Small 'cheats' at shows?

[magnolia73]

I don’t think it is cheating if everyone has access. It’s perhaps a competitive edge.

There will always be purists who think eq should be done in a stiff, slick PDN on a high OTTB in a field over big jumps. That’s nice, and probably if you do that well, you’ll do really great in a slightly cushy sticky saddle on an autopilot warmblood on manicured footing. The person who struggles is not going to find a winning round in a can.

And when you get old, some of the “cheats” are a way to keep riding without being a cripple. There comes a time when being GM perfect hurts. And you realize that short stirrups and heels down is ripping your back up. So you lengthen the stirrups, invest in full seats, get a cushy saddle, a smooth horse, a can of sporti-haft spray and merrily continue to enjoy the sport… without needing a bottle of perscription pain killers at the end of the day.

[toomanyponies]

[QUOTE=EquineRacers;4484939]
But, wouldn’t it be more self satifing if you really worked on improving yourself on that “hot” horse to where you don’t need assistants???
JMO[/QUOTE]

I would hope you never need ‘assistants’ to ride but some of us like assistance. . .

[toomanyponies]

[QUOTE=downpour;4485391]
Question re: the cheese grater stirrup irons… How harsh are they on your boot soles? Do they mark, or wear them down over time? It’s something I’ve always been curious about.[/QUOTE]

Love them - havent noticed any excessive wear and I ride 5-6 day.

[who22]

My trainer used to put Sadl Tite on my boots when I showed 10+ years ago, and I didn’t mind it at the time. However, shining my boots for the next day’s show and trying to get that crap off was always a nightmare. I haven’t used it since then.

As far as stirrups go, I am kind of surprised nobody mentioned the On Tyte system (not that I saw yet, anyway). www.ontyte.com/index.html
I do think that these are a big cheat!!! I understand if you are riding in Grand Prixs and whatnot, fine. But anything else (hunters, eq), do you REALLY need a magnet holding your foot in the stirrup? I feel like these stirrups totally allow someone to not concentrate on their heels as much and slack off with their leg. But then again, I guess you could just slather on the Sadl Tite and not have that problem :lol:
Anyone else have any feelings about these??? Have you, or do you currently use them???

[SkipChange]

I find this thread quite amusing honestly.

If you want to put nasty icky sticky stuff on your boots/saddle, you just go right ahead. If you want to ride in those jointed stirrups that I simply hate riding in, go for it. It really isn’t going to bother me. As far as cheese grater stirrups, I find they’re very hard on my feet for daily/long rides (foxhunting in them was soooo painful) but for a hunter/eq/jumper round on something that is prone to overjumping, spooking, bucking they are helpful. I don’t really see what the fuss is over.

[Seven-up]

[QUOTE=hellerkm;4485475]
You mean like my Prix D Nations that I love LOL!!! YUP make those EQ kids ride in those see how far they get !!! Just kidding but I also agree of course by the time you CAN ride in that type of saddle then you don’t NEED saddle tite, your leg is already tight and in place!!![/QUOTE]

Yup! My PDN says hi to your PDN. You and I are cut from the same cloth, I think.

[Seven-up]

[QUOTE=downpour;4485391]
Question re: the cheese grater stirrup irons… How harsh are they on your boot soles? Do they mark, or wear them down over time? It’s something I’ve always been curious about.[/QUOTE]

They come with a little disclaimer that they can eventually make little dents in the soles of your boots. “Extra wear” is what they called it, or something like that. But it takes a long time, and like someone else said, they ride several horses a day and don’t have any extra wear. I honestly haven’t ridden in mine for long enough to do anything to my boots. And my paddock boots already have giant holes on the tops where they bend near my toes, so what’s a few more holes?:winkgrin: But seriously, I expected them to be pretty hard on the soles, but so far they’re not.

The most trouble I’ve had with them is the edges scratching up my saddle. I think it’s because I use tiny stirrups and the only pads they had were a larger size. So the other day I took clear packing tape (not with the strings in it, just clear) and covered up the sharp edges. Since it’s clear, you can’t see anything. I haven’t put them back on my saddle yet or ridden in them, so we’ll have to see how it holds up.

