Changing Legs

  • Thread starter Thread starter ItalianStallion
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Horses will change legs when they feel the need to i.e. when the one leading leg gets tired or because it needs to balance itself going round a bend.

In the US because the tracks are so much tighter it is very important for a jockey to be able to instruct a horse to change onto its inside lead going round the bend and then back again when it gets into each straight. Consequently horses are taught usually when they are being broken in over there to "switch leads" To do this you use your hands - usually raising your hand to the leg you want it to switch to at the same time as shifting your balance. Horses learn very quickly usually so that all it becomes is a very subtle hand signal.
In this country because the tracks are so different and many are straight, there isn't the emphasis on changing legs although in my opinion it is a good thing for a horse (and jockey) to learn.
 
You haven't got a vid, IS, you've got a sign-up form to RUK's videos! Like jinnyj says, you can use your weight, as a jockey, to get your horse to change leads. If your horse comes into a left-handed turn, for example, leading with his right leg, he's 'on the wrong lead'. To optimise his lean into the turn, you want him always to lead on the leg nearest the rail. So, the jockey will lean a little to his left and slightly raise his left hand. By raising the hand slightly, he raises the horse's head a little and turns it to the left. The horse's weight as well as the jockey's is now on the left, and because it can't carry this comfortably with the right leg leading, the horse will (or should!) then change over to lead with its left leg.

Horses will also change their lead legs when going up the straight towards the end of a tiring race. They're just resting the lead leg for a while, letting the other do the ground-grabbing, then switching over. If you look very closely at a re-run of today's Derby, you'll just see SEA THE STARS think about a leg change during the last furlong. He decides against it, but what you get is one slight bound forward with his leading leg. It's a very small gesture - he's thinking about whether he needs to rest that leg and let the other do the main work for a bit, then decides "Noooo... I can finish this lot off just fine on the one I'm using", does a little extra grab of the ground, and continues to victory.

The horse who I thought was the most clever at saving her legs' energy was the marvellously misshapen ATTRACTION. If you watch re-runs of any of her winning races, you'll see that she leads most of the entire race on her least wonky front leg. When she nears the finish, and is under optimum exertion, she changes to her really badly pronated (turned out from the knee) one, uses it for about half-a-dozen strides, and then finishes on the better leg for the last few strides to the post. Brilliant thinking. She knew she had a lousy front end, but she worked out those optimum changes of lead for herself to dazzling effect, time and again.
 
on the changing leg thing we shall never forget the wonderful, brilliant dayjur. dick hern says in the willie carson video that dayjur constantly changed legs, and when he won at york (or was it haydock?) he did so 16 times. hern said in the beginning he was very concerned about it and though he (dayjur) would be in some pain, but eventually realized that was just the way he ran, and probably the reason why he was so special.
 
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