# Weight in your stirrups



## toosexy4myspotz (Oct 7, 2007)

Me and my husband were riding the other day as he proceeded to laugh at me. I cannot, doesn't matter what breed of horse, ride with weight in my stirrups. I guess it's just something I have always done and never paid any attention too. My app who i have been riding for eight years is much easier to ride without stirrups. He has conformation flaws that make him really unsmooth. But are you suppose to put weight in your stirrups? I know with gaited horses we sit back turn our heals down into their side and just go but I still don't put pressure on my stirrups.


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## trailhorserider (Oct 13, 2009)

I ride with just enough weight not to loose my stirrups. I mostly ride by balancing on my seat. I still feel stirrups are invaluable though. Without them my legs would get tired and I would get dumped at most spooks. 

Going faster than a walk I use my stirrups more. Like I would probably find it hard to trot and canter without stirrups for any distance at all. But at a walk, sometimes my feet can slide out if I am pretty relaxed.

I remember when I started riding though I went through a phase where I used my stirrups as shock absorbers and put quite a bit of weight in them. I guess my riding style has changed over the years, and I think it's for the better. I think because I have better balance now is why I put less weight in my stirrups than I used to. 

So it's probably a sign you have very good balance and are relaxed riding. Which is a really awesome thing.


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## Sparkyintention (Jan 21, 2012)

I think it really depends on what discipline you ride! As a jumper I use alot of weight in my sturrips but only to keep my heels down. I also have a bucking little snotball who thinks its fun to see how long I can stay on!  It also depends on how you are comfortable so it varies from person to person. I like to ride without stirrups and just let my feet dangle. Bad habit!


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## Skyseternalangel (Jul 23, 2011)

Depends on what you're doing. I ride deep seat (beginning of Dressage stuff) and it's all about weight down your legs and in your seat, not the stirrup. I just rest my toes on them


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## toosexy4myspotz (Oct 7, 2007)

My app who I have been riding for over eight years is downhill and he is very bouncy not to mention he moves like a camel. So he is by far hard to ride and the easiest way for me is to put my weight in my seat and I use my thighs to help keep me centered. But sense I have rode him so long like that I ride everybody like that. If I put any weight in my stirrups I feel like I'm on pogo stick bouncing up and down.


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## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

Take it from a girl who has spent years trying to break the habit of keeping too much weight on her feet....you have a much more secure seat when you aren't bracing against your stirrups like so many people do.

It's taken me a very long time to get into the habit of riding without all my weight on my feet and I can't believe how much better I ride now than I used to.


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## toosexy4myspotz (Oct 7, 2007)

i appreciate the imput. Everyone I ride with uses a lot of weight in their stirrups and I just can't. I get so screwed up doing it. I can w/t/c, jump, gait, whatever just fine but as soon as I use my stirrups, which I have tried the last time I rode, I feel like a fish bobber bobbing up and down side to side. I had to teach myself to ride as a kid and its the only way I really know. I didn't know if it was good or bad.


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## Skyseternalangel (Jul 23, 2011)

Sounds super to me, toosexy4myspotz. 

Better than gripping or bracing or shoving. You're actually RIDING the horse


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## toosexy4myspotz (Oct 7, 2007)

Everybody has always always told me I have a good seat but I never pay attention to them cause I just ride my way. I have never had a trainer or been around well trained horses. I had to teach myself and I figured I did it wrong.


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## Skyseternalangel (Jul 23, 2011)

Nope! While it's nice to have a trainer, it's even better to have the ability to _feel_ when something is wrong. 

Just because you ride differently than most people, doesn't mean it's wrong


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## Wallaby (Jul 13, 2008)

I say that as long as your heels are down, you're doing fine.


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## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

smrobs said:


> Take it from a girl who has spent years trying to break the habit of keeping too much weight on her feet....you have a much more secure seat when you aren't bracing against your stirrups like so many people do.
> 
> It's taken me a very long time to get into the habit of riding without all my weight on my feet and I can't believe how much better I ride now than I used to.


 
I appreciate hearing smrobs say this, as I know she rides for a living and should know what she's talking about. I see so many western riders jammed into the stirrup and I was told by some that I would be more secure if I did the same, but I think that cannot be true, unless the horse is doing a lot of quick stops, like reining? or would even that situation be best ridden with no real pressure on the stirrup?


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## Skyseternalangel (Jul 23, 2011)

tinyliny said:


> but I think that cannot be true, unless the horse is doing a lot of quick stops, like reining? or would even that situation be best ridden with no real pressure on the stirrup?


Logically.. any kind of bracing prevents fluid movement and encourages bouncy, stern, jerky movement.

But I'm interested to know if people do brace for a reason.


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## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

I don't even put weight in my stirrups when I'm stopping because you lose the feel for the horse. Plus, if all your weight is jammed on your feet, if his stop is even a little bit jumpy or rough, it will slingshot you right up out of the saddle.

I just keep enough pressure on my feet to keep them in the stirrups and just enough to swing them forward when I sit deep for the stop. If I were to brace, it would lock my knees and hips and everything would go to s***.

Perfect example is if you watch a lot of videos of cutting horses. Keep an eye on the rider's feet. They very seldom move away from the horse's side and only then when they are bumping for forward movement on a straight.

