Toes go tingly when riding, what causes this?

Question

I have been riding off and on, usually riding peoples horses who are too busy to do it themselves.

I seem to have this reoccurring problem, when I ride, which is normally english, my right foot goes all tingly, like its falling asleep. My stirrups are normal, even, though I think that leg is longer than the other.

Answer 1

This happens to my littlest toe when I ride for a long time, Sometimes I get off and walk for a few mins then get back on.  Try taking your feet out of the irons and rotate your ankles and feet for a while, Once you get the circualtion back to normal the tingling will stop and you can put your feet back in the irons.  

Answer 2

Maybe you should try stretching before you ride, it may help. Also try stretching out your leg when you first start feeling it tingle. That is what i do because the same thing happens to me only i ride western.

Hope it helps!

Answer 3

I have the same problem, my trainer told me it was because I am putting too much weight onto the ball of my foot and not enough into my heel.  

Answer 4

You dont have a good blood supply going into your foot so it goes "asleep" you might have low blood pressure

Answer 5

The same exact thing happens to me.

I find it happens less often when I wear a different boot. Try a different pair of paddock boots, because mine press against a nerve on the top of my foot just because of their design.

I had to wear the boots for hour-long-lessons several times a week over the summer, which led to the outer three toes on one foot, outer two toes on the other foot, to be numb for several weeks.

You could try rolling the leather of your boots around in your hands every night while watching TV or something, until they soften up enough that you don't have the problem.

My right stirrup also always feels like it's too short, even though the stirrups are the same length.

It really helped to lengthen the stirrups, both just to be even.

I try to ride without stirrups a lot, too, and only use them when I'm within a week of a show.

Answer 6

as others have said it's just circulation, you need to be able to move your foot around in or out the stirrup. Sometimes I find changing the horses gait every so often can help a bit too. Perhaps try your stirrups at a longer length.

Answer 7

Same here, but I ride western, and I switched to those extra wide and deep trail stirrups, that helped it. Obviously the normal stirrups are too slim and cut off the circulation in the foot.

Answer 8

That happens to me all tht time too.  When I get back to the barn after a long ride I have to take my feet out of the stirrups and rotate my ankles for several minutes before I dismount to get them back to normal.  

Answer 9

loss of circulation move your foot around and leg to wake it up