Perfecting the Lope: Champion Western Horseman Bob Avila on How to Train a Horse to Counter-Canter and Change Leads While Loping Teaching your horse to swap leads? Prepare with the counter-canter and then keep him straight.
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Left-to-right or right-to-left, lead changes are a breeze when taught correctly. By Bob Avila with Sue M. Copeland Photos by Cappy Jackson I m going to help demystify lead changes by starting with a look at the countercanter. You might see reining and Western riding exhibitors counter-cantering their horses in the warm-up pen. Why? The counter-canter (loping to the left on the right lead, and vice-versa), makes your horse work a hundred times harder to balance himself than he does on his regular leads, so it advances your skill in controlling his body. A Great Tool Teaching the counter-canter is a great prep for lead changes, as it accelerates the strength and balance your horse needs for the maneuver. It s also a great tool for a horse that anticipates lead changes on pattern. Rather than letting him change leads where he thinks he ought to, you can use the counter-canter to ride him through the trouble spot without changing leads and thus refocus his attention on you. Before you attempt the counter-canter, be sure your horse is going forward at the lope, meaning he s driving himself forward from his hindquarters. If he s dragging himself along on his front end, loping on the wrong lead will be impossible for you both. A lot of riders don t know how forward feels; it s the drive coming up into the seat of your pants as he lifts you up and down in a rotary-type motion. If the motion feels flat, you ve lost the drive from his hind end. Start with a regular lope circle let s say to the right. Concentrate on the feel of the cues holding your horse on the right lead; preserve that feeling as you begin the counter-canter. When the lope is established, guide him smoothly off the circle into an open area of your work space where you can make a similar circle to the left. Then make a generous turn to the left, holding your left leg firmly against his rib cage to keep him on the right lead. (Tip: The wider your turn and the larger your lope circle, the easier it ll be for your horse to maintain his right lead. As he develops strength and balance, you can up the degree of difficulty by making your counter-canter circles smaller.) A change of leads doesn t mean a change of direction. Trying to pull your horse onto a new lead will only lead to trouble. I ll show you how to get your lead changes straight (like the one shown here) and help your horse go from good to great. 3
To guide and balance your horse in the new direction, lift your right rein and move it against his neck, keeping his shoulder up and pressing him leftward. Move your left hand out the same distance so the space between your hands stays the same, taking enough feel on both reins to balance the energy you re generating with your leg. As you guide him with your hands, push up and over with your left leg (stretching your calf down as far as you can, so it s almost under his rib cage in a position to lift as well as push) to get his rear end over. If you don t push enough, he ll probably switch leads instead of staying on the counter-lead. When you ve managed to hold the counter-canter at least a quarter of the way around your circle, drop to the trot, then repeat the maneuver, this time to the right on the left lead. Perseverance is key, especially with an older horse. The Winning Lead Change Now that you ve learned how useful the counter-canter can be, I ll address the common misconception that lead changes involve changes of direction. This myth may have evolved from the practice of calling for lead changes at the intersection of a figure-eight (the point at which you branch off into a new direction), as happens on reining patterns. The truth is, if your horse s body isn t perfectly straight and balanced when you ask for the change, he ll most likely change only with his front legs. It may take him a few strides to change with his hind legs (called dragging a lead), if he does at all. Shoot, he may not even change in front. Why? When you try to jerk his body onto the new lead by yanking his head in the new direction, you pull his weight onto what should be his new leading leg. This makes it difficult for him to lift and reach with it. Plus, with his head pulled to the side, and all his weight falling onto that shoulder and leg, his hind end will swing the opposite way, throwing him out of balance. His hocks will drag A B C behind him, making it difficult for him to coil his body, lift and reach with them for the new lead. Swinging Pendulums To understand what s required for a winning lead change, picture a pendulum swinging; it s all about straightness and energy. Now think of your horse s legs as pendulums. In order for him to change leads, first the hock, then the knee on the new leading legs have to swing forward in a straight line, with energy. So you can see this concept in action, here s a look at a winning lead change. (I ll share the cues I use to get this kind of lead change in the Getting It Straight exercise): A. My horse is in straight alignment from poll to tail. He s just taken the final front-leg step of a left-lead lope. Both his hind legs have left the ground. Keep your eyes on his right hind, which will initiate the lead change. (A winning change starts from the hind end, which indicates straightness and balance... and eliminates the risk of dragging a lead.) B. There it is! His right hind leg swings through as he rounds his back, elevates his shoulders and prepares to swing his right front (and new leading) leg forward. Note that my rein hand remains perfectly centered above his neck and my body stays centered above his. To see how a rein jerk (and body lean) to the right would destroy his balance (and this lead change), see A Lead Change On Tilt on page 6. C. And here goes his rightfront pendulum. The power and reach of his hind legs propel him onto the new lead look at the energy and extension of his right-front leg! His relaxed expression clearly shows how easy this maneuver is for a horse of his caliber. 44
