How long/short do you wear your stirrups?

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A1fie

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Just wondering really how long/short do you wear your stirrups and why?

A lot of people at my yard wear their stirrups quite short because they do a lot of hacking, jumping and hunting. But I went on a riding course at a yard which specialised in dressage and noticed that everyone wore their stirrups really long.

Does it depend on the discipline you do or is it just a matter of preference?

And do you think it's true that longer stirrups help you gain a deeper seat and better balance or that shorter stirrups help you have better control ?

And finally is it better for a novice to ride long to improve seat/balance or shorter till their ability/control improves?

Would be really interested to hear peoples thougths.
 
I've never been one for riding short. Even when I was jumping, I used to get continually yelled at for having them 2/3 holes too low - but I just felt most comfortable like that!

I only hack now, and tbh I probably still have my stirrups too long for most people. But hey, it works for me!
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I ride in my jump saddle quite short, though could be shorter, and my dressage saddle 7holes longer, but could still be longer
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Yes for Dr you should ride long as a result of a deeper seat, not to try and get a deeper seat... if you ride too long to start with, all you do is unbalance yourself and end up gripping with your knees because you arent secure enough in your position to cope with the longer leg required... Jumping you ride shorter to have a "Lighter" seat and because our balance should be more in you lower leg with your knee off the saddle to help the horse open up and jump without hindrance, and so you can keep our balance
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I feel very uncomfortable with even the slightest bit of short stirrups and as if I'm likely to be unbalanced very easily so ride pretty long. The only time i feel more secure with siturrups short enough to stand up in is when they throw themselfs about and you can almost stand up and balance above it, fortunately that is very rare!
 
I ride quite long. But I find this most comfortable because if I ride too short for too long it hurts my knees and ankles. I find it alot more comfortable in longer stirrups..
 
I tend to ride shorter than I should as I generallyhave had slightly bad mannered horses thrown my way in the past and generally find a shorter stirrup helps with bucks ,rears and spooks!!!I am desperatley trying to lengthen my leg as I now have a horse who touch wood is relatvely well behaved and seems to be showing some potential as a dressage horse. Doesn't help that my current saddle is an event type so its quite hard without becoming unbalanced but I do have my eye on a prestige saddle that is coming up in a sale. Def agree with the above comment of the longer leg comes from your seat and not just putting your stirrups down. I am trying to go down a hole a week a present(riding six times a week) which seems to be working as it isn't a massive difference each time - four holes down and my instructor reckons there is another three holes to go eekk!!!
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I have 5 holes' difference ATM between flat and jumping length, with hacking length somewhere in between. I'll probably go even longer with the dressage length, but I have to buy longer stirrup leathers first, as I'm in the bottom hole!
 
Like to hack long, my knee hurts otherwise, jump short, depending on height of jumps. bigger jumps= shorter stirrups. And apparently my leg swings less if they are a hole shorter than usual dressage length (only have GP saddle tho)
 
I generally ride fairly short - as I am fairly tall on fairly small TBs, having a short stirrup makes me feel like I 'fit' better, and also allows me to be lighter in the seat for hacking fast work.

I am now doing some work in a racing yard and riding *really* short on the gallops - I feel secure with short stirrups, but I have found there is a point where I do start to lose my lateral stability (although is great to be short once at full pelt gallop)

I go down about 10 holes to my dressage length from my XC length - although if I was riding a bigger horse I might go down a couple more. Whilst riding with long stirrups may develop a deep seat - it's no stirrup work that really does it. However I personally think a secure lower leg is more important than a deep seat - and riding with shorter stirrups tends to develop the lower leg stability.
 
i ride v long in dressage saddle, medium or short in jump saddle, depending on horse! if the horse is spooky or likely to go off its line, i ride a bit longer so i can have more length of leg on if necessary, but if the horse is very forward and straight, i ride shorter.
for novices, i think they need to have longish stirrups at first (when just walking) for confidence and stability, less likely to wobble off (!!), but a bit shorter as soon as they start trotting, so they can get their balance (easier with medium-length stirrups imho)
 
It really depends a lot on how flexible you are through your hips coupled with how 'comitted' you are to the perfect caprelli seat.

The theory is that your heel, hips and shoulders should be in a straight line at all times (other than for jumping when you fold through the hips keeping the shoulders and heels in line). However, in order to achieve this, you need a great deal of flexibilty through the hip and pelvic region in order to accomodate the bulk of the horse between your legs. The longer you ride, the more flexible you need to be.

However, a lot of people tend to stand slightly in their stirrups for support rather than sitting 100% on their seat bones and these people tend to keep their stirrups really long in facilitate this. Likewise, some people like to ride short in order to facilitate lifting their backsides out of the saddle slightly to avoid having to move fully with the movement of the horse.

And some people are amazingly riding fit and flexible and can get that perfect straight line with super long stirrups or super short stirrups.

For myself, I like to ride as long as I can and still achieve the straight line (which isn't really very long as I'm pretty stiff) for dressage/flat... the I put my stirrups up to SJ and up even further for hunting/XC.

