Why does my heel horse kick out or swap leads in the corner?

A heel horse that kicks out or swaps leads through the corner is losing its balance and rhythm at the moment it needs them most — the corner is where the heeler is setting up the swing and any disruption to the horse's movement directly disrupts the delivery. Kicking out, where a hind leg swings wide rather than tracking up under the body, is almost always a balance problem: the horse is not bending correctly through its body during the corner, its hindquarters are swinging to the outside rather than staying engaged under it, and the imbalanced stride produces the irregular leg movement. A swap in the corner — the horse changing its canter lead behind without being asked — indicates the horse is struggling to maintain the correct lead through the turn and is compensating by swapping rather than staying balanced on the original lead. Both problems point to the same root cause: insufficient suppleness and balance at the pace being asked. The horse that cannot maintain a correct, balanced arc at loping speed through the corner will kick out or swap because the turn is demanding more than its current training supports. The correction begins in flat work: establish correct, balanced loping circles of varying sizes where the horse bends through its body, tracks up with its inside hind foot, and maintains its lead without swapping. Build the quality of the circle before increasing the speed or sharpness of the arc. In the roping context, slow the corner down temporarily — work on slow cattle with a header who makes a gradual turn — until the horse can move through the arc correctly at that pace. Then increase pace incrementally only as the balance and correct lead hold.