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 Expert
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Location: Somewhere around here | So I got thinking in another post about what legs we ask for what leads and I was curious on how everyone else asked her horse for a lead. When you ask your horse for a right lead do you use your right leg or do you use the opposite leg? I've ridden horses that go one way or the other and I was just curious and how everyone else does it. And tell us why you train your horses that way or if it's a horse that you didn't train and it came that way. I used to train the horses to pick up the lead of my opposite leg and I only started changing that when I married my husband who did more reining. |
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Duct Tape Bikini Girl
Posts: 2554
| Opposite leg |
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 I'm Cooler Offline
Posts: 6387
Location: Pacific Northwest | I've always done opposite leg. Hold with my inside, cue with my opposite. |
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 460
| My horses pick up a lead the same side as the leg I'm cuing. Ex: Right leg to pick up right lead and left leg to pick up left lead. But I put pressure on the outside rein, not a lot, but I have definite contact =] Has always worked for me and my horses =] Interesting topic! |
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Married to a Louie Lover
Posts: 3303
| Opposite/outside leg. As someone who grew up riding HJ and dressage and learned through those methods, I’d be super interested in the theory behind reiners asking with the inside/same leg as the lead, this isn’t the first time I’ve heard of that.
It was a rule growing up with one trainer that if you were using your reins you’d better also be adding leg (it solves everything, when in doubt add leg). If you were on the inside rein you added outside leg, if you weren’t circling we were riding inside leg to outside rein. A half halt on both reins came with the addition of both legs. And you always used your legs when you asked for a halt. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 460
| Not sure of the theory behind the reiners...but for my coach, I was taught that you were essentially "lifting" up the shoulder you wanted to be in the lead of. If that makes sense? She had a way better explanation, that's just how I remember it haha. So now when I pick up a lead, I literally use my foot to pretend I'm picking them up, and it has never lead me wrong! Haha that wasn't very punny ;] Yes, I had a few cups of coffee already today =p |
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Expert
Posts: 1631
Location: Somewhere around here | Katielovestbs - 2017-12-22 2:27 PM
Not sure of the theory behind the reiners...but for my coach, I was taught that you were essentially "lifting" up the shoulder you wanted to be in the lead of. If that makes sense? She had a way better explanation, that's just how I remember it haha. So now when I pick up a lead, I literally use my foot to pretend I'm picking them up, and it has never lead me wrong! Haha that wasn't very punny ;] Yes, I had a few cups of coffee already today =p
Right! That's exactly what my husband told me and described it. I grew up riding more so the "English way" and to be honest I kinda miss it. It made more sense to me. I'll probably go back to that way eventually and tick off my hubby lol. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 623
Location: /ARKANSAS | you always make what you want your horse to do easy and the wrong thing hard. I was taught to hold with the inside leg and to push the rear end over to open the horse up for the correct lead. always help me remember |
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 Saint Stacey
| There really isn’t a right or wrong way. Show people use the outside leg so the judge can’t see the cue when on the rail. They also pretty much train making the horse move away from leg pressure. I personally like the outside leg. The initial step is from behind. I’ll tip the nose to the inside to have the correct arch and then push the hip with the outside leg to pick up the lead. You can feel the lead the horse is about to step off into before they take that first step if you develop enough feel.
I did have a horse that was trained inside leg. You tipped his nose inside and then swung the inside leg to get him to lope off. What it did was force you to stay slightly outside on the departure. It worked, but it was harder to train and use.
Biggest thing is to keep the frame correct and learn to feel that departure step. Then it really doesn’t matter how you ask as long as you are consistent. |
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 Expert
Posts: 2097
Location: Deep South | I use inside rein, outside leg. Rein to lift/open the shoulder, leg to push that hip underneath them. |
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Veteran
Posts: 286
| half halt
half halt
half halt
inside nose and inside leg
and then
windshield wiper with the outside leg
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 411
Location: Smack in the middle of WA! | I use inside leg at the girth, outside leg back to move the hip in. Also cue with the inside rein. I want my horse to pick up whichever lead I want on a straight line. I take western dressage lessons on my barrel horses. This seems to carry over well to barrels. I can ask my horses to be on the correct lead heading to the 1st barrel without having to circle. It also helps them learn to switch their lead after the 1st barrel with a quick switch of my feet. I like my horses to switch their lead right after the 1st barrel instead of waiting until they get to the 2nd barrel! |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 883
Location: Southern Indiana | Inside. It's just more natural and works better with the fundamentals of barrel racing. You use your inside leg when turning a barrel, so this just sets them up for that. |
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The Advice Guru
Posts: 6419
| I use my inside hip. I shift my hip forward slightly to cue them to drive with the inside hind which then causes them to pick up the lead.
