I’m not against no stirrup work, but I think the rider it should stop—or take a break—as soon as they lose proper form. When you’re struggling or trying to “push through,” you’re not necessarily building the correct muscles. Not to mention the poor horse!
Edited to add:
If you’re forced into no stirrup work and you have a pair: full chaps!
No one should be forced to do anything as part of a hobby. This is ridiculous.
That was meant to be tongue in cheek—but I’ll clarify. For those who agree to no stirrup work, I find that wearing full chaps is helpful.
Get a cheap pair from the tack store and bring them with you to and from the barn.
Call the police and report your stirrups as stolen?
Who cares what the trainer does with her own horses; she’s a pro and has a vested interest (as well as saddle time) to commit to a month of no stirrups.
Whether the clients should ride without stirrups for a month is another story. I’m sure some are competent at all gaits without stirrups. Those who are not…are they forced to just walk?
I really do not understand why grown adults let trainers bully them. A former trainer of mine had a great idea for no stirrup November. She gave a prize for how many days one wanted to do it. This way riders could choose if they wanted to participate or not. Most of the juniors did, most of the adults did not. You did not need a legitimate reason for not participating.
In my 50s + Osteopenia + a lesson mare who likes to shove her head to the ground and become a freight train = no, I’m not even trying a no-stirrup canter, and feel free to take points off my end-of-session evaluation score. Which opinion my instructor heartily agreed to.
Did I drop my stirrups at the trot and do all those sit- odd posting rhythms-two point-half seat things? Sure, she doesn’t nosedive so bad at the trot and the centrifugal force around the corners is less 
.
I was without stirrups for a few months earlier this year due to an ankle injury. I just did loads and loads of canter work. Also couldn’t wear spurs, because I had to ride in a brace. So my horse and I were super canter fit 
(He does not have a nice trot to sit).
This is ridiculous. Nobody should be expected to go a month without stirrups, ever. At our barn, we drop our stirrups for however many minutes based on the day of the month. For example, yesterday we did nine minutes, and on Nov. 30th, we will do 30. But never more than that. I would get to a tack shop and buy some cheap stirrups and leathers that will work for the month. If you look for bargains you’ll probably end up spending about $80. This is probably a better last resort, but if she’s that intent on hiding them and refuses to give them back, and you’ve tried to explain why you need them you might as well just buy them. I’m not saying you shouldn’t participate at all, I would still try dropping your stirrups for 3-5 minutes each lesson to challenge yourself, but definitely do anything you can to get your stirrups back.
I agree. I’m too old for nonsense. It’d be New Barn November for me.
I had a nasty ankle sprain this summer so I involuntarily participated in no stirrup June and no stirrup July so I think that means I’ve paid my no stirrup dues until 2023.
I’m sorry… your WHAT?
End of lesson evaluation score?
Sorry but that gets a WTF from me.
LOL I missed that.
“I’ll take a zero.”
+1 for that.
New trend: I’m calling this month “NOvember” where if anyone tries to get me to do anything, my reply will be “NO”
I see what you mean but I also think some of us can benefit from this type of thing from trainers sometimes. I’m trainerless right now and I kind of wish someone would make me do 5 minutes of no stirrup work on every ride because I’m just not disciplined enough to make myself do it on my own. I definitely can, but when there’s nobody making me, I’ll usually do about half a lap of no stirrup stuff and then I’m like “that’s enough of that”.
It’s sort of like me attempting to do a really hard workout by myself versus with a personal trainer. The completion rate will be much higher if someone is there making me do it.
But yea, I think they key is having a trainer know what you’re capable of and pushing you to what’s within your limits and to what’s going to be helpful not hurtful. Pulling stirrups for a whole month for the average working, adult ammy, is most likely going to be more harmful than helpful though.
Agree - I have a coach and a personal trainer in my other sport that push me farther than I would push myself.
But I recently left a coach who treated us all the same, and I’m done with that. He was a good coach most of the time; but the times when it wasn’t good were either borderline bullying OR neglect. Mainly because you can’t have a squad of adult athletes of different ages, abilities, genders, who have different goals, and treat them all the same.
So - I agree. Pulling the stirrups for everyone probably means that someone (or several people) will have a crappy month, possibly a fall or two, and maybe a sore horse in December. And some people will do great and be thankful for the push. And someone is probably like “No big deal. I do this all the time anyway.” So they could have used a different challenge.
I cantered two laps each direction without stirrups.
I hope I can maintain my anti-NSN status. 
I told my trainer about this thread. We laughed heartily at the foolishness of humankind. Then she took away my stirrups and made me do trot-canter transitions. My inner thigh bruises maintain that saying NO in NOvember is a better choice. 
Ruth, I ride at a large county park-owned lesson barn with several instructors (and some turnover). Riders from ‘never been on a horse before’ to IEA 2’6 points riders. All lessons are done in ‘sessions’ of 9-12 weeks, and group lessons are set up in a series of levels. To keep things organized, and to document why they let one rider move up to the next level of lessons while another is held back, at the end of each session our instructors/ the barn head does an evaluation with points 1-5 for a series of skills were supposed to be mastering at that level. It’s a good way to give us organized feedback on our skills progress, and keeps the playing field level for people wanting to move up into higher classes.
The parks district doesn’t mind the legal CYA value of writing it all down, either.
I find it useful so I don’t mind. Heck, I normally ride in dressage classes, so it’s like getting your test score page from the judge!
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