‘Safety’ stirrup warning

[Tiddlypom]

From Sam Champney-Warrener’s FB page. He doesn’t directly name the brand, but it is clear which ones he is referring to. They are sold with a big hype on safety, and they are bleddy expensive!!

WARNING! Please don't ride, especially go XC in these modern "plastic safety" triangular stirrups that are all the rage at the moment. Whilst Coaching XC today a rider had a fall, and got dragged as her foot got stuck in one of these stirrups. These stirrups had 8, yes you read correct, 8 metal spikes on the foot plate of each stirrup. Why would you manufacture something so dangerous? I never let anyone ride in boots with too much grip on the sole, in order that their foot can slip freely out in the event of a fall. Luckily the rider is alright, although still in hospital with concussion. These stirrups aren't cheap either, so if you want to spend money on "safety" have some more lessons so you learn to ride like most of us have, with just the normal rubber stirrup treads, which offer mild grip, but don't prevent the free sliding movement of your foot in an emergency. Hopefully this post will save it happening to someone else.

https://www.facebook.com/748834004/posts/10156613104379005

 

[Red-1]

Gosh, I am glad the rider is OK.

Mine are Sprenger stirrups, with the rubber tread. I must confess they are over £100 (£135 on Amazon or £175 in tack shops) but I have seen them work once when my horse slipped on a greasy road surface. I came off over the right quarter, but my right foot stayed in the stirrup as she fell to the floor. I watched as if in slow motion as the sides of the stirrup bent with my foot so it could still have room to slide out.

I thought the 'plastic triangular stirrups' were dangerous because they broke, not because in a fall they failed to break!

 

[Meowy Catkin]

Scary stuff, especially as I had never considered that treads being 'too grippy' could be an issue.

 

[Fiona]

I had this discussion on twittereventing this week, there still seems to be a body of opinion that think freejumps are safety stirrups.....

Fiona

 

[Surbie]

I thought the 'plastic triangular stirrups' were dangerous because they broke, not because in a fall they failed to break!

That is scarey! I was told this too about the plastic stirrups.

My instructor has warned me off boots that are too grippy (I am guilty of riding in my yard boots) but I didn't think about grippy stirrup treads.

 

[Tiddlypom]

I thought the 'plastic triangular stirrups' were dangerous because they broke, not because in a fall they failed to break!

Me too! I have always thought that they looked dodgy, and a real triumph of marketing hype over good design, but I hadn’t considered them not breaking! Eek to those 8 metal studs sticking up into the footbed...

I love my Sprengers. They are pricey, but are a lot cheaper than the plastic nasties in the pic. I’m glad that they worked well when you fell.

 

[Red-1]

Me too! I have always thought that they looked dodgy, and a real triumph of marketing hype over good design, but I hadn’t considered them not breaking! Eek to those 8 metal studs sticking up into the footbed...

I love my Sprengers. They are pricey, but are a lot cheaper than the plastic nasties in the pic. I’m glad that they worked well when you fell.

They did. I had a momentary uh-oh when she was falling and my right foot was stuck with me all on the off side, so I was against her body as she was falling and could not get purchase to pull my foot free... but then the arms of the Sprengers bent just as they should do, I slid out of them, and actually had my left foot on the floor so to all intents and purposes I just stepped off.

The cause was a model Rudolf at Xmas on the neighbour's lawn. It caught her unawares ans she slipped on the greasy, green lichen covered, smooth tarmac. The neighbour was more traumatised than either of us, we had a step ladder produced (my hip does not allow normal mounting) so I scrambled aboard and finished our ride. She had a small cut on her hock, but otherwise we were both good as new. Could have been very different!

 

[Nudibranch]

From a purely aesthetic pov I have always thought they're incredibly ugly things anyway. Interesting to read this though.

 

[ester]

there's loads with studded/spiked footbeds now, I thought the flex-on ones particularly nasty. They must trash the bottom of your boots.
I really struggled with normal sprenger treads but I have like sand covered ones.

 

[Tiddlypom]

I didn’t realise that these ‘ultra grip’ treads were becoming a thing, and part of the sales pitch. It’s crazy, your foot has to be able to slip easily out of the stirrup in the eventuality of a fall, not be spiked onto the tread.

 

[Ceifer]

They’re awful things to ride in. I used to hate the old cheese grater ones too, they scratch your stirrup leathers and ruin the soles of your boots.

 

[HappyHollyDays]

I have acavallo Opera stirrups which have the wider treads and having been rather spectacularly bucked off over DP's head on the gallops this morning I can testify my feet came straight out of them without any problems at all. Lovely soft landing too 😁

 

[MotherOfChickens]

can people not keep their stirrups these days? what happened to jamming your heels down for goodness sake

 

[Nicnac]

Sam (who is a SHE not a HE) at no point confirms that the stirrups she is referring to are Freejumps nor does she include a photo in her Facebook post.