I do start out on colts having to use the entire leg, (method to exaggerate) but when they are broke, just the hip. |
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 Coyote Country Queen
Posts: 5666
| I want my horse to move off of pressure, not into it. With that training in mind, I use my outside leg to ask for the lead. There are a lot of little tricks you can do if you have a green horse not wanting to pick up leads, but I've found one of the easiest things is to step your weight into the outside stirrup and pick up the inside rein when asking them lope. When transitioning from a trot to a lope, if you're posting the correct diagonal it's much easier to get the correct lead. Honestly, leads have rarely every been an issue for me, and that is thanks to a western pleasure trainer and stubborn horse that really made me pay attention and cue correctly. I think a lot of it has to do with with feel and timing.
I have a question for those of you that use the inside leg. How do you cue for the horse to do things that require them to move off of leg pressure (pivoting, two-tracking, counter-canter, etc)? I'm having a hard time wrapping my mind around this!
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 Nothing Comes Easy
Posts: 2353
Location: Texas | When asking for a lead, I bring back my outside leg a little to hold the hip, hold my outside rein, lift with my inside hand, and cue with my inside foot. This will hold the hip in, lift my horse in the front end and drive them back on the outside hind where the lead should begin.
It's how I was explained to by a dressage trainer when I was having lots of trouble with my 4 year old last year. We went from struggling with our lead departures for several months to fixing them in 1 session. It's not everyone's style, but the mechanics were explained to me, and it made sense. My mare kept falling on my front end, losing her frame, and doing flying lead changes prior to doing the above.
Edited by Stride 2017-12-23 2:07 AM
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 Lived to tell about it and will never do it again
Posts: 5408
| I have always used inside foot. I kinda push the inside elbow forward with it. Uncle Ed hated that method, said that it makes the horse think he is suppose to move over. I think it really just depends on each person/horse style. |
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The Advice Guru
Posts: 6419
| Jenbabe - 2017-12-22 10:18 PM
I want my horse to move off of pressure, not into it. With that training in mind, I use my outside leg to ask for the lead. There are a lot of little tricks you can do if you have a green horse not wanting to pick up leads, but I've found one of the easiest things is to step your weight into the outside stirrup and pick up the inside rein when asking them lope. When transitioning from a trot to a lope, if you're posting the correct diagonal it's much easier to get the correct lead. Honestly, leads have rarely every been an issue for me, and that is thanks to a western pleasure trainer and stubborn horse that really made me pay attention and cue correctly. I think a lot of it has to do with with feel and timing.
I have a question for those of you that use the inside leg. How do you cue for the horse to do things that require them to move off of leg pressure (pivoting, two-tracking, counter-canter, etc)? I'm having a hard time wrapping my mind around this!
I use a different place in their rib cage for each movement.
Pivot on the front, I move my leg by the back cinch
Turn on the haunches, leg behind the front cinch
Lift the shoulder leg on the front cinch
Pick up the lead, I use my hip, not my legs. To train this I use hip first, then leg, then reins, just like teaching a horse to stop, you sit down first say whoa then pull on the reins |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 851
Location: West Texas | Inside leg forward and out, outside leg back and in. The horse's hip is pushed to inside and horse takes lead with hind end first. The horse must not dive the shoulder in. It needs to stay square and elevated.
It is incorrect to push speed for a lope departure or to dive a tight circle to pick up a lead. A horse needs to be collected and rocked back on the hind end.
