Espalier Pear Tree

When I moved I inherited an espalier pear tree that was sadly neglected. The leader reaches a second floor window. It is absolutely too tall. I plan to prune it in late winter and know what/how to remove unwanted branches. But pruning the leader bothers me. I was thinking to prune it down to a lateral branch and let that branch take over as the leader. I am sure this will spoil the look of the espalier, but I am not sure what else to do. I would appreciate learning about other approaches or ideas. Thanks.

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/p...g/pruning.html

I found this site helpful