[pday09]

[QUOTE=who22;4485871]
As far as stirrups go, I am kind of surprised nobody mentioned the On Tyte system (not that I saw yet, anyway). www.ontyte.com/index.html
I do think that these are a big cheat!!! I understand if you are riding in Grand Prixs and whatnot, fine. But anything else (hunters, eq), do you REALLY need a magnet holding your foot in the stirrup? I feel like these stirrups totally allow someone to not concentrate on their heels as much and slack off with their leg. But then again, I guess you could just slather on the Sadl Tite and not have that problem :lol:
Anyone else have any feelings about these??? Have you, or do you currently use them???[/QUOTE]

Aww, but look at that kid in the video on the website! she looks like she really needs them!
:lol::lol::lol:

[Voldemare]

Has anyone else heard of the little kids stuffing the heels of their boots or sliding the heel slightly up so that the boot heel looks lower? We’re talking walk-trot kids.

[LrksprJumper]

[QUOTE=Voldemare;4486301]
Has anyone else heard of the little kids stuffing the heels of their boots or sliding the heel slightly up so that the boot heel looks lower? We’re talking walk-trot kids.[/QUOTE]

I’ve never heard of this, but it reminds me of those Equi-Heel things:

http://equiheels.com/

I really don’t understand who would use these things, unless you have like a physical problem where you can’t get your heels down or something. I know it would throw me way off-balance :no:

I’ve never been such a huge fan of “cheats” and I think you need to “earn” your equitation but unfortunately they ARE legal in the show arenas, and they’re out there so there’s not much you can do about it.

[indygirl2560]

@superpony123;4485258

Bendy stirrups though? Absolutely not. I would rather just take the stirrups off than ride with non-bendy stirrups (erm, in MOST cases) but then, I am lucky my saddle fits most horses. they can really hinder you actually, it makes it a lot easier for your leg to swing. HOWEVER, it can also be ridiculously painful to ride in regular stirrups. (which is why i would prefer to ride without stirrups if i dont have the option of bendy stirrups). my trainer refuses to ride in any saddle on a normal basis that does not have bending stirrups–he has had multiple knee surgeries and has arthritis and a lot of joint pain in general. for him, bendy stirrups are not a ‘cheat’ – theyre a necessity for him to ride without ruining his joints entirely. as for me, i haven’t had surgery or arthritis or anything (erm, i’m only 17 :)) but i am a LOT more comfortable riding with the bending ones than without. i can tolerate maybe 15 mins of riding with regular stirrups, but anything after that and my knees and ankles really ache, it gets intolerable.

exactly! If I ride in regular Fillis irons, thirty minutes or less after I dismount, I won’t be able to walk and my knee will kill me.(My right knee has major issues-tendonitis, stuff torn that didn’t heal correctly, and small tears in my patella tendon) With the flexible stirrups, my knee barely bothers me at all and I can still walk after riding! If I have to ride in someone else’s saddle w/o bendy stirrups, I just ride without stirrups most of the time. I really don’t see flexible stirrups as a cheat for riders who need them. I think the magnet stirrups are major cheats for eq. though. Big jumpers, not so much, but eq yes.

[ThePerfectFit]

[QUOTE=supershorty628;4485359]
Now, I’m just curious - I wear a back brace because of scoliosis. It fits around my lower back, with the top edge just below my chest, and has metal staves in it to help keep my back in line. It also puts an arch in my lower back that is not there otherwise because of my spine twisting. If you did not know my circumstances and you saw me putting it on, would you feel I was cheating?

This is a legitimate question, not trying to start anything.[/QUOTE]

I give everyone the benefit of the doubt, but personally I may wonder… But I know the difference between a back brace and the shoulders back thing.Its a pretty obvious product… [http://www.shouldersback.net/shouldersback.asp] You have a medical condition that requires you to wear this brace, the upside is that it improves your position. The shoulders back thing is use SPECIFICALLY to enhance ones shoulders. It is used as a schooling mechanism to help train your shoulders where to sit (so eventually it becomes natural). This makes it artificially. Now those who dont feel like shelling out $60 on that will spend $20 on a posture enhancing bra that does the exact same thing. That to me is “cheating”.