Edited by Tdove 2017-12-23 10:25 AM
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 380
| Leads start back to front. Half-halt: Apply outside leg just behind girth to move the haunches and drive from the back end. Then almost immediately after the leg aid you will lift "I gently sponge" your inside rein to aid in lifting the inside shoulder.Do not throw away your outside rein contact. Your inside leg plays a supportive role by maintaining contact, encouraging forward motion and lifting the ribcage and helping the horse from falling on his forehand. Eventually lifting the rein will become less necessary since the horse will learn to recognize the half halt at the leg and have self carriage. Meaning you won't need to help them as much. Always start on a 20 meter circle or bigger. Bending always starts from bigger circles to smaller circles. Not the other way around.
This is easier if your horse knows how knows how to move his huanches, shoulders and ribcage at walk and trot first. And even better if your horse has a natural ability in picking up leads correctly on the ground in the first place.
Shoulder in, haunches in, pivoting on the forehand, leg yields and even halfpass are all nice exercises to practice to support consistent lead departures.
That's how I was trained.
I do know a trainer that uses the inside leg. He reason being that it helps keep the horse from hitting the barrel. But if your horse is bending his ribcage and moving the shoulder then it won't really matter.
Edited by SloRide 2017-12-23 10:39 AM
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Posts: 133
| I use Jack Brainard's method. Doesn't use head bending to one side or the other, etc. I lift a little on the lead side and let the horse find it with no stress over time.
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I just read the headlines
Posts: 4483
| SaritaStorm - 2017-12-23 1:02 PM
I use Jack Brainard's method. Doesn't use head bending to one side or the other, etc. I lift a little on the lead side and let the horse find it with no stress over time.
Love that book! |
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Sock Snob
Posts: 3021
| Lot of good videos on u tube with reining trainers. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 618
| hank520 - 2017-12-22 8:25 PM
I use inside leg at the girth, outside leg back to move the hip in. Also cue with the inside rein. I want my horse to pick up whichever lead I want on a straight line. I take western dressage lessons on my barrel horses. This seems to carry over well to barrels. I can ask my horses to be on the correct lead heading to the 1st barrel without having to circle. It also helps them learn to switch their lead after the 1st barrel with a quick switch of my feet. I like my horses to switch their lead right after the 1st barrel instead of waiting until they get to the 2nd barrel!
^^^^^this is what I do. Super easy for me to teach my colts |
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 Warrior Mom
Posts: 4400
| When I got my current horse he only knew his left lead he was a die hard head horse. Took me a long time to finally get him to understand it was ok to travel to the right on the right lead. My husband and the man that trained that horse say I ruined him by teaching him to go on the right lead and teaching him the barrels lol! Team ropers... anyway my horse is pretty automatic now on picking up correct leads depending on which direction we are going. But if I'm just playing around in the pasture and I want the left lead I'll very slightly pick up on my left rein and cue with my right leg.. and vice versa if I want the right. Interesting subject and it's interesting to read how people do it differently.  |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 629
| Leads are my absolute pet peeve. I use my reins to hold them together and straight, maybe only a slight tip of the nose to the lead side. No different than I'd ask them to tip their nose in toward a barrel, or to go in a circle. So with nose slightly tipped in, I use my opposite heel to push and a kiss. |
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 Proud to be Deplorable
Posts: 1929
| "You have to move the back end before the front end" I learned this Quote 60 years ago. It still holds true today. |
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 Take a Picture
Posts: 12838
| I guess it doesn't matter how you cue them. Use what works best for you but consistency is critical. |
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Coyote Country Queen
Posts: 5666
| I have another question for you. Seems like there are some pretty complex methods for asking for a lead. Do you use these every single time you ask for the lead, or just when they are learning? If you're doing this every time, that seems like a lot of work/effort. When I'm starting a horse I might use several cues and movements to make sure the horse stays correct in their travel while catching the correct lead. But once they're broke my cue is light. For my horses that want to move out, it's like was mentioned earlier, a shift of the hips. For the lazy bums they might require more of a bump. Just wondering if I was misunderstanding, because it came across to me that each time you cue for the lead you are doing all of these actions. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 725
| With my finished/broke horses I pick up on inside rein to get the nose to the inside of the circle and squeeze evenly with both legs and release hand and feet as they take the lead, works great for me and helps with the lazy horses to lope off quicker than just using feet. When riding a young horse I use outside leg with the inside rein. |
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Take a Picture
Posts: 12838
| Jenbabe - 2017-12-24 1:19 PM
I have another question for you. Seems like there are some pretty complex methods for asking for a lead. Do you use these every single time you ask for the lead, or just when they are learning? If you're doing this every time, that seems like a lot of work/effort. When I'm starting a horse I might use several cues and movements to make sure the horse stays correct in their travel while catching the correct lead. But once they're broke my cue is light. For my horses that want to move out, it's like was mentioned earlier, a shift of the hips. For the lazy bums they might require more of a bump. Just wondering if I was misunderstanding, because it came across to me that each time you cue for the lead you are doing all of these actions.
