flying lead change when his or her back legs are IN THE AIR. The back legs are IN THE AIR when the front lead leg hits the ground. That moment, there, is the time for you to ask for a flying lead change. Asking your horse for a flying lead change in the wrong part of the stride (like during the BA or DA part of the stride) is UNHELPFUL because your horse can't do the right thing then even if he knows what it is. (I wish to hell someone authorized to teach people about flying lead changes would make this information a lot more public. It's hardly ever mentioned in discussions of flying lead changes yet it is the single most helpful piece of information about flying lead changes out there.)
It is your job as a rider to make the right thing EASY by asking at the right time for the horse to comply.
So, you need to shift your body from "right lead" to "left lead" as a unit. You need to be aware of the rhythm of your horse so that you can find the correct moment in time to ask for a flying lead change. You also need to be rhythmic and steady with your seat while riding so that your horse knows you're not just randomly flopping around up there but actually asking for something when you DO go *swap* with your body.
On the timing, as I've said, a canter is ba-da-dum (air) ba-da-dum (air) ba-da-dum (air). You ask for a flying lead change in the space between dum and (air)... more towards (air) if you are more organized, more towards "dum" if you and your horse are n00bs because it will take you a little time to get your shit together at the outset. Give your horse the benefit of the doubt -- make sure you're asking for a flc between "dum" and (air) because he PHYSICALLY CANNOT GIVE A CORRECT RESPONSE TO YOUR REQUEST at any other part of his stride. Yanking and yelling and crap WILL NOT HELP if your timing sucks.
So with all of this theory behind me, I was up in the buckwheat field, where my theory meets practice. Today, it was in the fading surgical-appliance-pink sky of November at 4:45 in the afternoon. Trysta came with me as observer. We set up. I did a circle to the right on the right lead, which I asked for and got. I did a circle to the right on the left lead, which I also asked for and got. I did a circle to the left, left lead. Circle to the left, right lead. I made a half circle, picked up right lead, did straight line, counted strides one... two... three... LEFT LEAD. No dice. Crap. I tried again. Half circle, right lead, straight line. Ba-da-dum, ba-da-dum, ba-da-dum LEFT LEAD. No dice. Horse accellerated, continued on right lead.
Horse getting pissy; Trysta getting bored. One more go, in the fading light. Half circle, right lead. Straight line. Ba-da-dum, ba-da-dum ba-da-dum*swap* (Trysta not watching) ba-da-dum ME: Holy Shit, she did it! (Trysta now watching to see if my horse is being bad.) ba-da-dum *swap* ba-da-dum ba-da-dum *swap* ba da dum ba da dum ba da dum ba da dum trot-trot-trot-trot. Trys saw two flying changes, on a straight line, when I cued for 'em. Horse v. pleased with herself. Rider also very pleased. It was like she had no idea what the hell I wanted and all of a sudden the light went on (or my timing came together or something) and we were all on the same page and voila, flying lead changes on a straight line. They are not very pretty yet -- she's still kind of forehand heavy and accelleration-prone -- but they are there and they are mechanically correct. It is definitely a start.
