TRAINING ARTICLE

FLYING CHANGES

by Jeffrey Reed
with Lindsay Grice

Teaching a horse to pick up the desired lead at the canter is a necessary part of his education. In fact, many of the training problems which people approach trainer Lindsay Grice with concern leads. And leads are a big part of the flying change no more difficult than any other discipline, if required prerequisites are met.

Grice, of Lindsay Grice Quarter Horses in Caledon, Ont., less than an hour northwest of Toronto, strives to create thinking horsemen of her students, by teaching the "hows" and "whys" of riding. A top-notch communicator, and involved in the equine industry since 1984, Grice s philosophy is imperative when instructing on the flying change. 

In a flying change, a horse switches leads in the air without breaking gait. "A flying change is a high school movement, requiring additional skill," explains Grice. "In competition over fences, equitation patterns and in the western riding class, the flying change is a necessary component."

"I teach horses to change leads from a counter canter, to a true canter, rather than changing direction across the middle of the arena," says Grice. "If my horse is on the right lead, my legs are scissored, so that my left leg is back, and holds his hips to the right; and my right leg forward is keeping his shoulders to the left. Simply put, I will allow his body to straighten, push him slightly off that straight line to the right, and then scissor my legs the opposite way, pushing his haunches to the left, and keeping his shoulders to the right."

Leads & Solid Foundation Important To Flying Change

Grice says, "There are a few things that need to be in place before I would teach a horse the flying change." She explains, a training foundation of understanding and control is essential, no matter what your riding discipline. Grice says she s amazed at the people who have had their horses out on trail, over fences, or even in the show ring without teaching them what she considers the basics. Sooner or later, Grice says, confusion, fear, or an accident happens. Often, these horses end up "back in summer school," at a trainer s barn, to fix a problem that could have been avoided.

"First of all, a horse needs to know his leads," says Grice. "He needs to have an understanding of what lead to take in response to his body position, which is in response to my leg position. I ride, for instance, at a left lead with my legs scissored. So I would have my inside leg slightly forward at the girth, and my outside leg behind the girth. The outside leg pushes his hips to the inside, so the horse also has to have a knowledge of what I would call hip control."

"When he comprehends that, and can canter, I can push his hips to the inside with my outside leg back. Too many horses understand leads in relation to the direction that they're going, rather than their body position following my leg position. For instance, if they're going to the left, they will automatically pick up the left lead. I, however, like to make sure that the horse knows whether I am going up the middle; whether I'm turning to the right he can still be on the left lead. So, he never knows the lead in response to direction. It's always in response to his body position," Grice explains.

Grice says from there, as long as the horse has a knowledge of leads, and also good lateral control, so he can move his body side to side, the rider can move his hips side to side, in response to her leg. Then the next big thing is for the horse to be able to counter canter.

Counter Canter

A counter canter is a movement in which the horse canters on the outside lead. For example, the horse canters clockwise while travelling on the left lead. This is important. Counter cantering is an exercise that improves the balance and coordination of a horse. Because it is unnatural for the horse to travel on the outside lead, the rider must be sure to position her body correctly, and it is one of Grice s favourite skill developing exercises. It also helps a rider distinguish the horse s lead by feel. Horses that Grice trains never learn their leads in relation to the direction of travel, but rather according to their body (and rider s leg) position.

"The horse should stay balanced and comfortable cantering on the outside lead," explains Grice. "I don't want him to change lead according to the change of direction. So I'll counter canter all over the place. So, the horse is very, very comfortable on the lead very balanced."

"Counter canter is a great exercise for a horse because he has to find what I call self carriage. It's a great teacher of self carriage and natural balance and collection, when you're counter cantering."

"From there," Grice continues, "I would teach my horse to leg yield at the canter. For instance, if we were cantering, I might widen out the circle. Or, I might make the circle smaller, moving my horse in or out. If I'm counter cantering, I would move to the right, or move to the left. They need to be able to be comfortable in each lead, and move laterally or sideways on either lead. That's without getting upset, without losing their balance, without losing their frame which is the position I want the horse to be in. Once they are comfortable with that, then I can go ahead and ask for a flying change."

Adjustable as a Rubber Band

Grice says another thing a horse needs in a foundation is the ability to be adjustable. His pace should be adjustable. He should be able to move at a 10-foot canter stride, or at a six-foot canter stride. Grice says, "I call this, As adjustable as a rubber band! "

Only then will Grice "go ahead and ask for a lead change. Now I usually do this going from counter canter to true counter. I find that usually works best. And I also do it on a straight line. I never do it with a direction change. By direction change, I mean, I never go from right lead to left lead, and then immediately turn left. As I see many riders do, they use a corner to teach the horse to do a flying change. So, they would go into the corner and change direction. Or they might use a figure 8; they would come across the middle and change direction. Never teach a flying change in response to a change of direction."

"So, I go from counter canter, to true canter, on a straight line," continues Grice. "Now, let's say I'm counter cantering on the right lead. I will leg yield my horse over from my left leg, and then I will scissor my legs. So now, I have my left leg forward, and my right leg back, and ask him to pick up the left lead."

"At first, the horse won't really know what I'm doing. And I will be using my outside leg to push the horse's hips to the new lead. So if I'm on the left lead, I'll have my legs scissored my right leg will be back, and I'll continue to push the hips to the inside. And as soon as my horse does a flying change, I'll just soften my body, and just relax. My body will go real rubbery, and my leg and hand will soften. At first he won't really know why that happened. He'll wonder, What did she want? But I try and time my Yes within a half second of what a horse does correctly." 

Grice says, a horse can read her body language in the sense that she s creating discomfort whenever she asks a horse to do something. That discomfort immediately stops when he makes the right choice. "If I do that five to 10 times in a row, he will begin to see a pattern that I soften when he does THIS. He will begin to figure out, Aha, I will do THIS then, and then she will soften. So my timing has to be right."

