Did you ride hunters during the early- to mid-'80s era of the barely noticeable rise for the posting trot and the placement of just the big toe in the stirrup? As I understand, the itty-bitty rise was to accommodate sensitive thoroughbreds. But why the toe craze? Fashion? Copy-catting some influential rider? And did the practice help make anyone’s feet an arthritic junkyard, as it did to mine?
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I must have missed that.
I can’t imagine riding with that sort of foot placement in the stirrup and I didn’t.
If the big time riders were doing it, I was probably looking at their horses and not their feet, so it’s not surprising that I didn’t notice. 
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During those years I was riding ammy owner hunters and the 3’6" medals and I rode with the bar of the stirrup on the ball of my foot. Always.
I vaguely remember a few west coast riders who rode with just their toe in the stirrup and a winky post at the trot, but they looked out of place to be honest. It must’ve been a fad because it wasn’t a big “thing” as far as I recall.
Of course, at the opposite end of the spectrum, there were also riders (mostly older male professionals) in that era who still rode with their feet all the way home in the stirrup irons.
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This was East Coast, by the way.
I wonder whether the toe was a tool that we forgot to throw away. For instance, as a way to ride almost without stirrups, and to get them back if you needed them fast. Or to teach a more subtle post, as in: Coach knows you’re posting from feet and not calves, and to remind you to knock it off, you’re now posting off one toe. That’s uncomfortable, and when you quiet the post, you’re not putting as much weight in the feet and the discomfort goes away. … And then some of us didn’t hear the: “Do this for five minutes during warm-up and don’t make it your regular thing” part.
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I was a late 80’s / 90’s rider as a kid and the thing I was always taught that has messed me up habitually for life was “toes out”. I didn’t even discover until a few yrs ago how much of a chair seat that has given me until I started video taping my rides. Very few instructors ever told me the opposite but I was so confused when they did, they never said why. It’s so developmentally engrained that I actually have a bit of physical pain when I ride with my toes pointed forward. Not riding right now but I was working on fixing it pretty heavily for awhile but it sure was taking some time. It does help correct the chair seat but then when I’ve specifically asked instructors about this I’ve had them tell me that how I’ve been riding is effective so don’t change it. I suppose I should get over any futile attempts at “pretty” and stick with “effective”…but I’m not convinced. --never heard of the big toe only thing, sound painful!
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I don’t think the toes out / chair seat actually IS effective. Typically “effective” means good enough and habitual enough that changing it after idk how old you are but say 30+ years of riding would be near impossible mentally and/or physically.
And the angle of the forward vs out is very, very subtle. 5 to 15 degrees is correct. Most who observe that their toes are are out are well beyond the recommended 15 degrees maximum (closer to 20 to 40 degrees creates that chair seat).
Not saying that people can’t be great riders with weird / atypical / “not technically correct riding” but mechanically speaking toes forward with SLIGHT outturn is a far more stable & effective way to ride.
all things provided rider’s confirmation, mobility, etc.
Those were my “heyday” of show years and I missed the toe thing as well. Stirrup went across the ball of the foot where it’s supposed to go
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I have a vague memory of it, but don’t remember if it was from my late junior years (early 70s) or early amateur years (early to mid 80s). I definitely associate it with the super flat PDN and Hermes saddles.
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I have always ridden with my left stirrup on my toe because I have extremely poor mobility and flexion in that ankle. For whatever reason that position seems to be the most comfortable. 
it drove my IHSA coach crazy.
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That’s the point, I know that. So it always surprises me when I bring it up and a dressage trainer will say, nah its fine, it’s working for you. I do have a bit of funky build and maybe from years of doing it I compensate in ways that work. Whatever. I know it’s wrong.
I rode hunters in that era…and I do tend to ride a little bit on my toe a little more than the ball of my foot. And I ride Thoroughbreds and don’t post real high! I think in the 50’s and sixties, people rode a little more home, and tended to let their lower leg come back in the air. I think in the 70’s and 80’s, the tendency was to deepen the heel, and keep a straighter line from knee to toe in the air, and having the stirrup further forward facilitated that and took on an aura of “sophistication” that somehow distinguished the show ring riders from the field hunters (in the minds of the show ring riders, I think). The biggest thing from the 80’s I don’t see anymore is the saddle flap curling under the legs of the pro riders. The modern equitation riders look a little looser in the tack to me with the bulkier saddles and no curl behind their leg. I have been wondering how much of it is saddle vs. teaching, but I generally don’t think they are as tight as they used to be in the thigh and knee
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I rode in California in the 1980s and 1990s.
I was quite guilty of riding on my toes. Also, I was a big fan of leaving my fingers a tad open on the reins. And while we are thinking of things to yell at me about, let’s also include my reins being too long.
This was lazy-but-secure riding style that was comfortable for man and beast. I could equitate if I had to, but this is how I liked to roll.
I think the toe thing was about being asked to get very deep in my heel. I recall being asked to really put the stirrup under the ball of my foot and feeling like I lost that deep heel and wrap-around leg that I liked.
Also, I thought the saddle flap curled behind a pro’s leg was pure badassery. Like their leg was so tight it too the saddle flap with it!
And to your point, this was smack-dab in the Prix des Nations era. I love how I learned to ride in that saddle. It serves me well today as I can find a way to ride in balance in just about any saddle, because the PdN taught you to ride without a bunch of influence from the saddle.
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Ah yes. Looking back I think I had purses that were made of more leather than my saddles. 
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I learned a lot from those pancake saddles. Namely, how to stay on. When I brought mine out of retirement my new coach called it “a postage stamp.” Indeed it is alongside the La-Z-Boy I have now. I want to take the pancake for a spin, just for kicks, but it doesn’t fit Miss Mare.
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I was in the jumper division, and didn’t notice what was or was not trendy. And I rode and showed alone, only taking clinics from travelling clinicians and a variety of local professionals as required. So I set my own style LOL. Still do.
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Amen. Nothing wrong with that. (usually!)
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I was too young to have been involved at the time, but I do remember it and this is my guess on the why. I have a whopping size 6.5 foot and it is very hard to make my heel look as down as some folks with a larger foot size. I’ve always had a theory that the “longer” your foot is, the deeper your heel would look because there is more length to spread the flexion across. I hope that makes sense.
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I had a super flat Churchill saddle. I did everything in it: eventing ( all 3 phases,) hunters, and low jumpers. It didn’t fit my current horse, so I gave it to a young rider because everyone should get to ride in a flat saddle.
I never noticed the trend of only having your toe in the stirrup but it sounds painful. I did have a coach in the 90s who was all about turning the toe out, which I hated, so I stopped riding with her. It pushed me back into a chair seat and made me feel insecure. The only time I use that leg position is on drop fences.
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In reference to creating the “look” of having your heel really down, I remember perfecting the art of slipping my heel up inside my boots to create some additional leverage and also to create the illusion that my heel was further down than it actually was.
Or was that just me who did that? 
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I used to try it with heel lifts or insoles, but I’m not sure it really worked. It mostly just made my foot cramp 
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