How to ask for a lope?
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Of course he knows how to lope, all horses do unless they are lame and you should not ride a lame horse. I could write out instructions for you here but it probably won't transfer very well to doing it. Ideally it would be great if you had someone on the ground showing you how, and they can see what you are doing wrong, if you're out of balance, etc. If that is not an option for you, go on YouTube and look up instructional videos on loping/cantering. That way you can see what is being done as well as spoken instructions. Good luck, hopefully you'll be loping around in no time.
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Thanks! I was looking on YouTube earlier today to try and find something but had little luck, if it isn’t a bother do you have any resources that you’d be willing to link? No worries if not my barns still closed so I haven’t been able to talk to my western trainer about this.😁
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Are you asking what are common cues for the lope? If so, here are some examples. Not everyone does it the same way.
1. Kissing sound
2. Clucking sound
3. One rein slightly lifted, and the opposite leg a little behind the leg; squeeze with legs. The rein you have lifted indicates which lead you want the horse to pick up.
4. Just squeezing your legs when you're already at a trot.
5. If you're already at the trot, and if you are posting, then sit for a couple of strides and then ask for the canter.
1. Kissing sound
2. Clucking sound
3. One rein slightly lifted, and the opposite leg a little behind the leg; squeeze with legs. The rein you have lifted indicates which lead you want the horse to pick up.
4. Just squeezing your legs when you're already at a trot.
5. If you're already at the trot, and if you are posting, then sit for a couple of strides and then ask for the canter.
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A previous horse of mine would lope/canter if I pressed with my left heal to her side. She could go from a walk to a canter that way.
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My guy goes with a kiss, and now that we're used to each other, he knows from my seat. I'm missing half my right leg, so I don't cue with legs. Try making a kissing sound while pushing with your seat? He may go just on that. If it's a cue problem and not a willingness issue, giving him his head, making a kissing sound, and "scooping" with your seat will likely let him know you'd like to lope.
It somewhat depends on how the horse was trained and how much training the horse has. Unfortunately not all trainers use a standardized cue for forward movement. So you may have to experiment so see what it takes to get your horse move into the lope.
Ultimately my horses will lope off of my seat position & leg cue, but when I first start them under saddle I also teach them forward movement from the ground using a verbal cue. I cluck for walk & trot and kiss for the lope. During the first rides I ask with my seat and legs, then reinforce with the verbal cue that was taught during ground work. As the horse advances the verbal cue goes away.
Best of luck
Ultimately my horses will lope off of my seat position & leg cue, but when I first start them under saddle I also teach them forward movement from the ground using a verbal cue. I cluck for walk & trot and kiss for the lope. During the first rides I ask with my seat and legs, then reinforce with the verbal cue that was taught during ground work. As the horse advances the verbal cue goes away.
Best of luck
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I've never ridden a horse that had a specific cue to canter. Anything that asks and "pushes" for speed. Squeezing with the legs or heels, clucking and they go into a trot--keep urging them with the clucking and squeezing and they just keep going faster until they break into a canter. I know, nothing too genius or professional about my method. LOL In the past, (when I was in my teens and 20s') ;we just kicked them up into a canter. No one seems to kick a horse anymore though.
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I tip the nose slightly to the inside, sit deeper on the outside hip, press with my outside calf and kiss. Off she goes in the correct lead. We usually don't trot before asking to lope as we can't do that in the cowhorse show pen; if the pattern is a trot in, you always stop and stand before setting off at the lope. In Ranch Horse classes you typically transition between walk/trot/lopes (not necessarily in that order); it's been a little hard for Pi to get the transitions, since we only lope in the cowhorse pen, LOL.
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Re: #5, if you sit for 3 strides, it makes it more likely to get the correct lead. Just fyi. That's assuming you're posting on the correct diagonal (outside front)
Up when the outside front is moving forward, Sit when the inside front is forward. Sit when the outside front is moving forward. Sit (the third sit) when the inside front and therefore outside hind is moving forward puts them naturally on the correct lead,as the hind is first foot -step of the caner (hind, diagonal front and other hind, then other front=the three beats of the canter) Outside hind moving first in the canter makes for the inside front being the 'lead'.So give the canter cue on the third Sit. Viola!
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