How to Teach Flying Lead Changes - Part 2

My first post on this subject gets a lot of traffic so it's obvious that there are a lot of people like me out there, trying to figure out how to teach flying lead changes. In my first post, I referenced George Morris' "Hunt Seat Equitation". In this post, I'm going to refer to his protégée, Anne Kursinski and her book "Riding and Jumping Clinic" which includes a section on flying lead changes.

Haunches-In, a preliminary step to flying changes
George Morris described lead changes as a lateral movement which was really mind-blowing for me because I never thought of them like that before. Anne Kursinki explains this further and describes that the horse moves his haunches slightly from one side to the other to initiate the change behind, so haunches-in is actually the foundation for teaching flying changes.

Anne Kursinski's recommended process (which may play out into months of work) is this:

• Step 1: First, make sure your horse is well-versed in the haunch-in aid. Schooling this movement before teaching flying changes will help significantly.  
• Step 2: Before asking for the flying change, make sure you are currently applying your leg aids correctly and that your horse is really listening. Start with canter-walk-canter simple changes, progressing to canter-halt-canter simple changes. Practice both until you can do them cleanly - no falling in or out, no trot steps. 
• Step 3: From that point on, you can start asking for flying changes. Canter across the diagonal. Use a halt-halt to lift and straighten the shoulders, change your leg position to ask for the new lead. At the moment you ask, ask your horse to move his haunches in the corresponding direction. If you are cantering left and switching to the right, your right leg will move forward and your left leg will ask the horse to move his haunches right (ever so slightly). 

Again, patience is key. Anne says directly, "keep a firm resolution not to lose your temper: This work is difficult." You also can't just try once and give up. You have to keep trying and give your horse (and yourself) time to figure it out.

Balance and Quality of the canter

The balance and quality of the canter also play an influencing role. If you watch a lot of lower-level stadium rounds like I do when I'm waiting for my turn, you can definitely see a difference in the canter between horses who do flying changes and horses who don't do them. Horse with changes generally have an active and engaged hind-in (and aren't plowing around on their forehand), and a forward, balanced canter. They also move straight. For me, I have to remember to put the time into developing Leo's canter (the step, strength, straightness, balance and impulsion). 

Leo does flying changes on command at a gallop - it's his racehorse change though. I step my weight into the new inside stirrup, give a little tug on the new inside rein, but that doesn't really work for us in stadium. Because he's so hot to my leg and squirrelly, I definitely think I need to spend more time working on the lateral leg aids and before attempting to school more proper flying changes.

Hopefully, this adds more insight to those looking for it! Check out those Hunter/Jumper books - they are very helpful on this topic.