If the rider braced against the stirrup like what you see in a lot of WP riders, where their legs are straight and their feet are stuck out like pegs from the horse, then every quick turn would catapult him up out of the saddle.

Just because I adore this horse.....




 

ETA: Oh, and the whole reason I started trying to break the habit is because I ate dirt from a bucker once in front of my Dad. He ever so kindly mentioned that if I kept my *** in the saddle and used _it_ to ride the horse instead of trying to ride my feet, I would have rode a lot better.


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## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

That is a beautiful little horse. Do people normally make those noises like that at the cutting shows?


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## Skyseternalangel (Jul 23, 2011)

What a great horse, smrobs! Love how he seems in a lull until he starts reading that cow! Reminded me of a cat pouncing around


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## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

Tiny, yep, that's pretty typical. I guess people think the horse will score higher if the entire audience squeals every time they make a good turn. Same thing happens in reining when a horse makes a good lead change or a nice spin or a hard stop :?.

Sky, that's why I love him. Now if I only had a mare to match his quality and $6500 for a stud fee :shock:.


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## bsms (Dec 31, 2010)

smrobs said:


> ...If the rider braced against the stirrup like what you see in a lot of WP riders, where their legs are straight and their feet are stuck out like pegs from the horse, then every quick turn would catapult him up out of the saddle...


I don't know how WP riders ride, but there WAS an older style of western riding that did brace against the stirrups. Barry Godden described it like this:_"Years ago I was taught to ride 'Western' by an old, bent bow legged Canadian cowboy who had been involved with horses since he was a kid. In the 1930s he had been a winning rodeo rider. By the time I met him he had formed a Western riding club in Surrey, where anyone who rode horses used the English hunting seat. Kennie's first job with new members was to teach them how to ride Western on his Western schooled horses.

The first lesson was to adjust the stirrups so that the leg was carried almost straight. Enough bend was left in the knee to just lift the butt off the seat of the saddle even at the trot. 
The second lesson was to learn to ride with signficant weight carried on the stirrups at all times. 
The third lesson was to move with the horse, if it leant over, then lean with it. 
The rider sat upright and straight using the feet to compensate and resist the 
Forces of gravity and movement by pressing down on the stirrups - which were almost being used as 'pedals'.

The rider leaned with the horse - if the horse went to the right at speed then the rider would lean over with the horse into the bend.

We always were to ride on a loose rein held in one hand only. The bits were all Western lever bits and we were told never to ride collected as the potential for accidental pressure on the horse's jaw was too great.

When we trotted - which was usually on level tarmac - we always posted.

If the weight was held on the stirrups, then the rider could not rise too high so long as the stirrups had been adjusted correctly for Western. The knee joint took the strain of rising to the trot."
_​The saddles were designed to allow a brace between the stirrups and the cantle, with cantles that were 6 and even 7 inches high. That style of riding is seen in most photos of old cowboys:










_Charles Myers cutting an animal away from the herd. LS Ranch, Texas_, 1907 (Erwin E. Smith Collection Guide | Collection Guide)

I don't do cutting, but that seems an awkward way of doing it. I did try it, tho, and it wasn't quite as bad as it looks - and it worked for many thousands of cowboys around the 1900 time. I sometimes think 'good riding' depends in part on what your tack and training prepares you to do.

If I try bracing, I end up bouncing too much and go all over. A forward seat has weight in the stirrups at times, and Aussie saddles tend to encourage it, although more are being built today with the stirrups further back. If I ride my little BLM mustang (I use my jump saddle with him because his back is so short), I put weight in the stirrups at times. Not at a walk, but at faster paces. 

In my Circle Y, I don't put weight in the stirrups at a walk or trot. At a canter or gallop, I'm more comfortable & my horses seem happier if I shift my weight forward, which usually puts more weight into my thighs and some in the stirrups. Everyone tells me that is the wrong way of doing it, but it seems to work well for me and my horses.

I've probably got 20 books on how to ride. After nearly 5 years, I've decided my signature statement is correct. That author in one passage said that if riding upside down worked best for you & your horse, ride upside down - but that it was easier for most to follow a more normal approach.

If someone rides for a show, ride the way that the judges will score high. Otherwise, start with a style that matches your tack, but be open to other approaches. Then adjust to what works for you & your horse & your goals.


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## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

But, Bsms, the difference is that those old cowboys had saddles that facilitated that kind of riding. Like you said, the cantles were really tall so they essentially wedged themselves in the saddle. Most modern saddles just aren't built like that, so standing with your feet braced out with nothing to brace behind you does nothing but push you out of the saddle.


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## bsms (Dec 31, 2010)

Agreed. I've seen photos of those saddles, but I never seen one for sale. Modern saddles are designed with a different style. I've tried riding like that in my Circle Y, and it wasn't a happy time for me or the horse. Bracing and bouncing are interchangeable for me. I mentioned it more as a historical curiosity - Barry Godden's post was like a window into a different world.

When I look at the photo, I cannot imagine what it was like to ride and cut cattle like that!


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## bayall (Oct 26, 2011)

In english its like the foundasion of riding but it verry hard


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## toosexy4myspotz (Oct 7, 2007)

I rode my app for a long time without stirrups because he was so uncoordinated his trot and canter was awful so this was the only way I could stay balanced. I guess I just got used to it and now my stirrups are more of a nuisance than help.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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