The Importance of No-Stirrup-November: The reasoning behind your instructor’s madness
November 1st; every equestrian’s most dreaded date. No-stirrup-November is more than just a month with a cool name filled with leg-burning lessons. Many of my students (I included) complain and ask, “Why must we go through this inhumane month?” I have a few answers to that which I will elaborate on throughout this post.
That ‘burning’ in your legs is your muscles growing. Riding horses requires all over body strength. Our main form of communication with our equine partners lies in our legs, so they must be properly exercised. When stirrups are taken away, our biggest ‘cheating tool’ is gone. I always tell my students, theoretically, you should be able to ride a horse the same with or without tack. You have to rely on your leg muscles to keep yourself balanced, your horse working, and to support the functionality of the rest of your body. You’ll find your balance quickly improves when you only have your strength keeping the horse between you and the ground.
Your position will be humbled and corrected. By taking away the stirrups, it allows for your leg to rest naturally out of the saddle and around the barrel of your horse. You must maintain a strong core and shoulder position to stay in your seat. When I was fitting people for saddles I always asked them to drop the stirrups so I could view their natural position to assess the fit.
Your ability to stay on your horse and continue to ride effectively when you lose stirrups unintentionally, tack breaks, or any other situation where balance is compromised, is strengthened. Practice how you play, be prepared for any situation to stay safe.
Riding without stirrups all-around results in improvement. In European riding schools riders aren’t allowed to use stirrups for their first three years of attendance. Olympians ride without stirrups constantly, and when I rode with the Auburn D1 equestrian team, their conditioning consisted of no stirrup work. All of these incredibly successful athletes do their homework and it shows.
Lauren Parris, Assistant Trainer at Crouse Equestrian
Sources:
The Chronicle of the Horse
Ask The Experts: Why And How Should We Ride Without Stirrups?
https://www.chronofhorse.com/article/ask-experts-why-and-how-should-we-ride-without-stirrups