Lead Departures
- February 8, 2025
- |
- Anna Foulger
Posted in: Featured, Horse Training
In any reining pattern, a beautiful lead departure can make or break your score. Though it seems really simple, some horses really struggle with making a lead departure look effortless. A perfect lead departure is going to feel and look smooth, with minimal effort. Your horse should really gather himself up into the bit and lifting through his back and front end and moving into that lead. Your horse shouldn’t be leaning on the bit, but instead easily collecting and lifting. There are a few different drills that really can help with a solid lead departure.
The first drill that is really helpful is making sure your horse lopes off when asked, even if when you start it isn’t very pretty. You can use the fence to help with this, asking your horse to lope off from a standstill with a kiss and your outside foot. If your horses misses this, you turn them into the fence and ask them again, with more leg and spur. This exercise is one you repeat until your horse is going from a stand still to lope easily. Once your horse is successful, allow them to stay in that lope for a circle or two and really relax into it. Horses learn in the release not with continuous pressure.
Next, you can use a small circle, trotting drill to really build your horse up into the bit. Meaning they are driving from their hind end, lifting through their back and picking up their front feet. This is one of the first component in a beautiful lead departure. Putting your horse in a small circle you want to ask them to trot with your feet and seat, without them putting pressure on your hands. This should be a very forward moving trot, not a slow easy trot. When you feel your horse’s back lift and loose reins, relax and let your horse come out of the tight circle and switch directions. Switching directions helps your horse’s mind come back to you and not become bored.
The last and final aspect of a great lead departure is hip control. You will see this when someone is starting a lead departure they will bring their horse’s hip to the inside of the circle and drive from there. You can work this again in a small circle, using your spur behind the cinch to really drive that hip inwards. In this drill, you want to really exaggerate the movement, that will help make it more subtle as your lead departure becomes perfected. All in all, keep putting these three drills together and pretty soon, your leads will look flawless.
Related Posts:
Posted in: Featured, Horse Training
About Anna Foulger
Hey there! My name is Anna Foulger, I am a young mom of soon to be two; a toddler daughter and little boy on the way! Me and my husband ranch in Eastern Montana with his family and we love every minute! My background is in...