"So, when I do ask for a change, at first, as I'm asking, in effect I'm asking for the left lead while I'm on the right lead. So I'm continuing to ask, continuing to ask ... without giving him a break. I've prepared him, I've leg yielded him, now I'm asking for that left lead. I will not stop asking until he gives it to me. The instant that he gives it to me, I will soften my body. My body will go quiet. My legs will go soft. My arms will go soft. I'll just very quietly ride. He'll understand what I mean once I've repeated that a few times: that as soon as he makes THIS choice, she says YES with her body.

Grice says, the biggest point to make is, she does not ask on a change of direction. She makes sure the foundation is there. And then, she makes it real clear that when the horse makes the right choice, she say YES. 

Troubleshooting the Flying Change

Grice says, "People put too much emphasis on simple changes. It's sometimes hard to get the horse to change leads in the air. People also ask to do the change of lead always in the same place. So, the horse doesn't learn the skill, but does tend to remember, I do this in this place. That's where anticipation usually a change of direction usually happens, when they're in the middle of a figure 8. So they always change direction and change leads. As soon as you start coming across that middle, the horse starts hopping up and down and gets excited because he s anticipating."

Anticipation usually happens because of a rider's abrupt change of body position, or teaching a flying change in relation to direction usually across the middle of the ring. That's where anticipation happens. The horse is learning the skill by location in the ring, as opposed to by the body position. So, he starts to anticipate.

Grice explains, another problem encountered with the flying change is, a rider will abruptly change her body. "They will do what I call duck their shoulders. Rather than keeping their upper body upright, they will dive to the inside with their upper body, and attempt to help the horse change lead. But in effect, it just scares them and throws them off balance," Grice says.

A common mistake Grice sees involves a rider going too slowly. She s trying to collect her horse, but just not carrying enough pace.

Leave It To the Experts

Grice says it is difficult for the average amateur rider to teach their horse to do a flying change. It's usually something that is better left for a professional to teach their horse. It's well worth the effort to send your horse away for three months to a professional to put a flying change on the horse. That way, you don't have any bad habits that you're going to need to undo: the horse isn't anticipating, Grice explains.

"A horse can also buck in a flying change," says Grice. "It's an attempt to kick the rider's leg off. With novice riders, it often happens. The rider's leg will come off. Bucking is a problem area. So it's best to have a professional teach a horse a flying change, unless you are an accomplished rider."

"It's really important that a foundation is laid," explains Grice. "I find that people will try a flying change before the foundation is laid, before the horse has good lateral control, has good pace control, is very adjustable. We're just not ready for a flying change until they can do that."

"If a rider doesn't have enough experience herself, yes, not sending a horse to a professional to learn the flying change is a problem. I very often see these problems with horses that come to me. They have these problems when either they should have just waited until they themselves laid a foundation; or they should have just sent their horse away."

Grice On: Feeling & Knowing Where the Horse's Feet Are in the Canter Sequence

"I understand that, and an advanced rider will intuitively know that. But I think to try and teach novice riders that, it's just too many things to think about. My motto is: keep it simple. I think with canter, the sequence of foot falls is just too hard to grasp when you are a novice rider. And yet, I do have students who are novice riders or amateur riders who are competing in western riding, and are doing that. I don't think they know the sequence of foot falls, but by George, they can get a flying change every fourth stride. But they don't know the sequence of the foot fall. The idea is, the skill was taught to the horse first, and then the rider got on the horse, and they are able to count the strides, but they don't know the sequence of the foot fall. So, I would say, it is not necessary to teach. An experienced rider will just know this intuitively. It comes naturally to an experienced rider. But to try and teach it is just too hard. I personally do not emphasize it with my students and it works well for me."

Grice On: Respect for Western Riders

"My students and I really enjoy the western riding class. A horse goes through a serpentine pattern, with flying changes every three or four strides, in simple terms. This can make an English rider stand up and take notice. The hunter riders talk about flying changes. The eyebrows get raised when the English riders come over and see these horses on soft loose reins, calmly skipping through a flying change pattern a western riding pattern doing flying changes every three or four strides. It demonstrates the level of training that is needed."

Bio: Lindsay Grice Born in Oakville, Ont., Orangeville resident Lindsay Grice owns and operates Lindsay Grice Quarter Horses in Caledon. A professional horseman since 1984, Grice trains and teaches by the philosophy that the "hows" and "whys" of riding are imperative for her students to comprehend. Grice has trained and ridden horses to the AQHA s National High Point Top 10 status, and has often been the Ontario s top ranked Junior Hunter Under Saddle rider. Grice has a strong reputation for successfully training clients horses for new events, including: western riding, horsemanship, equitation and classes over fences. Her students have won many provincial and high point awards in both Western and English events, and have won at major shows across Canada and the U.S. An enthusiastic and energetic trainer, Grice takes her seven horse trailer to many of the 40-plus quarter horse shows held in Ontario each season, as well as American shows. A teacher at heart, Grice says, "I ll travel anywhere to hold a clinic." Check out her web site at www.lgrice.com

Jeffrey Reed of London, Ontario is a leading Canadian freelance journalist. For more than 20 years, he has been an active broadcaster, writer and photographer. Well-known for his contributions of news, sports and entertainment reports, Jeffrey is now writing equine-related stories for a handful of publications, including AQHA Journal, Northern Horse Review, Horse Canada, Ontario Farmer and Business London Magazine. Jeffrey and his wife, Elizabeth, are both members of OQHA, and Area 1 Quarter Horse Promotional Association. You can e-mail Jeffrey at  or visit his web page or visit his second website,  featuring a selection of his horse photography.