Flying changes..

kzb

kzb

Well-Known Member
Joined
2 December 2014
Messages
80
Location
South Yorkshire
Visit site
I'm really struggling to get my mare to grasp the flying change. She is quite well established - she is competing at be100 with looking to do a 100+ this year (so dressage wise she's easily capable of everything in a novice test) and I've done novice level pure dressage.

She has a very good grasp of basics. She has a good counter canter and will happily cc 20m circles, loops etc. the cc is very natural for her. She also had excellent simple changes and will strike on either leg from walk or trot.

She will change over a fence in a course and on the occasion that she does go disunited she seems to be able to figure out getting back on the right leg.. But she just cannot grasp the idea of changing leg in canter. A lot of the threads I read on here start with " my horse is very clever.." This isn't something I can boast ;) and she also gets frustrated if she doesn't understand so I have to be very clear with what I ask.

What would you do to teach a horse like her??
 
I'd lay off the CC for a while for a start as this can often confuse the horse which has been taught to hold the lead through the change in bend. I'd work on getting the horse to "sit" very well in canter (transitions within the pace), and get the canter half pass established. Once that is all good and solid it is usually straight forward to half pass from the 1/4 line to the rail and then ask as you come to the corner with a BIG half halt and making sure the inside rein is open/giving, and don't close the canter down after the change either or the horse can panic and charge off.
 
Mine was similar. 15yrs old and very established at counter canter he saw no need to change and just couldn't understand what I wanted. Taught him by leg yielding from centre line back to track and then a very deliberate change of bend and obvious request for the change of canter lead. Make sure to open the new inside rein and your inside hip to give the freedom for the change to come through. It did take a while for mine to grasp it but now he's got it we've got as far as 3 time changes in a matter of a few months. It was like a light bulb switching on.
 
Thank you both for the replies. That gives me some bits to work on to help her out. I think these sort of methods might work better for her.
I think she understands what I want, as the closest I have got - and what she will do in a course if we are on the wrong leg that I don't correct early enough - is change in front, have a couple of wonky, legs-everywhere strides and then change behind. I have never even seen her do a natural change in the field or at liberty, so it might be physically a bit of a difficult task
 
Mine used to just change in front as well, but he's got them clean now. I did have to really really work on his ability to sit in the canter and generally improve the quality of the canter a lot. He's now about to compete Advanced Medium and still can't do a clean change in the SJ arena as he gets a bit on his forehand and ends up just changing in front. Ironic really as I taught him to change for SJ not dressage as never imagined they'd be good enough to do Advanced Medium. Never seen him change in the field or on the lunge or anything either.
 
Mine is exactly the same as yours!! Fantastic counter canter, simple changes etc. Tbh i don't practice the counter canter a lot so i haven't even got that excuse !

I am going to try some of these ideas :)
 
Good to know there is hope for her then star, thank you!! I don't think she's quite got it in her to be an advanced medium dressage horse, but I'd rather her changes were correct even if I want them for jumping.

kassieg - I don't practise the counter canter very much either, just every now and then. Maybe some of them just physically find the counter canter easier than popping a change in - or do we just have the less clever ones that don't figure out it's easier...?!?
 
kzb said:
Good to know there is hope for her then star, thank you!! I don't think she's quite got it in her to be an advanced medium dressage horse, but I'd rather her changes were correct even if I want them for jumping.

kassieg - I don't practise the counter canter very much either, just every now and then. Maybe some of them just physically find the counter canter easier than popping a change in - or do we just have the less clever ones that don't figure out it's easier...?!?
Click to expand...

Didn't think mine had it in him either given 5yrs ago he struggled to go in an outline and made out that dressage was his worst nightmare. Last February he was still doing Prelim. I have various other tricks I tried with him for the changes but the leg yield back to the track worked the best.
 
Moth mine change automatically now if I ask for a change of rein in canter when loose schooling. Not sure how they would react under saddle as were not there yet. Might be worth seeing if yours gets it without the weight of a rider on, cos if so then you can probably start to build a verbal cue for it.

Alternatively, if yours will change over a fence you could try putting one in the middle of a figure of 8 and slowly reduce the height til it's just a pole on the ground. If he starts to associate the change with that spot and recognise the aids you that should give you enough to work with in terms of him understanding what you're asking.
 
Try asking for a flying change over a pole as this often helps. My horse struggles with left to right flying changes but can do right to left without a problem. This is because he is stiffer on the right rein.

Trouble is if you then do a dressage test with counter canter involved (like my Novice 22 tomorrow) you will struggle to stop the horse changing, especially the change from K to B and counter canter to R as I know damn well he will automatically change unless I lean over to one side really obviously!! LOL I really used to struggle with this in dressage so for a couple of weeks before a test involving c.c would stop doing flying changes.
 
Prince33Sp4rkle said:
Use the leg yield as per stars advice :)

DONT ask over a pole it makes them late behind!!!!!
Click to expand...

THIS ^^^ is very good advice! Leg yield is a pretty useless exercise; half pass on the other hand is just the ticket for getting the change of bend you'll need for clean changes. Good luck (and wishing you a good instructor).
 
Quite often, it's not that a horse is stupid, when they don't change lead - it's just that the true canter is sufficiently balanced that they don't need to
 
Cortez said:
THIS ^^^ is very good advice! Leg yield is a pretty useless exercise; half pass on the other hand is just the ticket for getting the change of bend you'll need for clean changes. Good luck (and wishing you a good instructor).
Click to expand...

Prince££Sp$kle was actually agreeing with me that leg yield is a useful exercise for teaching changes. Half pass straight into the change means you're using the change of bend to initiate the change. Leg yield gets them to respond to the change of leg aid which is the correct way to get changes rather than just relying on them changing because you change the bend. It worked brilliantly for teaching my horse to change and is definitely not useless!
 
spacefaer said:
Quite often, it's not that a horse is stupid, when they don't change lead - it's just that the true canter is sufficiently balanced that they don't need to
Click to expand...

I'm not saying she's stupid just because she doesn't get it - but she is most definitely is not the brightest bulb in the box... :) (I love her to bits so I can say that!) things have to be fairly clear to her!! I am fairly certain that once she has a lightbulb moment she will be fine, it's just finding a way to get her to have that "lightbulb moment"!

Thanks for all the advice!! Will definitely be having a go with the leg yielding!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top