Last blog was about something new to Zoe. This blog is about something new to me. I changed my stirrups to "cheese grater" stirrups. I decided that there was nothing wrong with getting a tool to help me keep my feet in place. I have "tools" to help me or my horse accomplish other things, why not this? Usually my feet slip thru the stirrups until my heel rests against them. Then the top of my stirrups rest against the front of my ankle. So if I'm really busy riding and trying to accomplish something, I ride with my feet like that and after a while my ankle starts to hurt. "Oh ya, my feet are in the wrong place". Now I've tried to ride correctly-balls of my feet on the stirrups, heels down. But for some reason I loose the right position-and I suspect it is my right foot that gives me the most problems.
Well after getting these, I figured out a few things that I've suspected all along. Yes it is my right foot that "fails" first. I thought I was riding with my heels down all along but no...especially my right heel tends to come up. When I ride with my feet and heels in the correct positions and concentrate on keeping them that way-my feet NEVER move around in the stirrups. The "cheese grater" keeps them in place. As long as my heel is down-my feet never move. It's awesome. Now you would think if I applied the same principals to my "easy ride" stirrups I would get the same results. After all it's what every trainer says- balls of feet on stirrups and heels down. Should work. I think the roughness of the pads really helps to keep things in place. Also my barn manager pointed something out to me. On "easy ride" stirrups, the top part where it connects to the leathers, has alot of swing or movement to it. Therefore for people who have a hard time keeping their feet in place that movement doesn't help. These new ones-not so much movement and that helps. They are also pretty light weight compared to regular irons. A nice tool to help me with my dressage riding. They are also wider than regular irons. I like that because I have more stirrup for my foot. I guess it's a part of the "easy ride" stirrups that I really like-the wideness is nice.
When I did my research on these new stirrups I found many thoughts. A few said they "chewed up" the soles of their shoes but only a few said that. I figured if it was a really big issue many people would have said that...so I discounted that negative comment. A few said the stirrups "chewed up" their leathers and saddles. But some people commented back that you just had to be careful and some suggested putting socks over the stirrups when done. Careful and socks made sense to me. Most of the people said they really liked how they helped keep their feet in place. A few said they didn't help at all but only a few. So I took the plunge and decided to try them. Glad I did.
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