HELP!!! I have been riding since I was 12. Just getting back into showing after raising my son. I simply can not tell if I am on the correct lead - I just don't have the "feel". I took 2nd in an open pleasure class a few weeks ago, then when we went back in for the Champion of Champions I went all the way around on the wrong lead. How embarrasing! I can tell if I look down, but that is just not acceptable in the show ring. Does anyone have any hints or ideas to help me?

The way I teach my students is to feel for it.  Ideally when the horse first steps into the lope, you can feel one shoulder reach forward more than the other.  You can feel it in you hips, the lead hip will pull that way.  Once loping, your foot on the lead side will pull forward more than the other foot.  These are very small movements, but with practice you should be knowing your leads in no time. 

Does anyone else have any suggestions?  I am always looking for new ways to teach my students.

 What about diagonals? How do you know what diagonal your on to post correctly. Is it when inside shoulder goes up, you go up, or the other way around? 

Thanks - I'll work on it today after work. My problem is the lack of "feel". My horse is so smooth that I really can't tell - been working on this for the last 2 years - you think I would get it!

Congrats on doing so well after such a long lay off! I train horses but I don't usually instruct riders unless I see what they want me to correct is not the horse's fault. A gizmo I made to help riders ask for a lead change at the correct time might help you a little bit; four or five sleigh bells threaded on a rawhide strip and loosely tied to one of the horse's front pasterns. The bells float on the pastern and jingle when that leg makes footfall, identifying the lead by  the alternating sound pattern of front hoofbeats; jingle, thud, jingle, thud... or thud, jingle, thud, jingle. The bells might help you practice and focus on what you see and feel from the horse's shoulders and your seat without having to look down. I haven't used them for that but they've been helpful teaching a rider to know when the hind legs are coming forward; the time to ask for a lead change. If you decide to use something like that, several longe-line sessions with the bells in place are needed to get the horse acclimated to them.

Getting the feel for your leads comes with lots of practice, so be patient with yourself and ride whenever you can. ~FH

Now there's a way to get Starlette to spook! LOL!

Florida Horseman:

...several longe-line sessions with the bells in place are needed to get the horse acclimated to them.

You don't know my horse LOL!  She always chases the "barn" rabbit (cottontail) out of her pasture (I think she would be a great cow horse...if she wasn't afraid of cows!), and yesterday she decided to spook at it instead...of course, while I was on board! :)

I really didn't think that anyone would just put bells on and ride...then again, I probably should re-think that, too!  I'm sure there's always someone.... 

 

Practice at home by feeling for the correct lead, then checking to see if you're right. Do a lot of transitions from the walk and jog to the lope, feel it a few strides, look to see if you're right, then do it again. It helps make your horse more responsive too, she will be waiting for your cues to stop or start, rather then just thinking she's going to lope a few times around the ring.  Also, if you really don't want to look (when schooling at home) try circling your horse, if she's on the wrong lead she'll feel off balance. Good luck, it'll come eventually.

Dukey, you're on the correct diagonal when you go up with the outside shoulder.

i've used bells before on both my boys.

Fantacy becuase he wasn't paying attention to where HE put his feet while trail riding

and CB becuase he wasn't picking up his feet.

pitbull1929:

Dukey, you're on the correct diagonal when you go up with the outside shoulder.

 

Thank you!!! My old instructor told me the other way around. I think that's why I left. She kept telling me things wrong.

Thanks to everyone for their input. The bells just may help. Cinco is really laid back, so I know they won't faze him. The judge @ the last show suggested to me to put a strip of duct tape on each shoulder so that I would have a "visual" without leaning over. Yesterday's ride was very good & we didn't miss a single lead. Aside from my lack of "feel" Cinco will tend to "cheat" on me. I can have him in the correct position to take the proper lead & then he'll drop his inside shoulder & take off on the wrong lead. Another part of my issue is - SHOW RING NERVES. I'm fine in the warm up before the class & once in class the nerves raise their ugly head. I'm trying deep breathing/relaxing techniques to keep from getting stiff & tight. I ride an average of 6 days out of 7. I just need to build up my confidence & knock down this wall about leads. It is very frustrating - but I WILL conquer this.

Dukey,

"Rise and fall with the leg on the wall" is an easy saying to remember which foreleg to rise with in the posting trot. 

It's perfectly acceptable to glance down at your horse's shoulder to check your leads in a pleasure class. That's a class that isn't judged on the rider--just the horse's performance. However, being able to feel your leads does give you that extra bit of polish that scores you bonus points in the show pen. When you're practicing, try rolling your seatbones deep into your saddle then ask for the lope.  Concentrate on the motion of your pelvis.  If you're on the left lead, your pelvis should rock forward and toward the left, and your left leg should feel like it's swinging forward.

Also, you may want to review how you set your horse up for a lope departure.  Setting her up to get the correct lead will help you in the long run.  Are you getting her body in the right position?  I put my left leg on and ask for my horse to move his hips ever so slightly toward the inside of the pen, then give a soft cluck to cue the forward motion.  By setting up his body this way, I'm making it easier for him to reach forward with his inside (lead leg) and with his outside leg.  This might sound fuzzy when you read it, but try it a few times and it will start to make sense.

editted to add: I just read where you said he will drop his shoulder on you. The second he does that , pick up his front end and spin him in the direction of the lead you were asking for. And I mean SPIN--hard and fast. He knows better, so make his find out that doing the wrong thing means more work for him. Let him settle, then ask for the lead again. If he gets it right, let him lope on for awhile with no correction.

 Thanks Nicole for your help.