You have added a photo of Freejumps to your post for some reason?

I am not disagreeing with Sam as I personally am not a fan of so called safety stirrups.

 

[Crazy_cat_lady]

I have a cheap version of the sprenger flexi stirrups eg same flex system without the brand and find them really comfy even though I only hack

Am I wrong to say I think these new modern plastic stirrups look really ugly and wouldn't buy them?! They also look quite bulky didn't know they spiked into your boots and damaged the leather that would annoy me. Also not a fan of the coloured stirrups but then also not a fan of making everything have bling on!

 

[DreamTime22]

I swear by Peacock stirrups and I don't think I'd ever use anything different

 

[MotherOfChickens]

I swear by Peacock stirrups and I don't think I'd ever use anything different

the weight limit is only about 9 stone on those I think.

I mostly use caged stirrups but then I don't do fancy stuff, they are awesomely comfy though.

 

[Tiddlypom]

Apologies for getting Sam’s gender mixed up, oops. I put the pic up, it is not on her FB page.

As I said in my OP, she does not directly name the make of the stirrups that she was referring to. However, if you delve into the comments, and note which posts are ‘liked’ by who when folk are inevitably speculating on the brand, it all becomes clear. And the written description does fit them to a tee...

 

[SpringArising]

You could find horror stories with all stirrups. My sister got dragged using the Peacock type when she was a child and well under 9 stone.

I'm sure for every story you find saying don't use X stirrups, there are ten more on how they worked as they were designed to. I've had Tech and Freejumps and really liked both.

You say that 'non grippy' stirrups should be used, but if you can't keep your heels down that's exactly how people's feet end up shooting though and getting stuck.

 

[DreamTime22]

the weight limit is only about 9 stone on those I think.

I mostly use caged stirrups but then I don't do fancy stuff, they are awesomely comfy though.

I'd never heard of that! I'll look into that a bit more then

 

[MotherOfChickens]

I'd never heard of that! I'll look into that a bit more then

yeah, have heard of them snapping -I'll never be nine stone again though lol.

 

[conniegirl]

I use the bent leg irons.
Ive had a peacock iron snap on me, i was about 10stone at the time but i was only on the pony to sort out an issue.

 

[teddypops]

I'd never heard of that! I'll look into that a bit more then

I actually thought it was 7 stone as they are designed for kids.

 

[ester]

I don't think there are any other stirrups you would describe as triangular.
My mum has had the same pair of peacocks for 14 years at about 11 stone, I don't like them regardless.

 

[TWMD]

This is why I went for the Tech stirrups over the freejumps. The tech stirrups rely on a magnet to release your foot, whereas the freejumps rely on the integrity of the 'plastic' arm. I trust a magnet over the ability of a material to not snap but still 'flex' at the right moment!

 

[3OldPonies]

I was always taught about the too much grip thing. Don't like theses modern plastic jobs anyway, they look to me like a gimmick that will fade from existence eventually. There's a reason the traditional styles have gone on so long without drastic modification! Not only that they work, but that we used to get taught to ride and keep our stirrups, nowadays though (no disrespect to instructors intended) loads of people just go for a trendy 'quick fix' and buy whatever the marketing people say will sort the problem.

 

[Tiddlypom]

In the comments following on from her FB post, Sam adds-

‘Apparently, the arm of the stirrup is supposed to break in the event of this happening, then you get a replacement stirrup. I bet they haven't had to replace many - the arm didn't break.’

Another thing I notice which applies to many different brands of stirrup, including the Sprengers that I use, is that they don’t come in a wide range of sizes. Maybe ‘child’ and ‘adult’. It was always drummed into us in PC to have stirrups which fitted width wise, so maybe 1/4” visible tread on either side of your booted foot. If the stirrups are too wide, your foot can slip clean through, if too narrow, they can get jammed in.

Old fashioned metal stirrups still do come in a range of widths, the fancy new upstarts, not so much.

 

[pansymouse]

I mostly use caged stirrups but then I don't do fancy stuff, they are awesomely comfy though.

I've wedged cages onto my Heather Moffett wide tread stirrups - and extremely comfortable and safe combination.

 

[AFB]

They also destoy the sole of your boots.

 

[JGC]

I have EDS and was looking for a wide foot tread, to try to mitigate some of the bouncing of my particularly hypermobile right leg. I ordered some stirrups which I didn't realise had spikes, I thought they were like Jin stirrups that I had before. I used them for a jumping clinic, was going round a course, lost my stirrup at one jump, put my foot back in the wrong way round (the tread is angled usually to slope at the back) without realizing, went over the last double and my foot went straight through the stirrup and got completely wedged. Went about three times round the arena slowly trying to pull up without provoking any fly bucking (as horse could be a bit opinionated about braking) whilst desperately trying to get my foot out. Eventually managed to stop in front of the instructor who held the horse and helped me get my foot out. Pretty terrifying frankly.