Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

With respect to wearing riding breeches or "tights" as opposed to jeans
(or whatever else) for riding long distances; here is what I have found:

If you want to avoid chafing on the inside of your legs, the material
that is touching your skin needs to fit tightly, otherwise it will rub,
and after a while it will rub you raw.  You can wear other things over
this material if you want to cover it up because you consider it
unsightly.  Just make sure that this tight material is sturdy enough
that it cannot be "rubbed through" during the course of a ride or it
will defeat its purpose.

If you decide to wear something over it to cover it up, I recommend that
whatever it is that you decide to wear NOT have an inseam, because even
if you have on something tight underneath to reduce chafing, the inseam
will bunch up at the knee and cause a lump between your leg and the
saddle and after pressing against that bump for any extended period of
time, you will probably have a bruise whether it chafes or not.  It will
also make you disinclined to keep your leg on your horse (which, if you
know how to ride, is essential).

Other things that can bunch up (i.e. anything that is too loose fitting)
can cause the same bruising problem as an inseam, but inseams are the
worst.

Personally, I like direct contact between my leg and the horse, so I
wear riding breeches with leather knee patches, so not only does the
material not slip back and forth against my leg on the inside, but it
doesn't slip back and forth against the saddle either.  It is possible
that one of the reasons I don't need pain killing drugs after an
endurance ride is that I am doing much less work than many people who
have to work harder because they are slipping around in the saddle, but
I don't know this for sure.

With respect to saddles:

Use a saddle that is comfortable for you and your horse.  If you are
comfortable in a western saddle and it fits your horse, then by all
means use it.  As near as I can tell, about the only difference between
many "endurace" model saddles and a western saddle is the lack of a horn
(this is not true for people who ride endurance in an english saddle).
However, if the horn on your western saddle doesn't get in your way,
there is no reason not to use it.  I have ridden thousands of miles of
endurance in english saddles, a western saddle, and I now have an
"endurance" saddle (western saddle with no horn) that I use on one of my
horses (which I bought after the western saddle stopped fitting her
properly).  I have never ridden endurance in an Australian saddle
because I have yet to ride in one that I found even remotely
comfortable, but some people do; and they come in both the with and
without horn variety.

When I was riding in the western saddle, I was careful, when going up
and down over rough/steep terrain when the horse was "exhuberent" to
keep my hand between the horn and my body so I wouldn't get jabbed in
the ribs by the horn, but it was also a fairly tall horn.

Use what is comfortable for you and your horse. And if you find that the
horn on your western saddle is getting in your way, you can always just
saw it off (which is what some people do) and turn it into an endurance
saddle.  Don't worry about the differences in weight, and most
importantly (with respect to both what you are wearing and what saddle
you are using) don't worry about how things look to other people.

kat
Orange County, Calif.
:)



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