Alternative Title: Are you struggling with your riding because of your gear? You might be and not realize it.
I have had an enlightening week and I thought it would be prudent to share with you in case it can help someone out there. It all started when I dropped my saddle off with the saddle fitter last week to have it strip flocked and the billets replaced. No worries. I can ride in Jax’s owners saddle. It’s the same saddle. A half inch smaller seat. No big deal.
What didn’t occur to me is that I have spent YEARS trying out products and getting my situation just perfect.
First ride…sliding around. I keep dropping my stirrups. I can hear myself hitting the saddle in the canter. If I put too much weight in the stirrups, my feet slide out. If I don’t put enough, Jax is mad. I cannot keep an effective leg. I can feel the stirrup leather under my leg and it annoys me. My boot keeps getting caught on either the leather or the saddle and it’s making a popping sound every stride and is distracting me so much I can’t focus.
Second ride. Same thing.
Third ride (lesson). Same thing. I can’t figure out how to ride. It shouldn’t be so different than mine…as the saddle is basically the same! What is wrong with me? Jax is not wanting to go as he normally does. I complain to my trainer about how much I hate the stirrups. She asks me why I didn’t just switch them out? Are they with my saddle? The answer is no. She goes and grabs them…
I switch out the stirrups and suddenly I can ride again. How could something as simple as a stirrup (and possibly stirrup leather) make such a difference?
Well…different equipment suits different people. The #1 problem I think is the stirrup difference. She has the MDC stirrups (which I know a lot of people love). I found many years ago that the stirrups with the flexible sides are NOT helpful for me because I’m hyper-mobile and my ankles are extremely over-flexible…so having something that moves so much gives me literally no support where I need it. I need solid stirrups. Some people NEED the flexible stirrup to feel comfortable.
Secondly I’ve gotten so used to the big wide flat stirrup leathers from Total Saddle Fit I cannot abide those narrow fat leathers that pinch and grab and add extra bulk under my leg.
So that’s just two pieces of equipment that took me from being completely ineffective, distracted and uncomfortable…to able to ride as I normally do and be able to school my horse at the 4th level/PSG stuff we’re working on. It brought to mind something that I don’t regularly think about…because it isn’t so obvious…but your equipment could be causing you more problems than it’s fixing.
If you’ve been struggling with something for a long time and have been working hard to fix it (your leg, your seat, your hands, etc.) examine your equipment! Is it doing you justice? Is it helping you…supporting you? Have you tried riding in a different type saddle? Different stirrups? Different reins? Different boots? Can you borrow someone’s equipment and give something else a try?
Sometimes something as simple as a stirrup can make the difference between your ability to be effective with you horse!