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Let’s talk underwear! Bunching, blisters, comfort, and incontinence

Ideal underwear for horseback-riding
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Ideal underwear for horseback-riding… What to wear under your breeches or jeans or tights is a recurring topic in endurance fora because riders spend miles in the saddle.

Solutions for bunching, blisters, & other discomfort
Solutions for leaking
Where to shop!

Of course, non-endurance riders experience these problems as well. As a race horse galloper in Spain, I rode 4-7 horses six days a week, and of the hour or so I was on each horse, only a few minutes would be at a canter or gallop (standing in the stirrups).

*Also see my posts on the Best Bras for Riding Horses and the Best Way to Carry a Phone while Riding.

For me, the most frequent cause of discomfort (blisters!!) has been trial riding, especially on other people’s horses (in other people’s saddles!), especially when all we did was walk. So even the very-occasional rider–even the tourist who rents a horse for a hack–can benefit from the suggestions below.

Note that this is not about the lower legs or inner thighs. That has more to do with outerwear and rider balance. Suggestions to deal with that on my Avoid Chafing post.

A note for the men:

This is mainly aimed at women, because there are more of us and I’m a woman. I cannot speak to the pain of mashing your balls (though I heard all about it when my sons were learning to jump :D). Most of the suggestions below apply to all anatomies, but I’ve only tried female underwear, so most links will be to the female versions. I’ve added the male version when available. The only addition advice: go for tight rather than loose options at all times.

Miles and/or hours in the saddle can cause the following problems:

  1. Annoying bunching or riding up of underwear (or for that matter any piece of clothing)
  2. Blisters, sores, or chafing
  3. Stress incontinence, or urine leakage anyway, especially for women who have had children (and especially soon after childbirth and/or on a full bladder)
    • A related issue is menstruation, particularly surprise appearances of it; my solutions to incontinence solve this problem also.

I’ve never had a problem when training for endurance (or in the few LDs and one 50 mile ride I did), because a lot of those miles were spent trotting–posting keeps my butt out of the saddle. It’s been long enough since I had my children that leakage isn’t a problem as long as I remember to pee regularly.

I have gotten terrible blisters on my buttocks after long hours at a walk, and I have tried many solutions, which I will list below.

I’ve also discovered a great solution to both surprise onset of periods and stress incontinence. Shopping list at end. Read on!

Solutions to problems 1 & 2 (bunching, blisters, and other discomforts)

  1. Make sure your saddle fits you properly. My worst experiences with blisters have been in Western saddles that are too big for me. A narrow twist (in any type of saddle) helps tremendously.
    • We tend to worry more about the saddle fitting the horse than the saddle fitting the rider, but the horse is going to be more comfortable when the rider is. Discomfort can make you ride crooked (which in turn makes the horse move crookedly), or hang on/grab at the reins, or simply move out of step with your horse (when posting for example).
    • Some people like soft or cushiony saddle seats. I’m ambivalent. I have an Abetta that has a soft seat–although not the supersoft Serenity model. It is very comfy, but I haven’t used it that much, and I wonder how that cushion would be after hundreds of miles.
    • If you are on someone else’s horse, or on vacation renting a hack, you can’t do anything about the saddle, but you can pack the right underwear!
  2. Use a saddle seat cover. You can get a gel seatcover.  You can probably buy a sheepskin one too, although I’ve seen few. I used to make my own (fake) sheepskin saddle covers when I galloped racehorses and it really helped (combined with a custom-made exercise saddle).
  3. Get underwear that fits you properly. This might seem obvious, but because I have regularly used my substandard panties to ride in (“because they will just get nasty anyway…”) it has happened to me.
  4. Go commando. After all, the term comes from military discarding underclothes precisely to prevent chafing. This solution is almost always one of the first offered on endurance pages when the question of underwear comes up.
  5. Use a thong. I’d suggest a seamless version. Or this Under Armour one is nice, no bunching. I guess you could also use a g-string if you wanted to be sexy as well as comfortable (and definitely do away with the seam issue).
    • It never would have occurred to me to ride in a thong (never even wore them, since I think they make my butt look fat), but my boyfriend suggested it to me as the most natural thing to ride in. Probably biased because he doesn’t seem to think they make my butt look fat 😉
    • Really, you’d think riding in a thong would have occurred to me before, because I do ride hunt seat. That means breeches, and that means panty lines unless you are really skinny.
  6. Use men’s boxer briefs.  In winter they’ve got the added benefit of providing extra warmth. I use these. But they make special ones for riding, such as these.
    • Back on track had briefs for women that were supposed to help with groin and hip pain too. They don’t seem to exist anymore, but the Men’s version does.
    • Boyshorts are the designed-for-women version. These look great.
  7. Use padded underwear designed for cycling. I’ve tried this type, but found them too hot. I would consider trying these, though, minimalist and designed for women.
  8. Trim your pubic hair. Yep, it matters. Long hair gets bunched and tangled and can cause sores.
  9. Use topical products to help with chafing and sores:
Some people prefer to ride in a thong… I might be tempted with this one!