Getting it Straight When you focus on straightening your horse s body before, during and after a lead change, you eliminate problems. He ll be able to keep his new leading shoulder upright and balanced, enabling him to lift it out of the way so his hind leg on that side can sweep forward for the change. Using an exercise I learned from Al Dunning, you ll teach your horse to align and balance his body so he stays airborne for the extra moment he needs to switch his leading legs. You ll do so using a straight-line-to-twotrack maneuver between two poles. The poles will not only help keep your horse straight, they ll give you a straightness template for keeping your body and aids straight, too. Why the two-track? This forwardand-lateral maneuver is effective because it straightens your horse s body while teaching him to round his back and lift his shoulders as he moves off your leg, making the lead change easy for him. Note: This is advanced work. So you don t risk scaring or confusing your horse, be sure he (and you) understand lead-change basics, and that he willingly moves forward and laterally off your leg. If you ve not yet reached this stage, work with a reputable pro until you do, before tackling this exercise. 1. I ll demonstrate a left-to-right lead change. (Reverse these directions for a change on the opposite lead.) Set two poles in the center of your riding area, about 20 to 30 feet apart. Establish a left-lead lope. Guide your horse on a half-circle below the first pole. Exit the circle so his body is parallel to the pole, as shown. Keep him straight between your reins and legs, maintaining slight right-leg contact to press him forward on the left lead. 2. When your horse s body passes the first pole, increase your right-leg contact 1 2 3 4 5 to send him laterally to the left. Do not pull his head in that direction. Instead, slightly lift your left rein, to keep his left shoulder elevated as he moves laterally leftward. Use your aids as necessary to maintain his straight body alignment (note how my rein hand remains centered over my horse s neck), staying balanced and centered above him. 3. Once he s two-tracked to the opposite side of the poles, initiate the lead change: Sit up; simultaneously release your right-leg contact to open up his right side for the change, while applying left leg pressure to signal him to make it; release your left-rein pressure as you slightly lift your right rein, to encourage him to lift his right shoulder, and to block any lean in that direction. My horse is the picture of straightness... 4. as he swings his right hind pendulum forward, onto the new lead. The energy from his hind leg is carrying through to his right front leg, as he lifts and reaches 5. onto the new lead. (Tip: Never worry about a horse s front leg when 5
A Lead Change on Tilt Compare this photo with the one on page 3. In this shot, I m demonstrating a common don t : Yanking your horse onto the new lead using your reins, and twisting your body in that direction for good measure. This is a one-two punch for lead changes: Yanking your horse s front end over throws him off balance. If he can t stay straight and balanced (as he is in the other photo), he ll likely change leads first (and possibly only) with his front legs. Plus, he ll drop his shoulder as he s forced to lean in the direction of his new leading leg in order to balance beneath you. Just look at how my horse is tilting rightward in this photo. He has no choice; I ve literally hurled him onto the new lead! When you cause your horse to tilt, you trash your odds for a good, straight, points-earning change. And you encourage him to start ducking and diving to the side, which will haunt any future changes. making a lead change. If his shoulder on the lead-change side is out of the way, so his hind leg can initiate the change, his front leg will naturally follow on the new lead.) If your horse changes successfully, use the second pole to encourage him to stay straight (rather than diving to the side) after the change. Then stop and reward him. Repeat this exercise in the other direction. If your horse fails to change when you asked him, his body slipped out of alignment, enabling him to drop his right shoulder. Don t punish him (which would make him tense and fearful). Instead, lope him straight for several strides, then stop and turn him to the left to encourage him to keep his shoulders up. (Turning him to the right would inadvertently reinforce that shoulder drop.) Lope a half-circle once more, then walk or jog the two-track/lead-change portion until he maintains his alignment. He s then ready to try again at the lope. Bonus: You can use this exercise to chill out a horse that anticipates lead changes. Simply don t ask for a lead change after you two-track through the pole gap. Instead, cease the two-track, then counter-canter a circle. Be creative: The more you do with this exercise, the more balanced and responsive your horse will become. A multiple AQHA world champion in a variety of events, Bob Avila s other wins include three NRCHA Snaffle Bit Futurities, the NRHA Futurity and two World s Greatest Horseman titles. He was the first recipient of the prestigious AQHA Professional Horseman of the Year honor in 1996. His Avila Training Stables, Inc. is in Temecula, California. To learn more, go to bobavila.net. Credits Perfecting the Lope: Champion Western Horseman Bob Avila on How to Train a Horse to Counter- Canter and Change Leads While Loping This report is brought to you by the editors of EquiSearch.com and Horse&Rider magazine. 6