The paint in my avatar is 13. I raised him. I still use the same cue that he was started with to pick up leads. He gets worked on basics every time I ride him. I hardly ever work him on the pattern. If he makes a mistake during a run, it is because I made a mistake. Rider needs a tune up every once in awhile. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 966
Location: Loco,Ok | Ride the horse..I worked for 6 big time outfits. World Champions Hall of fame all of them. Never worried about them. If horse can't figure out where he's feet go in time. Might want to reconsider him. It should be natural. They don't have to be cued running loose. It's your job to be as close to that as possible. You can speed them up a little if need to. At bit more speed they have to be correct. Most of the time. We trot and lope if horse in.wrong lead keep going. Fatigue will change that. It's hard on one in wrong lead in deep sand. Anyway that what I was taught. Bill Freeman and Jim Lee. Jr Garrison, John Burrus, Shorty Russell. Bill Riddle That's pretty good hands there. Over 20.years starting colts for them.It's called The don't make it harder than it has to be method.
Edited by clampitt 2017-12-26 9:21 AM
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 617
| Tdove - 2017-12-23 10:22 AM
Inside leg forward and out, outside leg back and in. The horse's hip is pushed to inside and horse takes lead with hind end first. The horse must not dive the shoulder in. It needs to stay square and elevated.
It is incorrect to push speed for a lope departure or to dive a tight circle to pick up a lead. A horse needs to be collected and rocked back on the hind end.
This. The first step is done with the horses outside hind leg. I want to cue the horse where the gait starts. I also push their hind in if I'm having issues with leads, it's extremely helpful. Sandy Collier is a known reining cow horse trainer and does it this way; not all reiner's use the inside leg. I think it's personal preference. Im sure both ways have benefits. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 617
| clampitt - 2017-12-25 5:56 PM
Ride the horse..I worked for 6 big time outfits. World Champions Hall of fame all of them. Never worried about them. If horse can't figure out where he's feet go in time. Might want to reconsider him. It should be natural. They don't have to be cued running loose. It's your job to be as close to that as possible. You can speed them up a little if need to. At bit more speed they have to be correct. Most of the time. We trot and lope if horse in.wrong lead keep going. Fatigue will change that. It's hard on one in wrong lead in deep sand. Anyway that what I was taught. Bill Freeman and Jim Lee. Jr Garrison, John Burrus, Shorty Russell. Bill Riddle That's pretty good hands there. Over 20.years starting colts for them.
I don't think she has issues picking up on correct lead, she was asking how people cue since there's different methods. |
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 Off the Wall Wacky
Posts: 2981
Location: Louisiana | fastwrapn3 - 2017-12-22 4:00 PM
you always make what you want your horse to do easy and the wrong thing hard. I was taught to hold with the inside leg and to push the rear end over to open the horse up for the correct lead. always help me remember
THIS.
