Horse Problem - Cross Firing/Lead Changes - Horse cross fires/doesn't change leads correctly, how to fix?

We moved him to another stable that was closer to our home so that we could rent a stall and put some weight on him. After a bit of weight and a better all around home, he started to feel better, thus some of his manners began to change for the negative. He would buck and shy away from things while the girls would be riding him. He also put me off him a couple of times. I knew there had to be a way of training him that fit the way we felt best for him and us too.

That is when I found your web site. I ran off your round pen lesson, studied it, then went out to put it to use. I could not believe that the first time I used it, he did exactly as you said he would. In no time at all, he would turn for me with just raising my hand! He dropped his ears toward me, lowered his head, and when I took the pressure off him, he turns and walks right up to me!! This all came in the first lesson! We have been improving each time I get in the round pen with him; he now understands that I am the leader of our little herd, when before he thought he could push us around.

Now to my question. Jett is having problems picking up his correct left canter lead, and "cross canters" most of the time. My girls showed him for the first time this year, but can only do a walk trot class because of this problem. I want to work on this so that next spring, he will be ready for a walk trot canter class for them. I will have all fall and winter to take my time with him.

I am just a person who loves her horse and wants the best for him. I am in no way a professional horse trainer, and I liked your web site because it is easy for even a rookie like me to use your instructions, and get results. I am looking forward to your instructions because I know you feel the same way about your own horses as we do ours.

I have taught my girls that their horse is God's own and that we need to do the best for him always because God gave him to us to help along his way to being their best friend. I wish you were closer to us that I could attend one of your classes, but we live in Northern Kentucky, and due to money matters and two girls in school, it leaves little time for trips!

Thank you for your time for me, and I look forward to hearing from you!

Let me see what I can do here now to get you on the right track with the lead changes & cross cantering (or sometimes called "cross firing") problem you're having there now. Cross cantering or cross firing is cantering with one lead in front leg and the opposite lead with back leg and makes for a very bumpy, unbalanced ride. The correct lead would be: the horse cantering with both front and back legs leading on the inside.

Since we always like to rule out physical problems before assuming a problem is behavioral in nature, I would make sure to rule out any pain issues first, which indeed could throw a horse off balance, or make them unable to perform properly. Pain issues like poor saddle fit is a quite common problem, which you can read about here:

http://www.naturalhorsetraining.com/TrainingTips40.html

And also you would want to rule out even a past injury potentially causing discomfort still (back or hips involved perhaps). Good idea to have a vet and/or equine chiropractic check just to rule that out first. Once those issues are ruled out, then you are left to assume that the horse just doesn't understand or know how to change leads properly, so, if that's the case, here's what you can do to fix that problem/reschool there:

Teaching a Horse to Change Leads

A horse must learn to change leads properly when he changes directions, especially when moving in a circle or in a particular arced direction of any kind. When a horse is loping, he has the same leg action in front and behind similar to how a person skips. In other words, just as when you, the human, are skipping, one leg takes a longer step out front and reaches ahead of the other leg. Hence, this reaching forward, or one leg leading action, is where the term “lead” comes from. And it is important for the horse to learn this for proper balance. In order for the horse to maintain an even balance, his leading leg must be on the inside of his turn to carry his body weight properly and evenly.

Try this experiment for better understanding here: Using your own legs, skip in a circle to the left yourself with your left leg leading at every skip. Notice how you can maintain your balance well there. Now, while still circling to the left, switch over to skipping with your right leg leading forward there instead. Notice how much harder it is to be smooth and remain properly balanced if you try to lead with your right leg when skipping to the left. It is the same for the horse, except with the horse there are four legs, not just two to deal with there. For that reason, it is important that the horse be in the correct lead when circling or moving in a particular arced direction. It is also a smoother, more comfortable ride for the rider when the horse is in the correct lead.

Working on lead changes at liberty in the round pen

Ask the horse to move in a requested direction at liberty in the round pen. If the horse is in the correct lead, his inside front leg will be reaching out ahead of his outside front leg. If you are having a hard time at first seeing which lead the horse is on, because this concept is new to you, you can put white or colored boots or wraps on the left side of the horse’s body only (left front leg and left back leg). This often helps you to more easily visually spot which leg is in front leading at first.

As the horse moves the requested direction in the round pen, ask for a turn. If the horse picks up the correct lead after the turn, leave him alone, go softer in your body language while still keeping shoulders squared on him, eye-to-eye contact, and let him move at liberty freely that direction for several smooth, uninterrupted-with-turns laps.

If, however, after the turn the horse does not pick up the correct lead (if he leads with his outside front leg instead), quickly ask him to turn back the direction he just came from, and after that turn-back, instantly turn him again to repeat the turn in the originally requested direction. Make the right thing easy, the wrong thing hard there. Most times this helps the horse to learn that things are easier (he is left alone, less pressure, less quick turning, less work!) if he picks up the correct lead there from the get go. When he does find the correct lead there, send him around several laps that direction (no turns for a while) so he can begin to get comfortable with leading with the correct lead that direction. Most horses are slightly one-sided and inevitably there will be one side more clumsy/off-balance than the other there. You want to get both sides equally balanced, so this is a good exercise to try to work on in the round pen with the horse at liberty, but is only the beginning really, as you are going to have to introduce the lead changes again in saddle.

