Pain in feet whilst riding?

Captain Bridget

Captain Bridget

Well-Known Member
Joined
10 April 2010
Messages
853
Location
Hampshire
Visit site
Sometimes when I'm riding it I get bad pain in the arches/balls of my feet. Especially wearing my winter ariat boots.

I end up taking my feet out of the stirrups but of course that's not always practical!

I can't work out why I get it or how to stop it! It makes riding really horrible. :(

Would the fact I have bendy stirrups be part of it?

I had incredibly painful feet for days after I went hunting a couple of weeks ago.
 
Hi

This happened to me too. Actually the bendy stirrups helped, but, I eventually found that the boots I was wearing were tight in 'height' if that makes sense, and were slightly restricting blood flow. I have a high instep, and whilst boots fit in length terms they are a bit tight across the roof of the foot (in front of the ankle) to the floor. I started buying boots a size too big and rectified the issue. Hopeless for walking though as they slop around.

Hope that makes sense.
 
I used to get an achy ankle and knee so I bought tilty irons but maybe get some different boots, makes sure your weight is down in your heels and maybe lengthen your leathers so you're riding longer?
 
I get sore ankles so this might be interesting. I have flexi stirrups, my boots fit ok that i know of and i ride quite long even for hacking which is when it mainly happens. I end up taking my feet out too, not a good idea on roads!
A bit baffled as to why it happens, it can be when it's hot or cold and i can't ride any longer so will watch this thread.... (sorry was no help!)
 
This used to be really common endurance riding, until about 15 years ago when someone came up with the nice wide endurance stirrups with a padding and suspension. It comes from pressure stopping the blood flow.

So I would second your boots being too tight - remember your feet need a bit of room to move. Also socks - they also shouldn't be too tight. Maybe some different boots for hacking - I wear Ariat Terrains for endurance and between them and the ezi ride stirrups have never had a problem. Unlike the old days when we used conventional stirrups, with joddy boots - ouch. I gather it is happening in both feet - so that probably rules out back pain or sciatica.
 
I don't know if this will help you - I have had this too, and also have dodgy joints. Since I've been using the Matrix stirrups cages, I haven't looked back - they take the pressure and spread it over the foot. This is after trying the flexi stirrups, which didn't help.
 
Thanks guys, interesting ideas.

The pain is in both my feet. I get it mostly whilst wearing my Ariats which I bought a half size smaller than my normal shoe size as was told Ariats come up big. I did think today that they might not be wide enough as I have quite wide feet.

I normally just wear a plain pair of jod boots, ancient Dublin ones with none of this fancy 'steel shank' soles and what not, and sometimes they're fine and other times they're not. I can't decide if there's any specific times when they hurt!

I'm looking to get new boots soon but wanted to try some first not ordering online and the ones I want aren't so widely available!
 
I got this recently when I changed saddle. It was awful. I have changed back and now no problem again. The saddle that was a problem seemed to be putting my weight in an odd position. May be worth having your saddle checked.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top