[Hunter_Mom]

[QUOTE=smm20;4485048]
I liken it to the difference between riding in suede or slightly worn half-chaps and sleek, shiny tall boots.[/QUOTE]

Exactly what I was thinking. When I got new boots, I used the sticky stuff a little to help while breaking them in. I don’t use it now. I got a pair of show gloves that were super-slick, and used it then. I don’t see it as cheating - just making your equipment work better.

[mvp]

Since I clean (and pay for!) my own tack, I can’t imagine using sticky stuff on it.

If someone thinks a little wax will keep them from certain death on a rank horse or over large fences, then by all means, go for it. But be nice to the person who has to get the crap off the leather afterwards.

[nlk]

[QUOTE=spmoonie;4485010]
The stirrups are a gift from God! They are much easier on your joints (not the wallet though!) and just make the ride more pleasant.[/QUOTE]

ditto!

[Void]

I’ve used Sadl-Tite in the past and when continue to do so in the future. I ride all the time at home without stirrups so its just a kind of ritual thing that my Pony Eq friend got me into a long time ago. (She also had an extremely good leg so I have no idea where she got this idea from haha)

It’s actually not that hard to clean the stuff off the saddle, and where we are on a hot day most times it melts off before it does anything anyways.

I use the shoulder’s back (day to day) at home to correct my office chair shoulders. I was actually thinking of buying some to wear around the house/at work, and leaving the stinky old one at the barn haha.

It actually doesn’t work as well as people think, if you have bad posture, it won’t CORRECT it when you put it on, its a gentle annoying reminder to put your shoulder’s back so you won’t have a slight discomfort. If you have bad posture and you’re in the ring, you’re probably too distracted by the 5000 other things you need to do to remember that you need to put your shoulders back and thats why they are uncomfortable. You actually might unconciously lean further into device.

[trinityhill]

I’ve unfortunately heard of the beginners slipping their heels out of their boots to make them look lower. Some of my kids gave this a try and they now know the drill, I randomly poke and prod boots if something looks fishy to be sure feet are where they are supposed to be and if caught slipping the heel, the stirrups are mine for as long as I feel like taking them. Anyone with an educated eye can see the difference with this trick from a mile away. Nothing but hard work allowed here… Saw and ad for those equi-heels things and had a COW…grrr

Bendy stirrups after a knee injury are the only thing that gets me through riding all day. Definitely does not improve my leg position at all though… Eq’s a lot better with standard irons, just can’t take the lack of give on my knee anymore.

Don’t like the saddle-tite… it makes a mess. A little grip, glycerin soap, on shiny new boots isn’t a terrible thing while breaking them in at home, but shiny new tack shouldn’t make its debut in the show ring anyways.

[klmck63]

@trinityhill;4487687

I’ve unfortunately heard of the beginners slipping their heels out of their boots to make them look lower. Some of my kids gave this a try and they now know the drill, I randomly poke and prod boots if something looks fishy to be sure feet are where they are supposed to be and if caught slipping the heel, the stirrups are mine for as long as I feel like taking them. Anyone with an educated eye can see the difference with this trick from a mile away. Nothing but hard work allowed here… Saw and ad for those equi-heels things and had a COW…grrr

I had never heard of this ‘trick’ or the equi heel things before this thread. I just can’t understand how it could possibly be comfortable to ride with something lifting your heel up, or how you would balance.

Also, wouldn’t it make your boots much shorter?

I too came from the standing on a stair until your feet went numb faction.

[trinityhill]

klmck63: Yup it does shorten the boots and gives a noticeable bulge in the back of the ankle. Kids didn’t think of that before trying it…

Everyone gets sent home with “Horsework Homework” checklist to stretch out their heels on the stairs 2-3 times a day everyday… the temptation of the quick easy way out is just too alluring to some…

[Kwdf3day]

Could someone who uses the jointed “givey” stirrup irons please mention some specific brands? Reading here of all who have gotten knee relief with them, I would love to try them too!