# tying stirrups to girth.



## JamieLeighx (Nov 27, 2010)

I was watching a lesson today and the girls legs were all over the place so the instructor tied her stirrups to her girth with bailer twine and it really worked! when he took the twine away they stayed put. Opinions?
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## Kayty (Sep 8, 2009)

Yep it can work, but its quite an old school method as far as insurance goes - if the girl feel off while her stirrups were tied this is very dangerous and she could get dragged. The insurance would blow the instructor clear out of the water. I wouldn't do it, not with bailing twine. 
You CAN get a product which clips the stirrups to the girth and will release in a fall though and I think these would be MUCH more appropriate in a lesson situation if the instructor does not want to be sued to hell and back should a rider have a fall.


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## JamieLeighx (Nov 27, 2010)

He is very old-school, I find it easier to learn with those sort of methods. 
It was a last resort and the pony was very quiet.
He was telling her about what some of the germans do to train there riders , eek! taping riders pony tails to their saddle to keep there head up, thank goodness I dont live there, i'd be bald lol!
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## Kayty (Sep 8, 2009)

Yes the German's can be very interesting in their methods, and though they work, the insurance over here at least (may be different in Ireland but I know when I was going through my introductory coaching course, they spoke in depth about these types of methods and being HUGE no-no's due to insurance. You can get sued for everything you own and more if a student comes off when doing this. Another one is wrapping a bandage around the rider's torso and upper arms, to help train the muscles to allow the arms to remain by the rider's body. Again, if the rider comes off, you have BIG problems!!


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## Eliz (Jun 16, 2010)

Once an old lady threatened to stick a broom up my **** if I didn't straighten my back... I wonder about the legal problems there


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## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

I thought only the US was as anal about risk and insurance and avoiding being sued?


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## Kayty (Sep 8, 2009)

Nope Australia is too, not as much so as the US though. Mainly in horse sports, insurance costs an absolute fortune, and you have to fill out a huge amount of paperwork if a student falls off in your care, even if that student does not appear hurt, but ends up having some kind of internal, long term injury in years to come, you can get done for that. Much better to avoid the situation and just play by the rules than risk losing everything.


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## JamieLeighx (Nov 27, 2010)

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## JamieLeighx (Nov 27, 2010)

Away from the insurance side for a minute. Has anyone ever tried it? I think I might but with something that will break if I do fall.
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## blue eyed pony (Jun 20, 2011)

I just did it the hard way :\ lots of standing in the stirrups and no-stirrup work and I rode for 2 whole months bareback due to not having a saddle that would fit the pony I was riding. I wouldn't have complained if someone had tied my stirrups to my girth, had I had a saddle on at the time!


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## littleamy76 (Jun 30, 2011)

It has been many years since I've taken riding lessons or even rode a horse for that matter, but if I remember correctly, one of my instructors had stuck something between our legs and the horse's side and told us to try to keep it there and not let it fall out. I don't think I would ever try tying the stirrups to the girth. To me, that just sounds dangerous and too risky.


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## waresbear (Jun 18, 2011)

littleamy76 said:


> It has been many years since I've taken riding lessons or even rode a horse for that matter, but if I remember correctly, one of my instructors had stuck something between our legs and the horse's side and told us to try to keep it there and not let it fall out. I don't think I would ever try tying the stirrups to the girth. To me, that just sounds dangerous and too risky.


What your instructor did sounds similiar to the Ride-a-Buck event in playday games, except it's done bareback. Last time I participated in that I won, cuz I was so sweaty & so was the horse so the paper note serving as the dollar was mushed into my pants. After I won I got off the horse & was walking around with this paper note stuck to my inner thigh,


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## hillree (Dec 30, 2010)

My trainer tied my stirrups to my girth... it really helped my position and my balance got way better.  I use safety stirrups, so would it still be risky?


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## jody111 (May 14, 2008)

Its not really risky = your feet fall out just as easy... you can always split the baling twine so its thin and will break easier...

is really common... Ive seen it use in jumping alot to help people with the position of the leg over the jump


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## LetAGrlShowU (Mar 25, 2009)

Interesting...


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## Sapphire (May 31, 2011)

To be honest, after a lot of trying and failing when it comes to "using things" to improve my riding, I've come to the conclusion that good old hard work is the most foolproof method. I've never tried this, so I could be talking a load of rubbish, but I would think that tying stirrups to the girth would make riding very awkward and really restrict leg use. I ride my horse through my legs more so than my hands and I'm constantly having to move my legs to ask my horse to bend and so on. 
Personally I think that practising the hard way to lead to a more natural development of still legs, but I suppose that if someone was having real problems - say, the horse was interpreting the leg movement as an aid and speeding up, causing the riding to lose control or something.
Like the person above said, standing in stirrups is good for obtaining a more secure position, and is a lot safer than tying the stirrups to the girth.


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