To me, it isn't about which leg I'm asking with...if their body is in proper position, they should naturally pick up the correct lead. And I'm using both legs to keep them in the position I want. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 889
Location: on the fine line between insanity and geniusness | clampitt - 2017-12-25 5:56 PM
Ride the horse..I worked for 6 big time outfits. World Champions Hall of fame all of them. Never worried about them. If horse can't figure out where he's feet go in time. Might want to reconsider him. It should be natural. They don't have to be cued running loose. It's your job to be as close to that as possible. You can speed them up a little if need to. At bit more speed they have to be correct. Most of the time. We trot and lope if horse in.wrong lead keep going. Fatigue will change that. It's hard on one in wrong lead in deep sand. Anyway that what I was taught. Bill Freeman and Jim Lee. Jr Garrison, John Burrus, Shorty Russell. Bill Riddle That's pretty good hands there. Over 20.years starting colts for them.It's called The don't make it harder than it has to be method.
This!! Are y’all doing these “maneuvers” on finished horses to grab their leads? |
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 Born not Made
Posts: 2931
Location: North Dakota | A lead starts with the horse taking off on the correct hind foot. Essentially, that's step number one in having the horse set up for success. Therefore, that is why it makes sense to me to use the "outside" leg. Let's say you are picking up the right lead. The horse needs to step off with the left hind leg, in order to have their feet in the correct place. If I use my (outside) left leg slightly back, I can push the horse's hip to the right, asking them to step that left hind leg underneath them. That automatically puts the leg in the correct position for them to "take off" with it.
I do agree that shoulder placement is also important to help your horse get the rest of their feet in the correct order, but again, it all starts with the hind foot. I may or may not use any supporting inside leg -- it just depends on what the horse needs. Shoulder control is REALLY important when you start asking for a horse to do flying lead changes, so it is important that the horse at least understands it for simple lead departures as well. I usually am not doing too much with the reins. I honestly don't really care where their nose is, because if I have their body in the correct place, they'll get their lead. So I'm mostly working on keeping them straight, and helping keep the shoulder in position.
I actually like to teach a horse to pick up a lead on a straightaway. It makes everything easier if they learn how to stand themselves up and stay straight. They don't have a chance to learn to dive or drop a shoulder if they are straight to begin with.
It does not make sense to me to use the inside leg to cue for a lead departure. But if that works for you, more power to ya.
On my "finished" horses, when I show locally, they are on a loose rein and I barely have to squeeze with my outside leg, and lean forward slightly, and they take off into their lead. Of course, that's what they've learned after time in the saddle and practice!
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 617
| Ashley Lynn - 2017-12-26 10:02 AM
clampitt - 2017-12-25 5:56 PM
Ride the horse..I worked for 6 big time outfits. World Champions Hall of fame all of them. Never worried about them. If horse can't figure out where he's feet go in time. Might want to reconsider him. It should be natural. They don't have to be cued running loose. It's your job to be as close to that as possible. You can speed them up a little if need to. At bit more speed they have to be correct. Most of the time. We trot and lope if horse in.wrong lead keep going. Fatigue will change that. It's hard on one in wrong lead in deep sand. Anyway that what I was taught. Bill Freeman and Jim Lee. Jr Garrison, John Burrus, Shorty Russell. Bill Riddle That's pretty good hands there. Over 20.years starting colts for them.It's called The don't make it harder than it has to be method.
This!! Are y’all doing these “maneuvers” on finished horses to grab their leads?
Whether a horse is finished or not there is typically a cue ( I wouldn't say a maneuver) to ask for the canter. Ya you can just squeeze and go and they do figure it out. A person can run a pattern and a horse will change leads when they need to. However I prefer a horse to change leads if I ask whenever, where ever. Since the OP does reining with her hubby I'm sure she agrees. Same for dressage riders, they would never be able to do tempi changes without first teaching a cue for the correct lead.
Edited by cn1705 2017-12-26 3:29 PM
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 889
Location: on the fine line between insanity and geniusness | cn1705 - 2017-12-26 3:27 PM
Ashley Lynn - 2017-12-26 10:02 AM
clampitt - 2017-12-25 5:56 PM
Ride the horse..I worked for 6 big time outfits. World Champions Hall of fame all of them. Never worried about them. If horse can't figure out where he's feet go in time. Might want to reconsider him. It should be natural. They don't have to be cued running loose. It's your job to be as close to that as possible. You can speed them up a little if need to. At bit more speed they have to be correct. Most of the time. We trot and lope if horse in.wrong lead keep going. Fatigue will change that. It's hard on one in wrong lead in deep sand. Anyway that what I was taught. Bill Freeman and Jim Lee. Jr Garrison, John Burrus, Shorty Russell. Bill Riddle That's pretty good hands there. Over 20.years starting colts for them.It's called The don't make it harder than it has to be method.
