A week with Kathy & Quick

“Teaching flying lead changes from zone 5”

As you can guess by the title this week I decided to try and teach Quick flying lead changes with long lines from zone 5! I chose to use the figure 8 pattern – something that he already knows, to help support the flying lead change pattern.

Some things I found useful to already have in place before starting this week’s project: In a nutshell, at least Level 3 ground skills with Quick. Plus, confidence in zone 5 with two rein driving at walk, trot and canter. Also, a positive pattern on my 45’ line doing the figure 8 with just one line. In addition, I have been practicing Walter Zettl type 2 rein sessions with Quick, getting him highly in tune with my energy up and energy down so that we can make precise transitions without heavy use of the line. Lastly, we have been playing more and more with zone 5 driving while I keep my feet still = lots of circles, figure 8’s, and weave (with very long lines and lots of ‘drift’).

Day 1: With all the preparation we have done I felt Quick and I were ready to dive right into the Figure 8 pattern. We started at walk then trot and built to canter with simple changes by the end of the session. Once we got to canter I focused on seeing if I could keep my feet as still as possible and would allow Quick to do several circles around me while I prepared to be in the right position and when we were both ready I asked Quick for the transition and new lead when he was in between the cones. Once on the new lead I allowed him to circle several times until we were both ready and then asked for the transition through the center and into the new lead.  Quick caught on quickly (no pun intended J), and we finished on a relaxed canter around a cone, a nice downward transition to walk and then back out around the other cone in the new lead about 3 times.

Day 2: We prepared with a VERY short session on the 45’ line to get his energy up (it was very HOT, so a short session was key!). Once he was connected we played with 2 22’ lines in zone 5 warming up with the same pattern as Day 1, all was coming smoothly. So, I chose to ask for the change. On the first attempt Quick did a slip change (not quite enough ‘Shwung’ for a flying change), but after a few repetitions and some “go button” practice he offered a flying change!! We stopped, rubbed, scratched and gave him a cookie. Then to the other side, and he immediately offered a flying change the other direction J Stop: Rub: Cookie and we cooled out for the day!

Day 3: Well, after ‘Day 2’ you may be thinking goal already accomplished, but . . . Today I warmed up, reviewed the pattern from Day 1 and decided to try 2 45’lines for the changes, my thought was that with the longer ropes I would able to be very savvy and keep my feet completely still while offering him drift. However, we only got slip changes. Still we finished on a relaxed, obedient figure 8 pattern with slip changes and off to eat grass and cool off. After dinner while reflecting on what happened I believe I was allowing so much drift that Quick was getting ‘flat’ and loosing elevation in his canter therefore making it harder for him to change (the same thing that happens to most students when they try to get ridden flying changes – that’s why they need a ground pole – to increase the moment of elevation). So, tomorrow back to the 22’ line!

Day 4: Back to the 22’ lines and a much better result! What I learned was that the shorter lines caused me to keep him more elevated because if I allowed enough drift for him to become ‘flat’ I was out of rope! So tomorrow I’ll be back to the 45’ lines to see if I can allow drift at the right time and ‘bring him back’/more collected when he needs to get ready for the change.

Day 5: We started with low energy today, perhaps due to the heat (only 90 at 9:00am!). So, I realized I needed to make a quick session of high energy and we spent time warming up Quick’s brain with some slow but particular tasks, like places one hind foot on the pedestal and playing ‘touch it’ with his tail! After he was in the mood, we moved onto the 45’ line. After 2 slip changes we added some energy and ‘Shazam’ we got 3 changes in a row! The 45’ lines worked great, I was able to allow drift to get the forwards then shorten about ½ circle before the change to help him set up for the change – and it was a success!