Your post has really hit home for me. Hard. This is a problem I have been living with for all of my 39 years and literally just this week, I have come to realize that a lot of my physical issues along with my riding anxiety stem from the 2.5" difference on my right side. In fact, I am calling my insurance this morning to find a doctor since I am new to the area I live in.
I have ridden since I was 3 and in just the past few years, my riding ability and confidence have diminished. Most people have said it happens when you get older, anxiety becomes an obstical fear is intensified yada yada yada. That is true, yes, no doubt however, I was always fearless. Give me a green horse any day over a Steady Eddie. I would jump anything you put me on and in front of us. Nothing scared me.
Then I miscarried twice. Depression and prescribed happier pills brought me an extra 50 pounds to learn to ride with. I realized my center was off and blamed my weight gain. Started walking. Then came the back and knee pain. Blamed that on an old car accident and age. Started taking glucosamine and chondroitin. Then came my Bells Palsy that affected my left side and for some unknown reason, my inner ear. Balance was understandably off and riding anxiety set in for good. This was all in the past 10 years.
I stopped competing and training. Stopped teaching. I rode without an audience and tried like crazy to find my center and my courage again.
Finally, about 3 years ago after my Bells palsy my daughter and I were talking about her biology class and her teacher made the kids stretch their arms out in front of them to notice that the body is not perpendicular, and no one is perfect. My daughter showed me how different her arms were and when I did the exercise, I realized my balance problems weren’t just because of everything I went through the past few years, but because of the difference in my body length on my right side.
So I found a therapeutic instructor who I rode with a few times a month. We experimented with stirrup length, stirrup pads, lunge line lessons on stiff as a board lesson horses and nothing worked. I was still insecure in my seat. I knew what to do, why to do it but I could never make it come together physically unless I dropped my stirrups. Having my natural leg fall where I needed it to helped. My back problems couldn’t take riding stirrup-less for long though so my instructor wrapped my stirrup with vet wrap and duct tape.
This proved to be the best solution as I had my stirrups finally even, which made me able to bring my center back towards my belly button and work on other nasty habits I had formed, like curling my shoulders in to over compensate for my center being off.
However, wrapping my stirrups was also the worst thing I could have done too. See, I wasn’t seeing a doctor for my short comings. I was seeing a doctor for everything else but not a physical therapist or orthopedist to help me with the difference between my 2 sides. So I was riding more balanced with still ways to go but on the ground, I was causing myself even more trouble.
Most of our riding confidence comes through our ability to balance. And our balance confidence comes largely from our confidence to do every day things, like walking, putting things away etc. Because I wasn’t really addressing the problem in my every day life, my riding ability suffered. Yes, I was making progress but because once I was out of the saddle, I was still off balance, the wrapped stirrups only helped a little. On the ground I still was clumsy and still blaming my Bells Palsy my weight, my insecurity to everything else but th real issue of my right side being shorter than my left.
I moved and stopped riding while my horses recovered from being starved and the few times I did ride (without an instructor or wrapping my stirrups) I didn’t enjoy it. I was out of shape, hurting, mostly on my left side. Now that the boys are healthy and I’m on my own farm, I want to start riding again regularly.
I have found an instructor and am looking for an orthopedic doctor who can prescribe lifts so I can make adjustments to my shoes and boots so I can align my body in my every day life as well as my riding life.
Wrapped stirrups or specialty stirrups are only a temporary band aid so I wouldn’t suggest them. You need to let your leg fall naturally and allow your body to fall into place with whatever you are using in your daily activities. If you’re adding height to your shoes, do the same for your boots because that will be what your body is going to be accustomed to. Don’t think special stirrups will be ok and that’s all you use. You will confuse your body. The adjustments to your boots will follow you through foot and leg adjustments while riding whereas a special stirrup will be something that will be a fixed component and won’t adjust with you. You would be better off with adding to your boots and shoes than going to a special stirrup because once you dismount, you’re still going to need that extra help that you had with the stirrup. You’re going to find that once you create something that evens you out, you are going to need it in the saddle and on the ground. I think I remember you saying you were making adjustments to your boots. I would leave it at that and ride in your regular stirrups.
Find yourself a great therapeutic instructor who understands your body. This is crucial because when you start making adjustments this late in the game, you need to work with someone who understands. Everyone has a slight difference in their sides but when you have someone like us who needs to physically add to their bodies, you’re going to find that you’re going to have to relearn things a bit, on the ground and in the saddle. So even if its for a short time until you get used to it, having a good therapeutic instructor will help you tremendously.
Good luck. I hope I made some sense here. I’m before coffee on an insomnia driven sleep deprived day typing on my phone so I’m hoping I put my thoughts down into some sort of decipherable point lol
