Right lead

My mare does the same thing when i lounge her she takes off on the right lead then does a flying lead change and goes to a counter canter drives me crazy.....My Q does she pick up the correct lead when your riding her? When i lounge fancy and she changes lead i make her stop and do it again and when she goes the whole way around the round pen in the correct lead i stop the lesson and keep doing this every day or other day.........Now how i was taught if she isnt taking the lead while your riding her, if you want her  to take the outside lead(closest to the rail) i will take my mares head and tilt it to the outside not to much just enough and i use spurs  i take my spur and push and roll up and kiss or cluck however you ask.... fancy will drop her head lift her rib cage and step right into the correct lead.....and in most cases they go right into it(sometimes)
 
 
hope that helps

So let me see if I understand.    If I want her to take her right lead, I should tilt her head slightly to the left and then do the spur, push etc. ? 

i would try it thats how i was taught on show horses when they were starting out.tilt the head into the rail not to much just enough either touch with your leg kiss or if you use spurs tilt head in touch with the spur and kiss thats how i ask my mare every time it never fails

She starts off by picking it up so I think she knows what you're asking and she tries to give it to you.  I suspect she's off somewhere that's making it easier for her to go to the wrong lead in a small circle than to put up with the discomfort.  I'd say have her checked or chiro'd.  Really, I'd say let my Bowen therapist work on her but.... you're probably not w/in commuting distance to Memphis, are you?

Hunt is right on this one.  If she has always caught the correct lead and held it till now then something is off somewhere.  Have her checked before really working her too much just in case there is something wrong.
 
If she has always had this problem then it has become a learned behavior from either being lounged mostly in one direction or perhaps loped undersaddle to the left more.  Most folks don't realize just how much more they travel to the left than right until something happenes to bring it into the light.  If this is the case then this is what I would try.
 
Give her her head to start.  Don't worry about getting collection just keep it simple.  Start off trotting circles and figure 8's to warm her up and focus her mind a bit.  When you feel her relaxe stop her and sidepass her to the right.  As you feel her begin to move smoothly to the right leave your left leg back a bit to encourage the hindquarters and cue for the lope.  When she goes into the lope on the right lead only let her go a few strides then ask her to trot again.  Basicly you are asking for a trot before she changes leads on her own.  I offten mix it up between lope, walk, lope, stop, lope trot, that helps them to not anticipate too much and if she gets nervous or tense go back to something she is comfortable with before asking again.
 
If she doesn't know how to sidepass or you don't have that much room then you can stay along the rail and barely tip her nose to the left, put your boot back in Position C so that your encouraging her to move her hips to the right and cue for the lope.  Again just like before bring her back down before she switches on her own.  Most of the time though I don't tip thier nose out unless they are really trying to dive in with the shoulder as most horses will move into a lope much more smoothly when they have thier head for the first few times of this.  When her mind wraps around what you are asking and she gets stronger then start asking for her to collect up and do it. 
 
Keep it simple and have fun!

Thanks!!  I'll give it a try.

I'll give these other suggestions a try and if she continues to have problems I will have her looked at.  Thanks.

She does a pretty good side pass, and I've tried to do what your saying but I'm not very smooth at it.  Again, she seems to want to take the lead but after a few strides, she will switch.  So I don't know if it is out of lazyness or maybe I'm throwing her off balance.  I also tried what you suggested, while lunging her, when she took her 2 correct strides I broke her down into a trot and then did it again a few times.  She seems so relieved when I break her back into a trot.  If she doesn't improve, I'll have a vet check her out.  But thanks for your help.

Im sorry on that.  I forgot to mention that I only tip thier nose to the outside if they are diving in with their shoulder and that I hold them in frame with my legs and reins.  Don't know what I was thinking not remembering to tell you this!!
 
IF they are not diving in here is what I do.  Walk in a large circle to the right until you know where you are wanting to go and have in your head the next step.  I have found that most folks forget to think ahead and you should always be preparing yourself and your horse for the next steps.  Next raise your inside rein straight up and make light contact.  Basicly you are lifting the horses inside shoulder up.  About 6 inches or so I think but you will have to experiment.  Now with the outside rein you are going to want to keep only enough pressure on her mouth so as to keep her from overbending or nosing out.  If you were looking at this from above it should look like a perfectly round circle with your horses body following the same arch.
 
Now you can place your left leg back in position C or near the flank strap to encourage the hips over now cue for the lope.  Most times you will want to take a practice run at it a time or two first.  Don't actually ask for the lope off just get use to the feel of it and ask for a trot.  Then take it up when you are confortable and ask for the lope.  Remember to look up at where you are going because it places your hips in the proper position to better your leg position as well.
 
Sorry I didn't tell you this before.  I wasn't thinking but this is such a simple way to get you and your horse comfortable with lead departures.

O.K.  Thanks!!

Does she use her right lead when she's out in the pasture?
 
When a horse is really adamant about not picking up a lead...particularly if they will switch after picking it up for a couple of strides, I tend to think it's pain. Usually in the shoulder, often arthritis...sometimes caused by hard use or an old injury.