I actually ride much better without stirrups than with them. My heels go down, my toes point forward, I start using my leg properly. Then, once I’m back in the stirrups, everything goes sideways! Anyone else have this? What could be going wrong with the stirrups?
I once rode bareback several days a week for almost 3 years straight. Horse had a long-term, undiagnosed transient lameness - you never knew if he was going to be lame or sound from day to day, so saddling up was a complete waste half the time. Fortunately he had a back like a sofa, so it was an easy decision.
When I started riding other horses and doing lessons again and light showing, I had tremendous difficulty with stirrups.
What I eventually learned was that it was my inability to relax my leg and use my joints as shock absorbers. My muscles and joints had forgotten all of that.
I tried all different kinds of irons and leathers, thinking it was the stirrups, but what worked in the end was spending time in a jump saddle with fillis stirrups set jumping short - so my leg HAD to bend and flex and I had to carry weight in my heel properly. Doing a lot of 2pt - changing gaits while in 2pt - helped too.
In my case, it wasn’t the stirrups… it was me 
Me too, always have, never really put weight in my stirrups, more try to hold them there so they don’t fly around.
Makes riding western saddles harder, because they depend on you using the stirrups more for balance when you sit pinned in there.
Guess that those years as a kid without a saddle just stick with you.
Of course, as we become heavier adults, a saddle does help a horse’s back so much more, when it redistributes that now larger weight over a wider area.
I suggest trying some different saddles to see if the overall build/balance is a bigger issue for you than the stirrups/leathers.
I rode bareback extensively as a kid, WTC, jumping, whatever. As an adult re-rider I am really struggling with sitting trot, I bounce all over the place. Same horse bareback, I am SO much more effective and I have no trouble with sitting trot. I don’t pinch or tighten, I do a frequent mental/physical check. On the contrary, I feel more stable and relaxed which makes NO sense! Saddle is comfortable, fits us both well, horse is cool either way. Trainer laughs but it is frustrating. I can’t show dressage bareback! (Canter bareback is a bit hairy, tho. Neckstrap is my friend)
I went for several years without riding, so I lost that muscle memory, but yes this used to be me. I’m another one that spent months riding nothing but bareback, and then ONLY in a dressage saddle. So I learned to really lengthen and relax my legs, and really wrap them around the horse. If a [saddled] horse started acting up, I’d immediately drop my stirrups so I could stick better. If a horse started hopping or bucking while my stirrups were shorter, I was a goner!
Those having trouble may want to look into saddle fit – it may fit your horse but may not fit YOU! :lol:
That said this was 100% true for me with my old horse! Jumped bareback, gamed bareback, if I could do it in a saddle I could do it bareback. So-so with my new(er) horse, he’s awesome but still young and ticklish. He’s also a much bigger mover than my old horse and while my butt doesn’t come UP, he’s really springy and my butt moves with it. Has made for some really painful, awkward butt-undies-burn. :o
yup, although it depends on the horse. my leg position was MUCH better without stirrups; even if i put them back on and dropped them several holes, i’d eventually find myself scrabbling around searching for them.
I’ve seen my coach kick off her stirrups if she thinks the horse is going to start bucking and acting up. She feels more balanced and safe without them! I am envious.
[QUOTE=Scribbler;8957094]
I’ve seen my coach kick off her stirrups if she thinks the horse is going to start bucking and acting up. She feels more balanced and safe without them! I am envious.[/QUOTE]
That is what I do also, was taught to do so starting colts and saved my leg once, when a filly on her fifth ride, going out of the riding center into the street, slipped on the asphalt and belly flopped down.
I had my feet right out of the stirrups and when she got up, the one stirrup was bent horizontally in two.
Glad my foot was not in there.
We never could figure how that happened and she didn’t get a broken rib or hematoma from it, or the saddle any marks?
Any time a horse acts up, stirrups are always on the end of the foot and ready to be gone before we know what is happening, is the way all of us were taught.
We also did some vaulting and free jumping down a Hitchcock pen chute without any tack, so balance for us was not dependent on stirrups.
I would suspect that the balance of the saddle is not right for you, and likely the location of the stirrup bars doesn’t allow the best alignment of your leg.
No. But then I’m 71 years old and displaying some signs of old age!!!
G.
Definitely!
I can do anything much more effectively without stirrups.
I believe it is because I am quite tall and the stirrup bars aren’t set far enough back. Oh well, if things go south, I just drop 'em!
Yep. First noticed this issue about 6 years ago when I really started riding and showing after numerous years away. Trainer made a rule that I couldn’t drop my stirrups. Because doing so allowed me to sit the canter and trot much more effectively.
Even now, the same is still true. My horse actually behaves and moves better in the eq rail classes because I relax and sink into his back, and use my legs more, because well you just have to.
I think that stirrups gives much help, but at the same time takes some away from you by your legs being restrained by where they can go.
Without them, our legs are more free to adjust to where we need to be all along as the horse moves.
When working at speed and for the horse’s protection in beginners, stirrups are a big help, with little hindering.
I think it is good to have students ride without stirrups for better balance while on the longe line and at times in a lesson to loosen up a little.
Without stirrups makes me sit deeper and when I was a kid, the horse responded better to my hands.
Yup! I sit deeper and straighter and my leg is much more likely to wrap around my guy’s round ribcage. :lol:
That said getting a saddle with the stirrup bar in the right spot for me (I have a longer thigh but a short leg) has helped wonders with getting my leg right while using stirrups. Still a challenge though! 
I do, and even better bareback. It’s because I have the inclination to sit crooked and I can correct my hip alignment more dramatically without having the stirrups proscribe my angles. When I’m having a flatwork problem I always try to take a bareback day to sort it out, both so I can shift my hips and so that I can dramatically displace one or the other of my legs well behind where the girth would be to emphatically shift the quarters one way or the other. A saddle with a longer working center would be better for me, but hard to configure in a way that suits my horse’s back length and shape. Onward and upward.
English saddles yes, Western saddles stirrups are okay. (Australian saddles and heavily-blocked English saddles just creep me out in general. I’ve never felt claustrophobic in a saddle before I tried my BO’s Aussie saddle.) I’m seriously looking at bareback pads as I suspect they’d be more comfortable for him and me (Lucky’s a TB with not quite a shark fin, but serious withers, so bareback-bareback is out. I tried. It wasn’t comfortable for anyone.)
Well, I tend to lose my inside stirrup at the canter. I think its from all those years as an adult on ponies, when I use a leg firmly I tend to draw it upwards - bad habit of trying to reach pony belly! Rather than fish around I sit deeper and feel more confident if I just forget about the stirrup, go for the canter, and use the outside stirrup to make sure I don’t come out the back door if I get out of sync with the horse on the turns.
Yeah, I and the instructor are working on fixing my seat and legs. Rerider-itis.
