[BamBam.]

I have been showing for about 5 years now and I still can't feel my leads.
What can I do?

[Cara]

lunge lessons. practice practice practice.

you have to develop the feel, and the way you do that is to pay attention to your seat, don't look down to check the leads until you already think you've felt what lead the horse is on. lots of transitions so that you can develop the feel.

I really reccomend lunge lessons, that way you can focus soley on the feel, and don't have to worry about steering and being on the bit, etc.

[Rhythm 'n Blues]

Can you feel your posting diagonals?? Alot of people can't ONLY feel them, they have to look.

If you can't feel your posting diagonals then start there -- get that feel 100% down before even trying to attempt feeling canger leads.

While I don't disagree with lunge line lessons, it isn't something that you NEED in order to learn to feel your leads. You just have to close your eyes when you ask for canter (do it on a straight stretch) and then try to feel which lead you are on. Then open your eyes and look. Eventually you'll start to develop the correct feel.

[pleasurepony]

Agreed, see if you can take some lunge lessons. Just practice getting the feel for it. I used to ride on the lunge with my eyes closed and I'd have to tell the person lunging which lead I was on. I find closing my eyes really helps me to focus on the feel.

Think of the motion of the canter, how the legs are sequenced, and see if you can connect that to the feeling in the saddle. Practice trying to figure out which legs are hitting the ground, that'll really help. Feel how you're moving in the saddle and relate that to how the horse is moving. In general, getting the wrong lead will feel off-balance and off-rhythm. However, if you're riding a very strong horse that can counter-canter well, it can be hard to to it that way, so it's preferable to be able to feel which legs are hitting the ground. Practice being able to distinguish that 1, 2, 3 beat.

1. outside hind
2. inside hind and outside front together
3. inside front

Learning to feel which leg is moving will help you catch your wrong lead much earlier, as you'll be able to feel them stepping off with the wrong hind leg and stop them before they even get a full stride in.

It just takes lots of practice and developing a feel, you'll get it

[endurgirl]

Watch a horse on a lunge line. Watch how his body moves, how his back moves. Imagine being on the horse during that gait. If you can get someone to lunge the horse while you ride him, close your eyes and feel the movement. Count the beats. keep the beat in your head, then open your eyes and see if you are correct.

[18thTomorrow]

It's difficult for me too. And also, it's difficult on different horses. There are horses that i can tell easily on, but my mare is difficult for me to tell. On her, i CANNOT tell by looking. Just can't. I have to feel it.

What works for me is to kind of feel the twist of the horse. If the horse is leading with the left leg, the nose will be bent ever so slightly towards the right, and my left leg will naturally be forward just a bit. On the right lead, it's the opposite. If I'm having trouble telling, I will twist myself one way and then the other, and one way will definitely feel more natural than the other.

Don't know if that helps you but it's what works for me.

[369pepper]

Practice Practice Practice have someone help you! You guess first then have them tell you whether your right or not. Put your hands on the shoulders while someones lunging the horse for you so you dont have to hold the reings and just get the feel for them! =] This use to be a problem for me ! If they have the wrong lead it feels awkward and off balance and more bumpy =]

[GotaDunQH]

With leads, usually the counter canter feels MUCH more different in your seat bones than the correct lead, especially in corners, and the horse will "feel" out of balance. Sometimes it helps to close your eyes so you can concentrate on the feel in your body. I know a lot of people that close their eyes in the trot, sitting trot, canter so they can concentrate on the feel of what is going on under their seat.

Jennifer

[Buckshot]

Originally Posted by GotaDunQH

With leads, usually the counter canter feels MUCH more different in your seat bones than the correct lead, especially in corners, and the horse will "feel" out of balance. Sometimes it helps to close your eyes so you can concentrate on the feel in your body. I know a lot of people that close their eyes in the trot, sitting trot, canter so they can concentrate on the feel of what is going on under their seat.

Jennifer

Unless you have a horse that counter-canters as well as they canter correctly...

It helps me to close my eyes and feel which of my hips is getting "rocked" first. (Very poor description). Then, if I need to, I can look down quickly and "confirm" that I was, indeed, on the lead I thought I was.

Repetition is what's really needed.

Can you feel your trot diagonals?

[GotaDunQH]

Originally Posted by Buckshot

Unless you have a horse that counter-canters as well as they canter correctly...

It helps me to close my eyes and feel which of my hips is getting "rocked" first. (Very poor description). Then, if I need to, I can look down quickly and "confirm" that I was, indeed, on the lead I thought I was.

LOL..so true about the GOOD counter-canters. But it still "feels" a little different in the corners and it circles, because of what you described with the hips. And it was an excellent description because I knew exactly what you meant!

I do a lot of counter canter circles with my horse and the feel is the hips and seat bones going a little forward to the outside of the circle, at least to me anyway.

Jennifer