Bands

Thanks for the pictures :)

I'm not sure if this is how all barrel racers band their feet, but this is the way they do it here...Let me just say..I had to do some pretty hard tugging and kicking to get my foot out of this..and the band never broke, it slid up my stirrup.



Laugh..also, don't hate on the boots..I can't bring myself to get a new pair. These are going 3 years strong.

I planned on doing a figure eight type band and I wouldn't get as thick of ones as the ones you have there, Drum. My trainer has some colored ones so -cough- thin purple bands for me.

how is it that you ALWAYS ride in bumper spurs but then you say you RARELY use them? How is this possible?
Unless you have amazing control of your feet you are probably using them more then you think.

I was not aware of how much I use my legs until I ran my mare in spurs and came out with a nice little cut on both sides of my mare....I no longer run in spurs and if I do I will only run in bumper spurs.


In ref to the OP topic on banding....I do not and will not ever band my feet or allow anyone that hauls with me too.

I think it is a crutch and very unsafe fix to loosing your stirrups.
Yes, you will do what you intended to...it will keep your feet in your stirrups and wont let them go!

I had a friend band her feet one time and she will never do it again.
She ran in the arena to run and when her horse turned the barrel he popped her up and over the saddle horn...she ended up riding the rest of the way out of the arena on her horses neck because her feet were stuck in the stirrups. Causing her to be unable to stop her horse or bail off....she was in a lot of pain once we got her off because of the damage the horn did to her back during the whole fiasco. She was a very talented rider and had a very well trained horse so I truly believe this whole thing would have been avoided had it not been for the bands.
I have also seen many of people get drug because of one band popping off but the other not after a fall.

I know sometimes you just can not help loosing a stirrup but if this is a big reoccurring issue you may want to go back and look at your riding abilities and what is really causing you to loose them...remember toes up heals down.

Also...drum I think most(not all) people do it the other way around here...I will try and get a picture.....I think I know why you were having the problem of the band sliding up your stirrup and that makes things even more dangerous when people do it that way!

I wasn't having a problem with it sliding up my stirrup, that's the only way I could get my foot out..After kicking around and tugging the band slid up and my foot came out..

I know they also do the figure 8 under the stirrup with the band..but I rarely see that anymore.

I understood what you were saying...but the way I have always seen people do it is different....I will get a picture later.

Okay..

At the risk of sounding dumb...
Why can't you just shorten your stirrups?

That's not dumb at all. Most barrel racers, myself included, tend to wear their stirrups longer..The shorter your stirrups are the more you'll "pogo" out of your seat when your horse rates and turns..

Ah, okay. What a trade off. I'm glad I don't have to choose!