[pepperum]

I interested to know what aid people use to ask their horse for a flying change, for my horses i have always just ensured they are nice and balanced on both leads before starting to ask them to change by applying leg pressure on the offside that I want them to change. It is pretty consistant but not always effective.

I want to know the sure fire way to get a change first time everytime and if the need ever arose to get my horse to do two time changes and stuff.

 

[Lunachick]

I put my outside leg back a small bit and pull a bit on the inside rein.

 

[~*~anebel~*~]

Changes are tough! It can take a good year of solid work to get them so that they are clean even 90% of the time.
The first and most important thing is to get a good, calm reaction to the aid. The second thing is getting the horse to change on the stride that you want and the final thing is getting them clean (ie the horse switches front and back legs at the same time).
You want to make sure that the horse is well balanced in both true and counter canter and that they can easily do simple changes through the walk. From there it really depends on the horse on how best to teach them, but the basic premise is that you want to be able to slide and ask for the change with your legs on the count of three and have the horse jump through from the new inside leg to the new outside rein. The inside leg - outside rein connection is very important in the changes! It is likely if you are having to support too much with the new outside leg or new inside rein that the horse is not balanced or straight enough for the changes.

Good luck!

 

[Pro]

I watched a video once and it said "lift, shift, change". meaning lift the horses shoulder, shift your outside leg back, and change!! Not sure if it works, just saw it once.

 

[Spyder]

There have been so many threads on this that I am tired of reposting.

Unless the horse has major problems I get changes consistantly usually within 3 months.

 

[kevinshorses]

There have been so many threads on this that I am tired of reposting.

Unless the horse has major problems I get changes consistantly usually within 3 months.

Amen! lead changes are so easy for horses that they do them all by themselves when there isn't a human there to screw it up. If you get a horse balanced and comfortable and you are not in the horses way then you should have no problem with flying or simple lead changes.

 

[JB44]

the "lift, shift, change" is great. never heard it called that but have always done a 3 part signal. the horse then is prepared for the change, and gathered and ready. time it with his stride and be sure to ask at the right part of the stride. the "lift" will gather him a bit, the shift will warn him what's coming, then he is ready for the change signal.

also a great teaching cheat is to do this in a place where the change puts them heading where they want to go. when you are first teaching this. later when they know it, it will work elsewhere.

 

[MacabreMikolaj]

Essentially, that's the exact aid you need for flying changes, but you need to get your horse consistent before looking at tempi changes.

Watch a Grand Prix Dressage rider - the only real aid they are giving is to "re-ask" for the canter everytime they want the change. The "lift, shift, change" is a perfect way to describe it. If my horse knows flying changes and is not being consistent, then I would look at myself and ask what I'm doing wrong.

Keep in mind that two-time changes are an upper level movement and it is very possible that not all horses may have the athletic ability to do them properly.

 

[Kayty]

Have a look through the dressage thread and also i think the riding thread. There are so many flying changes topics that as Spyder said, there is no point re-writing the same thing over again.

As for tempi changes... they are an advanced dressage movement and require a high degree of collection, balance and sensitivity to the aids.