Flying changes- training

G

GreenRider

Member
Joined
20 March 2019
Messages
15
Visit site
Hi, I am wanting to train my horse to do flying changes. When I jump she will occassionally do one herself and she will change leads over a jump. I have been warned not to train them using a pole but was wondering what is the best way to train her to do flying changes when asked?
 
have you got a good instructor and what are you eventual aims? if you want to compete at dressage with changes then the best thing you can do is get a good trainer to help you because in that case it's important that you get a clean change. Help on the ground is really incredibly useful at the early stages.
I think if you train over a pole then you run the risk of training a change that is late behind. Obv that's not so critical if you only want to jump.
 
milliepops said:
have you got a good instructor and what are you eventual aims? if you want to compete at dressage with changes then the best thing you can do is get a good trainer to help you because in that case it's important that you get a clean change. Help on the ground is really incredibly useful at the early stages.
I think if you train over a pole then you run the risk of training a change that is late behind. Obv that's not so critical if you only want to jump.
Click to expand...
I don't have a trainer at the moment. I want to be able to do low level dressage for eventing but not high level. The main reason I would like to train this is for showpumping. I didn't realise that using a pole was more of an issue if you were training for dressage, do you think using a pole would be ok for just showjumping?
 
plenty of people do train over a pole, that's how it ends up as a suggested technique... for me a clean change is still preferable whatever your discipline though so whether it would be OK or not depends on your horse and their own particular tendencies.
I really would advise getting some lessons if this is something you want to learn though. horses can do changes by themselves obviously, but if can be harder for a rider to teach a correct change on cue. Years ago I taught an old horse of mine to change legs well enough for jumping by myself having little clue what I was doing, but then to get her to change cleanly was much harder because she had a habit of being late behind. Hence it's easier to start with the guidance of someone who is experienced with this so you don't make mistakes at the beginning.
 
milliepops said:
plenty of people do train over a pole, that's how it ends up as a suggested technique... for me a clean change is still preferable whatever your discipline though so whether it would be OK or not depends on your horse and their own particular tendencies.
I really would advise getting some lessons if this is something you want to learn though. horses can do changes by themselves obviously, but if can be harder for a rider to teach a correct change on cue. Years ago I taught an old horse of mine to change legs well enough for jumping by myself having little clue what I was doing, but then to get her to change cleanly was much harder because she had a habit of being late behind. Hence it's easier to start with the guidance of someone who is experienced with this so you don't make mistakes at the beginning.
Click to expand...
Thank you, that is really helpful. I think I will see if I can book some lessons to make sure we do it right the first time.
 
Counter canter, learn to do that well and when the horse is balanced enough to counter canter a small circle, do simple changes, take off on either leg which ever way youre travelling the changes should come after that.
 
When I got my horse he had been doing flying changes over a pole - he was fine when we started taking the pole away, he does nice clean changes and we’ve never had a problem with him being late behind. This was before I started having lessons on him so it is possible to do it on your own, but he did help me out a lot and was halfway there already! So if this is your first time doing flying changes then yes I would think a few lessons beforehand would be a good idea
 
Lillian_paddington said:
When I got my horse he had been doing flying changes over a pole - he was fine when we started taking the pole away, he does nice clean changes and we’ve never had a problem with him being late behind. This was before I started having lessons on him so it is possible to do it on your own, but he did help me out a lot and was halfway there already! So if this is your first time doing flying changes then yes I would think a few lessons beforehand would be a good idea
Click to expand...
Thank you, I am doing definitely going to book some lessons and maybe in the future I will be able to do it myself 😊
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top