Quote:
Originally Posted by VigorsTheGrey
Welcome aboard to PaceAdvantage website...hoping you post often...thank you for elucidating the "lead change" phenomenon....so is it the case that the lead change is controlled by the hind legs switching while "airing"...? Could the lead change be effected also by the front legs switching while airing as well...? What you say does makes some sense but since the air time is just under human observation limits, we can only see the after- effects of the switch...we see THAT a horse HAS changed leads, but we are unable to observe the actual switch while the horse is " airing"...
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Hi, Vigors! Thanks for the welcome
The front legs and the hind legs both need to switch, but the hind legs definitely drive the situation...here is a youtube video of a horse doing something called "one tempi" and "two tempi" changes in Dressage at a canter, which is a slower pace than a racehorse but the mechanics are basically the same as a racehorse gallop. The view from the front where it looks like the horse is skipping is "one tempi" (a lead change every single stride), and the next one that you can see better from the side is "two tempi" (a lead change every other stride, I think you can see better that she is pushing with the hind legs and the fronts are just following).
I can try to find a better video if that one doesn't help, I just did a quick search and grabbed the first decent one.