english riding

Question
when i trot or canter i cant figure out what lead im in without looking down. Can you help me or give me any exercices about how to feel it without looking down?

Answer
Hey

Thanks for your question and I hope I can be of some help. Honestly, I have always had troubles with checking my leads and diagonals without looking. My instructor is always getting me for keeping my eyes down. It's a bad habit of mine. Anyways, a lot of it is knowing your horse's gaits and how they move. You might try trotting on the wrong diagonal and seeing what the difference is. It's all in the feeling. You could try the same for cantering, but on a bombproof horse whom you can canter on the wrong lead without teaching it something bad. Like I wouldn't suggest a young horse. But you should feel unbalanced and your horse probably will be too. Other than that, I'm sorry to say I can't really give you any other help. I am still trying to master this myself. It just takes practise. Sorry I couldn't be of that much help.

* meg *