This!! Are y’all doing these “maneuvers” on finished horses to grab their leads?
Whether a horse is finished or not there is typically a cue ( I wouldn't say a maneuver ) to ask for the canter. Ya you can just squeeze and go and they do figure it out. A person can run a pattern and a horse will change leads when they need to. However I prefer a horse to change leads if I ask whenever, where ever. Since the OP does reining with her hubby I'm sure she agrees. Same for dressage riders, they would never be able to do tempi changes without first teaching a cue for the correct lead.
I’m not asking if you do all these things to LOPE, I’m asking do you do all these things to put your horse in the correct lead?! Call me simple minded, but if I had to cluck three times, kick twice with one foot and wiggle my big toe on the other to get my horse in the correct lead- I wouldn’t call him finished! There are a lot of ideas on here that make sense if riding something that is 2 or three and maybe don’t have leads figured out yet, but I can’t imagine doing them on something older?! Maybe I’m spoiled!!! I can simply tip a nose if going in a straight line, and mine are all too lazy to lope a circle in the wrong lead! |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 851
Location: West Texas | To correct cue for a finished trained horse to lope you shift you weight back, pickup the rein, inside leg goes out and a little forward, the outside leg pushes the hip over and you lope off in the correct lead. So yes, a lot of cues for a nice lead departure. The better rider and the better trained a horse, the more cues you give, although they may be subtle.
Edited by Tdove 2017-12-26 5:20 PM
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Warrior Mom
Posts: 4400
| Good thing there's more than one way to skin a cat.. I don't think there is one incorrect reply on here... you do what works for you and your horse. I rode and competed in hunter jumpers most of my life.. there was times in equitation classes the judges would ask you to counter canter... I rode very VERY finished horses that still needed to know a cue as to which lead I wanted... I'm sure majority will know.. a counter canter is picking up the opposite lead to the durection you are traveling. |
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Take a Picture
Posts: 12838
| I think one of the best VIDEOS of someone cueing a reining horse is the Stacy Westfall's freestyle reining video. I can't make a link on my phone but maybe someone can. Note how she cues the horse from a standstill. This is not a green horse. As I said before. Consistency is essential. Watch YouTube. STACY WESTFALL WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP RUN 2006. It is sensational
Stacy westfall is not blind. That went around for awhile. She is one of the top reining trainers in the US. That is a client's horse
Edited by streakysox 2017-12-26 6:39 PM
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Expert
Posts: 1631
Location: Somewhere around here | streakysox - 2017-12-26 5:36 PM
I think one of the best VIDEOS of someone cueing a reining horse is the Stacy Westfall's freestyle reining video. I can't make a link on my phone but maybe someone can. Note how she cues the horse from a standstill. This is not a green horse. As I said before. Consistency is essential. Watch YouTube. STACY WESTFALL WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP RUN 2006. It is sensational
Stacy westfall is not blind. That went around for awhile. She is one of the top reining trainers in the US. That is a client's horse
https://youtu.be/TKK7AXLOUNo
Here's the link!
Edited by cecollins0811 2017-12-27 8:14 AM
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Member
Posts: 21
| I usually lift my inside rein just a hair, support the ribs with my inside leg and then bump with my outside leg. A lot of people I know pull their head to the outside but I've never been able to accomplish much with that other then teach them to drop their shoulder. |
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Regular
Posts: 95
| I really enjoyed reading all the responses on this. I believe whatever works for you and your horse is best. Also as a general guideline I've been told:
Asking with the outside leg is more of a beginner's way/green horse way to do it.
Asking with your inside leg is for the more experienced and keeps a slight bend for the direction you are going also (only really matters for being in an area).
