Should I get leg chaps?

I was riding my horse today and we did a lot of trotting - about 30 minutes. I have a western saddle and it has silver on the stirrup leathers. They are round and fairly big, down each side.

By the end of the ride I started to notice my leg was hurting. I looked and I had several bruises as well as a big sore where it had been rubbed raw! It hurts too!

Maybe its partly the way I'm sitting the trot, but I think I've gotten tons better. It feels pretty relaxed and I don't bounce that much. I'm wondering if leg chaps would help? I don't want to take the silver off the saddle as that would kind of ruin the look.

Do you have a picture of this saddle? I am having a really hard time imagining where the silver is at and how your leg would be contacting it.

Here's a picture - maybe I'm just bouncing too much. I have no problem with rubbing at the walk or lope.

Aha. Where are you getting the sores and bruises, you calf, thigh, shin, knee?

Mainly on my calf and shin. All down from the knee to my ankle where the silver is.

Hm. It makes me wonder if maybe your stirrups are the correct length or not. However, without a video of how your legs move during the trot, it would be nearly impossible for me to speculate. Are your legs quiet when you trot or do you feel like they are moving around a lot?

My stirrups are fairly long. I have gotten to the point where even in a fast trot my legs stay fairly quiet. Certainly not perfect though as I've just been learning the sitting trot the last couple months. And some times seem better than others. Sometimes my mare's trot seems more bouncy and I bounce around more. It could be I just need to improve my riding more! It just seems that the silver really rubs if my leg touches it at all.

Yeah, whoever designed that saddle didn't really have all-day comfort in mind LOL. Can you take the studs off the stirrup leathers without damaging the saddle? If you can, that might be an idea of something to try.

Lol - I think so too! It might be one thing for trail riding, but trotting is another thing! I could try taking them off. Maybe I'll take one off under the flap so if it looks bad it can't be seen! If not, maybe I'll try the chaps and see if they help.

Thanks for the advice and help!