I closed my eyes, held my breath and jumped into the shallow end of the flying change pool of hell.
My horse has a semi-reliable change on course while jumping. Most of the time we land on the proper lead, so the flying change is unnecessary and not something we deliberately work on. As an eventer, he isn’t likely to go Advanced so “dressage changes” is of minimal importance, but counter-canter definitely is.
For a couple years, we have worked at counter canter and he is very solid. Like, never ever tries to change…if he does have a moment loss of balance, he will trot, not lose the lead. But that is rare. The CC is balanced, rhythmic, soft with energy. Along the way we added walk/canter simple changes, and that was HUGE in developing his best canter. On good days, I can get beautiful, balanced simple changes from my abs and my seat. On bad days, I need a bit more half halts from leg and hand, but he understands the procedure and just needs help to stay together and use his butt.
I have installed changes on three other horses with degrees of success. Reading this thread inspired me to try with this one. We have the ingredients: solid CC, solid simple changes, balanced active canter, straightness, bend/counter bend, and positioning. We have done them in the jump saddle with minimal set-up preparation (but also no cares if front-to-back).
So I tried. I got a swap in front. Tried again. Full swap, late behind, tried again. I think I got a clean change! I should have quit, but I got greedy and wanted to get it right…and everything fell apart. Rushed, crooked canter, tension, swaps in front, frustrated horse. Quit for the day.
We had an event coming up, so shelved the flying changes and counter canter only. Now my jumping changes were a mess…I tried to set him up and it only made him more off balance. Cross canter galore. It took two weeks of apologizing before the jumping changes came back.
A month later, tried the dressage change again. He is more solid attempting R to L, so I came across the diagonal, set him up, it didn’t feel right as we came to the rail, so I kept half halting until I felt him wanting to change. We were at the corner, I rushed it and gave him a tap with the right hand whip to Get It Done. He gave an “expressive” clean change…lots of lift, came through behind, but I overrode the left rein and he was snarling and inverted. Oops. Centered a few strides on the left lead, walked and lots of praise. No more changes for the day, finished up with some trot work.
A few days later, I tried again near the end of our ride. Right lead, medium canter down the long side, downward transition, 10m half circle to the rail, half halt to compress into a jumpy canter, asked for the change (no whip this time!) and Boom it was there. Immediate praise, long rein, pats, he walked off with his ears pricked and we quit for the day.
I haven’t asked again for the L to R change. I want to solidify R to L first and not completely lose our canter identity. This is a smart horse who usually tries very hard and aims to please, but also has a real sense of righteousness and gets tense when upset.
Ahh well—we will give it a try and see how it goes.
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