Lead Changes in Saddle

In truth, lead changes are usually a much bigger mental obstacle for riders than they are a physical challenge for most horses. Out in the pasture, or even in the wild, horses generally have no problem changing leads to what more comfortably balances their body out there, at liberty. It’s important to understand what is happening to a horse’s body and how his legs work together in the lope, with one side leading, the other side trailing, especially at the canter or lope.

One way to understand the dynamics of a lead change is to picture a boxer in front of a punching bag. Stand up and pretend you are a boxer. Notice how a boxer’s stance switches from right side to left side and back again while punching a punching bag. Let's say he is going to punch out with the right fist. First, he rocks back slightly with his left leg back. Next, he brings his hands together for an instant, and then reaches forward with the (opposite side) right fist. Timing and body position are crucial there so that the boxer doesn’t lose his rhythm or miss a beat or lose his balance. Much like that boxer (where the boxer’s fists represent a horse’s front legs, and the boxer’s legs represent the horse’s back legs), a horse makes a similar switch during a moment of suspension in its stride to change his leading leg when making a lead change. Therefore, it’s important for riders to keep their body position back, not forward (remember: the boxer shifts back first before bringing the front forward), at the moment of the lead change switch, so the rider does not interfere with the horse’s needed balance and elevation in the front end (to get that “horse fist” forward).

One way to get a feel for your horse’s natural lead change is to lope your horse over a log. Horses will naturally tend to change leads on their own as they prep to move over low objects. You can especially see this if you take that small jump at an angle.

In order to master a flying lead change, think of the lead changes as simply lope departures with no halts in between. Therefore, a rider should make sure their lope departures are perfected before trying to do lead changes.

Also, the real key to mastering lead changes is to have the horse soft and responsive to reins and legs in the first place. If there is any resistance there, a lead change will be more difficult to master. Spend some practice time doing simple serpentines, circles and figure eights in an arena, helping the horse to perform those with “soft feel” in the reins and easy responsiveness to leg cues (horse moves away from leg pressure easily and responsively).

John Lyons teaches a great exercise there to get better, more refined rein responses. Picture that you and your horse are standing on a large clock; the horse’s head is facing 12 o’clock and his rear is at 6 o’clock. Ride a straight line forward (straight forward is 12 o’clock), pick up the right rein, ask for the horse to turn to 1 o’clock, releasing (slack in) the rein the second the horse complies by turning to precisely 1 o'clock, and continue walking forward (12 o’clock again). All horses learn from the release of pressure what it is you want, not the pressure itself, so get your release timing split-second instant the second you get what you want there. Then walk forward (12 o’clock again).

Once the horse masters turning to 1 o’clock smoothly, consistently, several repetitions, now pick up the left rein and ask for a turn to 11 o’clock, releasing the instant you get that and then walk forward (12 o’clock). Do multiple repetitions of that. Next, practice vacillating between your turns to 1 o’clock, walk forward, then turn the other direction to 11 o’clock, and then walk forward.

When the horse gets that down smoothly, now ask for the turn to the right to 2 o’clock, walk forward, multiple repetitions; next ask for 10 o’clock to the left, then walk forward, multiple repetitions of that. When you reach asking to the right for 3 o’clock and to the left for 9 o’clock, you will be stopping the horse’s forward motion more overtly in order to make that pivot to 3 & 9 o’clock and the horse will be rocking back onto his hind quarters (so, shift your own weight back at that turning point) in order to position his front feet properly for that turn. Increasingly, you will be connecting the horse’s brain to his feet and your reins to his feet. Continue with this game until you have mastered turning to all numbers on that clock and have full control of the horse’s four feet. This is a great exercise to break down controlling your horse’s feet more precisely before expecting to add in a more sophisticated maneuver like lead changes. This will also teach your horse (and you the rider) to shift his (and your!) weight appropriately back when making a turn or directional change. Once the horse can master this exercise at a walk, do the same exercise at a trot, then a lope.

To then tackle teaching the horse to make lead changes, ask him to walk a straight line out. It’s usually easiest to get a horse to make a lead change when his body is straight at first. During practice of the lead change, when making the directional change, slow down immediately after the direction change so that the horse will learn not to hurry or bolt through a lead change. The idea is to encourage the horse to move in a relaxed and natural frame and the earlier clock exercise will help him to get there easier.

Another exercise you can do to help a horse learn to make the proper lead change after that clock exercise is ride a perfect figure 8 made out of two circles, using a rope to divide the two circles. Lope with the horse, but as you make the turn to change directions, drop to a trot to help him find the correct lead. Remember to sit back in your seat as the horse shifts directions so that the horse can free up his front feet to find the correct lead, or you won’t get it. Remember the boxer analogy above – the boxer has to shift his weight back with his [“back”] leg before he can properly balance to reach forward with his opposite correct [“front”] hand!