I don't think it really matters as long are you are safe and comfortable on the horse you ride though....
 
IMVPO (in my very personal opinion
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) I see a lot more cr*p riding with people in inappropriately long stirrups - either jumping like that, or unable to get their bottom out of the saddle for fast work, or with a totally loose lower leg.

Would much prefer to see someone riding a bit short to be aesthetically pleasing, but in balance, than the typical wobbly long-stirrup-ed rider.

I was taught to ride by a fairly old fashioned crew, mainly from a hunting background. We were taught to get out of the saddle and keep the weight in our heels - to ride in a safety position with the heels pushed forwards slightly if needs be. Security came first, deep dressage seat came later. When I was teaching in a riding school I was always slightly at loggerheads with one of the other instructors who insisted on teaching children to ride with stirrups so long that the kids were pointing their toes downwards trying to reach the stirrups. She did this to supposedly teach them a deep seat, but to me they were unbalanaced, insecure, reliant on the reins to hold themselves up, and completely incapable of doing rising trot. Unfortunately for me, she was a BHSI and I was a lowly nothing, so what she said went
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QR - dressage riders ride long as their saddles stop them doing much else. They have large long knee rolls they stop the knee beending too much. They also keep the leg back and on the horse.

A jumping or forward cut GP saddle is more comfortable with shoter stirrups as you need this to put you leg on the knee roll. Riding long in these saddle leaves you feeling a little insecure. The short stirrups help you get your ass out the saddle when jumping.

Show/Working hunter and endurance saddle are usually cut similar to dresage saddles but with less knee roll so the rider can choose shorter or longer stirrups with relative comfort in both positions.
 
I ride pretty short the whole time at the moment as my horse has explosive tendancies and I feel much more secure in shorter stirrups. I also do flat work in short stirrups at the moment. However, once she's calmed down a bit the stirrups will go down... though I struggle with a 3 hole difference so don't know how you lot cope with a 10 hole difference!
 
Thank you all for your replies and comments - really interesting. I cannot believe the huge difference in hole lengths some of you have! - That's pretty inspiring.

I think I will get competant and practice in shorter stirrups before trying to ride like I'm a dressage queen
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I ride 4 holes different on my mare who only has one saddle. I ride 7 or8 holes different on the gelding I ride with 2 different saddles.
 
I couldn't ride with 10 holes different in the same saddle - but in a dressage compared to a jumping saddle the huge difference in placement of the knee roll facilitates the big difference in stirrup length - plus I am tall, so the angles of my knees/hips will need more variation in stirrup length to change an equal amount as a shorter persons.

it's great to have a deep seat obviously, and this does come along with long stirrups.... but I just think it is sometimes forgotten at riding schools that an INDEPENDENT seat must come first !!
 
I am just trying to lengthen my stirrup length. I've been riding ponies for 4 years and have shorter stirrups because I feel I 'fit' better, am now looking to get something a bit bigger to progress my riding and my instructor wants me to start riding a little longer. I do however prefer shorter stirrups for hacking as i feel more secure.
 
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IMVPO (in my very personal opinion ) I see a lot more cr*p riding with people in inappropriately long stirrups - either jumping like that, or unable to get their bottom out of the saddle for fast work, or with a totally loose lower leg.

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I absolutely agree with this... I teach a lot of people (particularly older riders) who insist on riding long with a very unstable lower leg or braced in the saddle with the leg pushed forward. I always encourage my riders to put their stirrups UP a hole or two rather than down as it encourages better development of seat rather than (as you say) relying on the hands for balance...

To each their own though and once something is a long term, many year, habit, there is little point in really pushing someone to break it. As we age, we get stiffer anyway a lot of the time and sometimes the longer stirrups are just more comfortable for some riders.
 
I noticed that alot of ppl are saying they ride short. As an instructor I teach my students to ride long. The reason for this is alot of the riders I see tend to rely on thier stirrups and irons to hold them or stable them in the saddle(this is a big no no) After the student gets the fact that heels down and good posture make a stable rider, we then make them ride without stirrups for a few lessons to find out who is actually listening.
try it, see how stable you are!! the longer they are, the less you rely on them. you should ride the same lenght no matter if you jump,dressage xcountry etc.

my opinion anyway, but try it and see how you get on
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I find your post interesting. I have been trying to teach myself to ride with a long stirrup to develop a deeper seat and to emmulate my husband who rides better than me - and he rides very long. Putting my leathers down to achieve a straight leg only results in an insecure seat where I grip with my knees, so I am finding it rather frustrating - hard to break a lifetime habit of the "security" of a short stirrup from fast riding/hot horses which taught me to ride off their backs. Nowadays I am far more interested in schooling and feel that the short stirrup is detrimental to my riding as it does not enable me to fully get my legs around the horse - I am on top of the horse, not with the horse if you understand. I think the only way I can develop an independent seat with a straight leg is basically to do a lot of work without stirrups to make me to stop relying on them for balance and to help develop a relaxed leg.
Then again, maybe I should leave the schooling to him and go hunting
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