Concept Of "Equalizing The Leads"

Flying lead change at left.

The rider is starting the warm up at the finish line for take off on a 2m gallop at the 5f pole. Our good trainer is standing at the rail on a vantage point watching and calculating with the idea in mind, and something the trainer has drummed into the rider's head, to: equalize the leads.

What does this mean? Let's remember in every work our interest is:

injury prevention
performance

In the short time every horse is on the track, little is gained unless we move ahead in performance and in terms of injury that the horse live to gallop another day. Pardon my "concern" (to put it mildly) with injury prevention to which any small owner unable to afford to lose a horse can attest. This blog spent two whole years on that subject for a reason. You're playing Russian Roulette with your animal unless every second that the horse is out there you as owner or trainer are obsessed with injury prevention.

Part of this obsession involves the concept of equalizing the leads. In the broadest sense we, e.g. want to avoid the horse going out there every day and doing 3/4 of its work on one lead. This happens so easily for if the horse e.g. fails to change into the Clubhouse turn, as many are prone to do, then all of the work will be done on the right lead except the left lead gallop around the final turn. If the horse perchance gallops two miles then the problem is even much more exaggerated.

We want to avoid at all costs the horse doing 3/4 of its work on one lead for several different reasons. The main one is, of course, developing fracture resistance on "both" lead legs. There is also the problem of doing too much on the lead leg that is doing most of the work, and this type of injury threat increases geometrically as speed increases. Every rider knows that at speed after about 1.5 to 2f on one lead the horse (if it' healthy) wants to switch. Many of them fatigue so rapidly on their lead leg at speed that they'll switch too early. The horses tell the gallop boys and girls they want to switch?

If ur horse is doing 3/4 of its work on one lead than the the non-working lead is going to get weaker and weaker also in terms of muscular strength. If the horse is training for a mile race or more and only uses its left around the final turn in its training, suddenly in the race we're asking the horse to double its work on that lead. Simple logic ought tell of the effect on both performance and injury risk.

Equalizing the leads is an easy concept when both rider and horse comply. Often it's otherwise--either from the oblivious rider or the non-compliant horse. The question then becomes, if in this particular work the horse failed to equalize it's leads, what now? What's the consequence?
Training:
Tues. 10/18: Off