"Dear H&C, Can you please help me? I have a nine-year-old thoroughbred and I am preparing for flying changes, but although I am able to counter canter him perfectly on both reins, I am not sure how to establish preparation for flying changes. Could you assist me?

Thank you," Marianne

Dressage rider and H&C blogger Alice Oppenheimer replies: "Hi Marianne and thanks for your question. Before you can start flying changes with any horse you must be able to complete a simple change (canter, walk for three to four strides and then canter on the other leg) and also be able to collect the canter sufficiently with the horse staying active, in front of you and without losing the jump, but without trying to rush off.

Once the canter is established

If you and your horse are established in both the collected canter and the simple changes, you can start with flying changes. When teaching flying changes, I always try to have someone watching from the ground who can see whether or not the changes are clean and through, as it is not always easy to feel on a green horse.

Alternatively, if you have mirrors you can see for yourself! The aid for a flying change takes two strides, on the first stride you put your current inside leg back and on the second stride you put that leg on to give the aid. There are a number of ways to teach a horse to change but the main idea in all of them is to collect the canter and then ‘throw the horse off balance’, thus causing the horse to throw in a change.

The way I tend to start teaching horses is I do a half 10m canter circle back to the track as if I’m going to ask for counter canter, but before I reach the track I collect the canter and as I hit the track and have to turn, I put my current inside leg back and on, and shift the horse’s balance so he has to change. If you don’t get a change straight away remove the aid and re-establish a good collected canter before you repeat the process. Once the horse has changed, stand up in your stirrups and allow him to stretch down, making sure you make a big fuss of him! They have to know when they get it right. Then, bring him back to trot and return to the original rein and repeat the procedure. Once you have a good change one way, change the rein and do exactly the same thing. Alternatively, you can teach a horse off a 20m circle in counter canter changing into true canter is a similar way, by collecting the horse and then changing his balance, forcing him to change. This works well with some horses but I find the best way is off the half 10m circle. As with teaching anything new to a horse, you must be very consistent so he understands when it is right, it is better to praise when it is done well than punish when a mistake is made.

I hope this helps you, and good luck with your horse."

Alice