flying changes.

[moodymare123]

my pony is extremely forward going, so doing flying changes is a right mare. i have tried poles going across the diaganol, which works sometimes but he gets so excited as he gets into jumping mode! and when he does do the flying change he changes his front legs but not the back?! any advice welcome

 

[Bayneddie]

Worth checking you're applying the aids at the moment of suspension so that ponio has chance to change both in front and behind whilst in the air...?

 

[Kokopelli]

Pony must be as collected as possible to do a clean change so hind legs are underneath and the canter isn't strung out. It might be worth popping in a 10m circle before you do the change to help collect the canter.
Another thing is to do counter canter and at a moment where the canter feels good just calmly apply the aids for a change.

An exercise I found really helped with my boy was leg yielding from the track to the other side of the centre line and ask for the change before you hit the end of teh long side and change the rein like that. For example on the left rein push him from the right side of the arena to the left. Once past centre line change the flexion and make it obvious you want to turn left rather than right and calmly apply the aids for the change. The leg yeild really helps get the back end working so makes the change cleaner.

 

[khalswitz]

Fantastic tip Pammy Hutton shared at a demo last month - counter canter, then ask for canter half pass.

 

[eggs]

Kokopelli has put it very well - what she says is what I do. Also echo you need a bouncy not fast and flat canter. Years ago we used to use the pole on the centre line but I haven't done it that way for years.