Simple Lead Changes

It’s best to teach a horse a simple lead change before expecting him to understand and be able to perform a “flying lead change” (a flying lead change is simply a lead change that occurs at a lope without breaking speed stride). A simple lead change is one in which the horse is slowed from a lope to a trot before taking the other lead. To accomplish a simple change of leads (again using a figure eight to practice helps here), slow the horse down to a trot, change directions and simply ask him to lope again.

To help the horse to find the correct lead there at the direction change, cue the horse for the lead at the turn point by pushing his hindquarters with your leg in the direction of the lead you desire. In other words, envision you are loping the horse to the left in the circle of the figure eight. As you reach the center intersection point of the eight, and want to shift now to going right, slow the horse to a trot there at the center point, pick up the right rein to let him know you want to go right now, sit back in your seat (i.e., shift your weight back, which releases the horse’s front quarters), and with your left leg gently push his hindquarter in to let him know you want that hindquarter over and his front right leg to reach forward now. He will reach out with his now-inside leg and take the proper lead. He might be clumsy at it at first, but be patient, be consistent and he will get it. Many, many repetitions of this will get him listening better and performing the simple lead change reflexively.

If you find the horse gets stuck there not understanding your leg cues there, back up in his training and fix this problem at a standstill first. While sitting on the horse at a halt, with your inside leg slightly behind the girth, gently bump the hindquarter over with that one leg, but release your leg off the horse the second the horse steps those hindquarters under himself. Do this on both sides until the horse understands how to separate out his hindquarters only with just your leg. What you are doing there in practice at a standstill is teaching your horse to step over with his hindquarters behind. If your horse moves his right leg and steps under himself when you ask with your right leg slightly behind the girth, that indeed is the same signal you will give him to canter, left lead. A horse picks up a left lead starting by using his right hind deep under himself just like that. Now just build on that at an increased speed and you will get him understanding what you want when making a lead change at a faster gait.

Flying Lead Changes

A flying lead change is when the rear and front of the horse change almost simultaneously, with no strides in between. Timing is critical in making a flying lead change. The procedure is very similar to a skipping person changing from leading with one leg, then to the other. So, practice doing that yourself with your own body so you can get a little deeper insight into the body dynamics involved there – and if you’re not all that coordinated there, you might get an idea how hard this might be to communicate this lead change to a horse at first and therefore how patient you need to be as he gets it – patient with the horse and with yourself!

Changing leads requires that the non-leading or off leg take a longer stride than usual to suddenly become the leading leg. Again, try this on your own with your own legs to get some clarity there. However, in the flying lead change for a horse, the horse has a double problem in that he must change both in front and behind at the same time. This can be broken down for better horse understanding via one of three ways:

1. Front legs first – To change leads in the front legs first at a lope, cue the horse or turn the horse with inside rein when his front legs are just coming off the ground, so that he reaches for the new lead. As his hind legs come off the ground, cue the horse with leg pressure to reach with his off hind leg and change that lead.
2. Back legs first - In lead changing the back legs first, apply leg pressure to the horse’s side when the front legs are on the ground and the hind legs are coming up. The horse moves away from that leg pressure and reaches with his rear legs, changing them first. As the rear legs hit the ground and the front legs are elevated, turn the horse in the direction of the desired lead for the lead change in front.
3. Simultaneous (front and back) lead changes - Simultaneous changes can be accomplished by applying leg pressure and turning the horse with the reins simultaneously, in the flying stage of his movement. You do this immediately after the leading leg comes off of the ground.

Additional Aids to Teaching Flying Lead Changes

Side pass – A horse can sometimes more easily be taught a flying lead change by loping on one lead, stopping, side passing him the other direction and then taking the other lead. This helps to teach the concept of leg cues for changing leads. Also, by stopping the horse before each change of leads, the horse can remain calmer and quieter because each lead change is associated with a quiet stop. This is one of the easiest and most common methods of breaking it all down to teach lead changes.

Jumps - By changing leads over a small jump, taking the jump at a diagonal or angle (like a low cavaletti or even just a log on the ground), the horse is required to pick his feet up higher off the ground and will reach for the correct lead more naturally. You need a little speed for this but keep the horse on rational mode so he can learn. A small jump of only a pole encourages the longer stride with the off leg that is necessary for a smooth lead change.

Clucking or kissing – Clucking or kissing to the horse at the moment of the desired lead change can also help the horse to snatch his feet off the ground quicker and higher in much the same way as he would do over the jump. This helps to encourage smoother lead changes.

Final Notes: Praise the horse often throughout the lesson (stroke, don’t pat!), rewarding for the smallest tries and slightest changes in the right direction, and he will be more willing to try to perform what you are asking of him. If at any time you feel the horse is too confused, stop, rebond with him in a one-rein stop, head over to the side for you to pet on, and drop back to the basics and rebuild upward from there again. Most importantly, be patient with the horse as well as patient with yourself and you will both get there

 

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