How To Land On the Correct Lead

Dear Bernie,

I met you at a clinic of yours and meant to ask you about landing the correct lead, as I’ve been working on that with my horse. You had talked about the opening rein for landing the leads but I wanted to ask specifically about the legs:

1. Do you let your outside leg give a little more pressure behind the girth, over the fence, as you might do when asking for the canter?
2. Is there more weight in the outside stirrup then the inside one?

I am mostly successful when asking for the correct lead over fences but I would love to be 100% successful. 🙂

Thank you for you time!

Well, this is a big topic. There are several videos on our site that I think you will find helpful. I have listed them at the end of this post.

There are times when you can produce a lead by increasing weight in the opposite stirrup. For example, when going to the right hand and jumping the second fence of a line, if one places more weight in the left stirrup in the air and on landing, thereby encouraging the horse to put his left foot down first, it may produce the right lead. While some find it helpful to use the outside leg in the air by giving a little more pressure, personally it’s not my favorite.

The opening rein is very useful but has a side effect of altering the track upon landing, so you need to be intelligent where you use it. The more trained the horse is to responding to it, the less it will affect the track as it can be such a slight, light rein effect. In the case of a rider with expert hands and feeling, a slight ring finger/direct feel off the ground immediately followed by a following arm (hand) works on a horse that is finely trained in responding to landing his leads and has less track alteration. One sees this often in advanced equitation classes.  BUT be extremely careful of this as it can really stiffen a horses bascule if used improperly.  It’s a very advanced technique!

When asking for a turn in the air, however, an opening rein is the best, and of course your weight is more in the inside stirrup by slightly placing your torso toward the turn in the air. The horse moves under your weight. I hope this helps you accomplish your goal of being 100% successful!