Flying Changes: Singles to One-Tempis

A flying change is a change of canter lead performed in the air, during the moment of suspension, without breaking to trot or walk. It begins as a single change at national medium levels and develops into tempi changes: sequences at every fourth, third, second, and finally every stride, the one-tempis that are a signature of Grand Prix.

What actually happens in a flying change

Canter is a three-beat gait with a moment of suspension. In a flying change, the horse reorganises its legs during that airborne moment so that it lands on the new lead, with the new inside hind leg initiating the new sequence. The change must happen front and back in the same stride. When the front legs change but the hind legs change a beat later, the horse is “late behind,” the most common and most penalised fault.

The FEI’s standard for the movement is short and demanding: the horse, even in a series, remains light, calm, and straight, with lively impulsion, maintaining the same rhythm and balance throughout. Every judging criterion for changes traces back to that sentence.

Where changes appear in the levels

The progression is deliberate. Each tightening of the sequence gives the horse less time to rebalance between changes, so straightness, balance, and the horse’s confidence in the aids are tested more severely at every step. The Grand Prix asks for sequences of one-tempis on the diagonal, and freestyle riders routinely raise the difficulty by riding them on curved lines, which the freestyle judging system rewards under degree of difficulty when they succeed.

What judges look for

Correctness. The change is clean: front and hind legs change in the same suspension phase. A change that is late behind, or late in front, is marked down decisively; in a series, each faulty change drags the single mark for the whole line down.

Straightness. The horse stays on the line of travel. Swinging the quarters left and right with each change is a straightness fault that judges can see from C the length of the arena away, and it usually signals that the horse was never fully straightened before the changes were started.

Uphill balance and expression. Good changes jump through from behind and travel forward and uphill. Flat, earthbound changes that merely swap legs are correct but modest; expressive changes that gain ground score well.

Calmness and rhythm. The canter rhythm and tempo continue as if the changes were not happening. Tension, rushing, crooked head-tilting, or a horse that anticipates and changes before the aid all cost marks.

Count and placement. In tempi lines, the required number of changes must be shown, and in the Grand Prix zig-zag the final change must fall at the prescribed marker. A missed count is an error in the movement, not a stylistic detail.

How changes are trained

Practice varies between trainers, but the common route runs roughly like this. First the canter itself is confirmed: genuinely straight, balanced, and adjustable, with clean, prompt simple changes (canter–walk–canter) on both leads. Counter-canter is established so the horse can hold either lead anywhere in the arena. The first flying changes are then asked in places where the horse naturally wants to change, such as across a diagonal or out of a half-pass, and rewarded generously.

Only when single changes are confirmed, straight, and relaxed on both reins are sequences introduced, usually starting with four-tempis and closing the gap over months or years. The one-tempis are a coordination task of a different order; the rider must ask for the next change while the current one is still happening, and many otherwise capable horses take a year or more to confirm them. Some never do, which is one reason a confirmed Grand Prix horse commands the money it does.

Two honest cautions belong here. First, changes trained on a crooked or tense canter tend to be permanently crooked or tense; faults installed early are notoriously hard to remove, and judges see them for the rest of the horse’s career. Second, anticipation is the price of drilling: a horse that has run the same tempi line too often starts changing on its own, and marks for submission follow it down.

Common faults and what they cost

• Late behind. The classic fault. A single late change caps the movement mark low; repeated late changes in a series make a good mark for the line impossible.
• Croup high or kicking out. The horse throws the hindquarters upward instead of jumping through. Judges read this as tension or a gap in the canter quality.
• Swinging quarters. A straightness fault, marked per the FEI’s requirement that the horse remain straight throughout a series.
• Short or unequal strides between changes. In tempis, the strides between changes must stay equal and forward; shuffling to fit the count in is penalised.
• Anticipation. Changing before the aid, or throwing in unasked changes elsewhere in the test, costs the movement concerned and leaks into the collective marks.
• Loss of rhythm or impulsion. As everywhere in dressage, the training scale applies: a fluent line of modest changes outscores a spectacular line with a broken rhythm.

Changes in the tests you’ll watch

At Prix St Georges, changes appear both as a line of three-tempis and as single changes after the canter half-passes. Intermediate I brings two-tempis and a zig-zag with changes at each direction shift. From Intermediate II upward the one-tempis arrive, and the Grand Prix combines them with the canter zig-zag, where a change is ridden at every change of bend. In freestyles, tempi changes on circles and serpentines have become a standard way for top riders to lift their degree-of-difficulty mark.