Troubleshooting: Horse Trots Into the Lead Departure

When initially teaching a horse to stay bridled up and pick up the correct lead, I do not count trotting into the lead departure as a problem.

As the horse gets better, he’ll do less trotting and will step up into the canter straightaway. You can’t expect him to step up into the canter immediately and keep his neck level, hip up, shoulders elevated and face soft all at the same time. You have to cut him a little bit of slack and help him understand the concept of the lesson. Once he understands the concept, then you can start to refine the exercise.

I don’t expect a horse to pick up a collected lead departure without taking a few trotting steps until he’s had about 18 months of training. For my performance horses, that’d be in June or July of their 3-year-old year.

Picking up a collected lead departure isn’t something that’s going to happen after 30 days of riding. It’s unrealistic to think that a horse would be capable of that. Can you pressure a horse and force him to pick up a collected lead departure? Sure you can, but something else will fall apart. Usually, it’s the horse’s confidence, and then you’ve got a real mess on your hands.

There’s an old horseman’s saying that goes, “Take the time that it takes and it’ll take less time.” That’s certainly very fitting when it comes to leads and lead departures. If you’re thorough about teaching your horse the Fundamentals and putting a solid foundation on him, when it comes time to work on leads and then asking him to step into the correct lead while being bridled up, it’ll all fall into place and be a smooth process.