Solutions to problem 3 (leaking):

I found these solutions (not counting number 1) completely by accident, while reading about the astonishing, new (to me) practice of “freebleeding” or menstruating without blocking (think tampon) or sometimes even collecting (think pads, tampon, menstrual cups…) the blood flow. I wish I had discovered them years ago for many reasons!

  1. Wear a diaper… no really.  If astronauts can do it, so can you.
    • They make Depends for men as well as women. You could even do Amazon brand (why isn’t that considered generic?)
    • You can even buy diapers inspired by NASA.
    • The problem I see here is that diapers might cause chafing and blisters. They are also hot.
    • This might be good in the dead of winter… though I cannot vouch for the overall comfort.
  2. Wear underwear that absorbs up to medium menstrual flow. These are so cool, to think I didn’t discover them until a little over a year ago (of course, they probably didn’t exist for most of my life…)
    There are lots of options. 
    • Basic briefs. These are a cheap option. Pretty functional-looking, they supposedly absorb  up to 20ml (marketed for light days). If you scroll down on that link, you can see different styles which are less un-sexy.
    • These look better, are less hot, and absorb a bit more. I prefer them, but much more expensive.
    • These men’s style with longer legs might be great for chafing too (and brand was recommended on AERC page)
    • You can even get them in THONGS!! I haven’t tried these, but they look cool, and you’d be solving the chafing problem as well.
    • Disposable maternity products such as these might also work.
  3. Bladder supports. These (Poise) were recommended in an AERC comment thread, and I’d never heard of them. They are like tampons that lift the urethra to prevent leakage. It’s probably important to get the right size.
    1. Uresta seems to be the only competitor, and they are expensive.

Other ideas?

What is your ideal underwear for horseback-riding? If you know of any solutions to these problems I have missed, please let me know in the comments and I will add them!

Shopping: 

Specifically recommended on endurance Facebook pages

Hoo Ha Ride Glide (anti-chafing!)
For men, SAXX underwear
Jockey Seamfree Modern brief
Wearever Incontinence Panties (I prefer the men’s version)
Speax absorbent underwear
Soma Vanishing Edge panties (I’m going to try these!)
Men’s Armachillo long boxer briefs
Pony Tails Sportswear
Herroom (I love the huge selection!)
and more on the famous AERC Facebook page 2012 underwear thread (over 400 comments). You can search to find it.
For chafing and bruising from boney pubic area: Jelly Pantz

Tack add-ons

Australian gel saddle seat cover
English saddle gel seat cover
Western-seat Fleece saddle cover
This “Seat warmer” looks soft
Anti-slip seat cushion (Western-style seat)

Underwear

For men!
Back on Track Boxers: Women Men
Basic padded underwear
Boyshorts
Absorbent boyshorts
Minimalist bikini-style padded underwear
Longer padded underwear (I like the look of these for winter)
Fancy diapers (postpartum Always)
Menstrual panties
My favorite menstrual panties (absorb quite a bit)
Recommended on Chronicle of the Horse Forum:
Soma
Knix leakproof underwear

Caveat: Except for “my favorite menstrual panties” I have not tried those specific products linked above. However, they look good (I really like the look of Speax). Please let me know if you have tried them and found otherwise! And if you know the ideal underwear for horseback-riding, do share!

**Note. Many of the products listed here are paid links.