Here is the half lie: I know more about flying lead changes than full time amateur reining competitors.
I would score a 100% on a scholarship test. I could write a Master’s Degree thesis about flying lead changes. My brain knows everything about flying changes EXCEPT when I’m riding.
When my brain is sitting on top of a fast cantering horse trying to be the brilliant controller, it experiences failure. My brain refuses to remember all the facts when zipping around the arena. The brain can now usually remember which human leg should provide the lead change cue.
Fancy is at the development point now where she will try a flying change when I ask, when I don’t ask, when I’m in the right position and when I’m in the wrong position.
This is amazing progress. In the past year, Fancy has ignored my cue, even when I use the wrong leg. I just used the wrong leg at the beginning of our flying lead change cue yesterday. At least I caught the error!
Fancy loves going fast. She loves flying changes. We are not experiencing hardly any popup tries where she tries to get me to fly out of the saddle by bracing her front legs when they hit the ground along with the back leg change. Oh Lordy.
We have progress. I now can get the left to the right change nearly consistently. This is huge progress. We continue to thank Erin Patterson for her training development with the flying changes. There is hope for me!