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Question:
My horse has
difficulty picking up a correct lead. Can you give me some
information to help him pick up a lead?
Answer:
There are several exercises that are good for teaching a horse to
pick up a lead. To pick up a correct lead it is necessary to have
control of certain parts of the horse and the horse must know how to
respond to certain commands or cues. I want my horse to respond to
the inside and outside reins. He must also know how to soften the
shoulder, in other words, I need to be able to pick up his shoulder
and move it out if he falls in with it. I do reverse arc bending
exercises to soften the shoulders and suppling exercises to get the
neck soft.
It is also
necessary to have control of the hind quarters. I do control work
with the hindquarters by doing turns on the forehand at a walk, trot
and canter. I do lateral leg yields. I come down the length of the
arena at the quarter line (eight to twelve feet in from the rail)
and leg yield the horse over to the rail. The sideways movement is
very subtle from the start of the arena in toward the rail at the
end. Going right toward the rail, the horse must move off my left
leg. The neck and shoulder are straight and the hind quarters are to
the inside. As the horse learns, I make it more difficult by making
the distance shorter. I also teach the haunches in or two-tracking
exercise as we go down the rail. Again, the neck and shoulder are
straight and the hind quarters are to the inside. The idea is that
when I put a leg on the horse, the horse responds.
To begin the
canter I establish nice forward movement at the trot. When the horse
is responding to my aids, I start doing 20 meter circles. There are
three cue spots on the side of a horse. Number one is at the cinch,
number two is right behind the cinch and number three is by the rear
cinch. Once the horse is moving forward at a relaxed trot and is
slightly bent with the nose in, I put my outside leg back on the
number three spot. Contact with the number three spot tells the hind
quarters to move in. Contact with the inside rein keeps the shoulder
from dropping or falling in because sometimes when we put our
outside leg on the horse and the shoulder drops in. With my outside
leg at number three, I pick up the inside rein. I press with my
inside leg at the number one spot and with my inside seat bone.
Then, what I like to say is, I squeeze the horse into the bridle.
That is a combination of my seat, thighs, and calf just pushing the
horse into the movement. I kiss or cluck to add additional energy.
I like to begin
a canter from a trot because it is easier. Make sure your horse is
relaxed at the trot. If his head is up in the air or he is pulling
on you, or if he is stiff in your hands, he is not relaxed. The
head does not need to be down low. It should be at the height of the
withers or a little higher depending on the conformation of the
horse and the natural head set.
If the horse
leaps into the lead, he is on the forehand. He is pulling himself
along instead of coming up under himself from behind. A simple
exercise to deal with this problem is to stop the horse. Back him up
and as he is backing, complete a turn on the haunches, what is
called rolling over the hocks. This means you are reversing
direction by having the horse turn on the hind quarters as he is
backing up. Immediately drive the horse forward with energy. When
the horse backs up and rolls over his hocks, he will shift his
weight back. By driving the horse forward he will come through from
the rear. That action will get the horse off his front end. You may
need to do this several times to get the right effect.
You can see
that there are several exercises that need to be done to be
successful with leads. You can throw a horse into a canter but that
is not what we want to do. When I am training a horse to pick up
correct leads, I want it to look nice and be balanced. I’m going to
have control of the nose, the shoulders, the rib cage and the hind
quarters. I also want a soft neck.
Here are some tips
for accomplishing this:
When picking up a lead,
do not lean forward and look down. This puts more weight on the
front end of the horse and pushes the horse away from you. In the
first picture, the body aids are correct. Charles is looking down
but it is important for you to look forward.
To strike off on a left
lead, sit straight, simultaneous put your right leg on the number
three spot, open your left thigh and press with your left leg at the
number one spot, press with your left seat bone and kiss to
encourage the horse. In the second picture the leg and seat aids are
correct and the horse is stepping into the lead.
If you are having
difficulty or the horse does not want to pick up the lead, even
after all the exercises you have practiced, come toward the rail at
a 45-degree angle. At the rail turn down the rail and ask for the
canter as you turn.
When I am working with
young horses, I use the change of rein exercise. Trot a 20-meter
circle going left, find center, make a nice bend through the center
at a trot (forming a serpentine), pick up on the right rein as you
start to go right and before you get back on the circle, ask for the
right lead. You can put a cone or other item to mark the center.
Dropping your weight
onto your right or left seat bone, depending on the lead you are
taking, will help your horse pick up the correct lead. The third
picture shows a rider with weight on the wrong hip.
It is important that the
horse knows and understands the cues and that you are clear with
your aids. The key is clear communication.
Charles Wilhelm
It’s Never Ever the Horse’s Fault
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