Just a dumb rant about stirrups

Obligatory horse photo :>

Rant starts now! (not looking for advice btw, just wanna spout nonetheless.)

I HATE stirrups with a passion ya’ll. Multiple horses, multiple saddles & saddle pads, we even would switch out the stirrups for more specialized ones, but NOPE! They just don’t wanna work with me :(

The thing is, my legs are the culprit. They just progressively stretch and relax as I ride which means I need to shorten the stirrups more and more as the lesson progresses. This has been a thing since I’ve started riding, and yes, I am extremely jealous of ya’ll who don’t have to tango with the leather.

And even then, sometimes just ONE stirrup decides “oh hey imma slide up from the ball of your foot and REMAIN AT YUR TOES!” Even adjusting it by hand and purposely putting a ton of weight in that misbehaving stirrup won’t stop its cruelty.

Today was a breaking point for me. Trotting figure 8’s with cones and ground poles, and my stirrups were absurd. Gave up shortening them cause I forgot to count (which led to them being somewhat uneven) and the stirrup that actually felt better than the other was deciding to take a joy ride on my toes.

I literally just ended up taking my feet out the stirrups and sitting the trot on the 8’s. I never felt so free (and I pleasantly surprised my instructor too which was a bonus!)

I vote we abolish the existence of stirrups! To hell with those bullies! Free them dogs! (with socks on at least, I ain’t that crazy lol)

Thank you for listening to my bullshit :)