Troubleshooting: Horse Anticipates Picking Up the Lead

Once you begin refining how you ask your horse to pick up the correct lead, where you collect him and then shape his body, at some point, it’s likely that he’s going to anticipate picking up the lead. As soon as you bridle him up and push his outside hip up, he’s going to immediately step into the lead without waiting for your cue to do so. You want to be able to shape your horse for the lead departure while he stays soft and relaxed, and then, when you kiss to him, he should pick up the lead.

To solve this issue, when the horse starts to anticipate picking up the lope, set him up for the lead departure and when he feels soft and relaxed, turn him loose instead of cueing him to lope. It’s no different than what ropers do with their horses to teach them to relax in the box. They go in the box and act like they’re going to rope, but when they let the calf out, they don’t chase it. They’ll do that three or four times and then, on the fifth time, they’ll rope the calf. They don’t want their horses thinking that every time they go into the box they’re going to rope a calf.

It’s the same thing with teaching your horse lead departures. Set him up for the lead departure, and when he feels good, turn him loose. You may have to set him up three or four times before he stops anticipating. It doesn’t take long in the beginning for horses to start to anticipate. Horses know what you’re going to do before you do it. You have to teach your horse to wait on you, and that the only time he needs to lope off is when you kiss to him.