When running barrels you shouldn't have to ask. At this point you should be on a horse that already knows.
Just wanted to add my insight! Great topic to cover. |
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 The Bling Princess
Posts: 3411
Location: North Dakota | Jenbabe - 2017-12-22 10:18 PM I want my horse to move off of pressure, not into it. With that training in mind, I use my outside leg to ask for the lead. There are a lot of little tricks you can do if you have a green horse not wanting to pick up leads, but I've found one of the easiest things is to step your weight into the outside stirrup and pick up the inside rein when asking them lope. When transitioning from a trot to a lope, if you're posting the correct diagonal it's much easier to get the correct lead. Honestly, leads have rarely every been an issue for me, and that is thanks to a western pleasure trainer and stubborn horse that really made me pay attention and cue correctly. I think a lot of it has to do with with feel and timing. I have a question for those of you that use the inside leg. How do you cue for the horse to do things that require them to move off of leg pressure (pivoting, two-tracking, counter-canter, etc)? I'm having a hard time wrapping my mind around this!
Same here!! I am struggling with wrapping my mind around getting the horse to move into pressure instead of off it. I spend hours in the saddle every week to get my horses light and responsive OFF the pressure. |
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Sock Snob
Posts: 3021
| i would u-tube with some of the reiners and watch them until you find one that suits you. i watch a lot of reining training videos. |
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Expert
Posts: 1631
Location: Somewhere around here | WYOTurn-n-Burn - 2017-12-27 12:11 PM
Jenbabe - 2017-12-22 10:18 PM I want my horse to move off of pressure, not into it. With that training in mind, I use my outside leg to ask for the lead. There are a lot of little tricks you can do if you have a green horse not wanting to pick up leads, but I've found one of the easiest things is to step your weight into the outside stirrup and pick up the inside rein when asking them lope. When transitioning from a trot to a lope, if you're posting the correct diagonal it's much easier to get the correct lead. Honestly, leads have rarely every been an issue for me, and that is thanks to a western pleasure trainer and stubborn horse that really made me pay attention and cue correctly. I think a lot of it has to do with with feel and timing. I have a question for those of you that use the inside leg. How do you cue for the horse to do things that require them to move off of leg pressure (pivoting, two-tracking, counter-canter, etc)? I'm having a hard time wrapping my mind around this!
Same here!! I am struggling with wrapping my mind around getting the horse to move into pressure instead of off it. I spend hours in the saddle every week to get my horses light and responsive OFF the pressure.
I wouldn't say that if you use your inside leg that your horse is moving toward the pressure, the horse is keeping their shoulder up. Now I would say a horse is moving into the pressure if he becomes front end heavy and pushes on your leg. |
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Born not Made
Posts: 2931
Location: North Dakota | want2chase3 - 2017-12-26 5:52 PM Good thing there's more than one way to skin a cat.. I don't think there is one incorrect reply on here... you do what works for you and your horse. I rode and competed in hunter jumpers most of my life.. there was times in equitation classes the judges would ask you to counter canter... I rode very VERY finished horses that still needed to know a cue as to which lead I wanted... I'm sure majority will know.. a counter canter is picking up the opposite lead to the durection you are traveling.
Yup, same in western classes! It is always very challenging because the horse wants to be on the lead that is easier for them, so teaching them to HOLD whatever lead you tell them adds a degree of difficulty. |
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 Blaines and Beauty
Posts: 1431
| I lift inside shoulder to shape them and use inside foot when I'm training them. after a little while I just push my inside foot and smooch and they take the lead I'm asking for. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 851
Location: West Texas | It you use your inside leg, how do you ask for a lead change? Wouldn't that be impossible?
There is a reason horsemen use the hind end over with outside leg. It's because it is correct. It's easy to get a horse into the correct lead. Using the inside leg keeps the shoulder up, that is a key part in getting the lead. But if you never advance beyond that, there is a whole lot of horsemanship left that you can never uncover. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 509
| Mine can do it both ways. I like moving the hip the best I always thought it encouraged leading with the hind instead of leading with the front.but I can ask with the inside and they will lope off out of a trot. |
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How do you ask for a lead?