Saddle caused my accident?

J

Jade75

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Hi guys,

I recently had an accident and fractured my skull which I’m pretty sure were caused by the stirrup bars on my saddle. The stirrup came off the top bar in canter and I followed out the back door! There’s no curve to the top bar and the stirrups are able to be pulled off FAR too easily for my liking! I rang the company which are pretty well known, asked them to ring me back and they never have!! Where do I stand with this? The saddle is not safe to be ridden in on the top bar and I feel this is a huge design flaw! They said it had never happened before but that doesn’t mean it won’t happen again!
 
Not really sure what you're asking?

What did you ask thr company to do?

Have you asked to return the saddle for a refund?
 
I obviously don't know the exact circumstances but I'd much rather them come off than stay on - I got an iron caught in a gate & the horse realised it was stuck, panicked, reared, flipping over onto its back due to being stuck snapping the tree & bending the stirrup bar out at a right angle! Only at that point did the stirrup come off. I was very very lucky in the fact I got thrown clear & just had a nasty fall. The irons on that saddle were curved inwards so not even straight bar, current saddle now has straight bars which I'm much happier with.
 
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Was it a new saddle? I am a bit confused by the term 'top bar' most saddles only have one stirrup bar.
I am not sure you came off because your stirrup did. It sounds more like your leg went back and pulled the stirrup off. If your leg is in the correct position you pull the leather perpendicularly downwards, not back.
 
What make of saddle is it ? I'm pretty sure my stirrup bars are straight your legs would have to be very far back for the leathers to fly off cantering. I have seen this happen when someone gets it totally wrong jumping .
 
I actually prefer the straight bars. I have had a couple with curved bars (Barrie Swain and Ansur) and I don't feel as comfortable that they would allow the stirrup leathers off if I were to be dragged as my weight would be downwards as well as backwards. I always use a safety stirrup anyway (Springier), but with a curved bar this is doubled.

With the straight bars I also don't like a tight bar. Firstly you can't get the leathers on and off to clean without damaging them, and secondly I do think that very tight bars transfer pressure to the horse.

When cantering, as others have said, the pressure should be downwards not backwards. To me, if your legs pulled the leather backwards then they did right if they allowed the leather off.
 
Far too little information to be able to answer this. Stirrup bars are intended to be made such that leathers to slip off under stress, it would be more dangerous if they didn't. This all depends on the circumstances of your fall which we don't know. What do you want the manufacturer to do? How old is the saddle? How long have you had it? Where did you buy it from?
 
I think a mate had a Wintec and the saddle bar was hinged to allow the stirrup leather to be removed more easily. Her sharer left it down and she came off rather dramatically on a hack. I don’t think she was helped by having just come out of the pub!

Pp are right, the pressure of you being in the stirrup should prevent the stirrup leather coming off. I think mine are slightly tipped up-Thorowgood saddle.
 
I think it can also depend on the fit on the horse... if the balance isn't right you are going to have stirrup bars pointing in the wrong direction.

OP presumably you had the opportunity to check the stirrups and bars before riding in them? Hard to see why this is the manufacturers fault with the information given.
Was it a WOW? They have 2 bars with a flat top one I can't think of any others atm.

pic for other posters
double-stirrup-bar.gif
 
I have a saddle company saddle where both stirrups flew off rather dramatically during a bucking fit. I assume my legs flew backwards mid rodeo and that dislodged the stirrups. I've always liked the fact it's easy to put stirrups on that saddle - hadn't thought about how easy it would be to dislodge them tho!

I don't think I'd have blamed the company - the saddle isn't faulty as far as I can tell. In all other paces apart from handstands I've never had an issue.
 
Cinnamontoast said:
I think a mate had a Wintec and the saddle bar was hinged to allow the stirrup leather to be removed more easily.
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When I was little it was drummed into us in pony club that the hinge only went up went you put the saddle away for a length of time. It should always be down so it could come off if you came off and your foot got stuck.
 
criso said:
When I was little it was drummed into us in pony club that the hinge only went up went you put the saddle away for a length of time. It should always be down so it could come off if you came off and your foot got stuck.
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I agree, in my 40 years of horse ownership I have never put the hinged part up!
 
If you are looking to blame the company for you accident I don't think you are going to be very successful. These things happen, it's a dangerous hobby.

As other's have said there isn't enough information to really try to get an idea of what actually happened, but I'd be inclined to blame rider error through leg position.

I hope you are over this accident soon and feeling better.
 
Also very confused. All saddles in the large equestrian centre I used to teach at had straight bars for safety, and the only time a leather came off was if someone hit the deck and got their foot stuck.

I’m baffled as to how to can pull a stirrup off whilst still on board. You’d have to be seriously bendy and almost doing an arabesque up there!

So sorry you’ve had an accident and I hope you recover quickly, but I have to say the idea of blaming the company is pretty ludicrous.
 
I lost a stirrup on a wintec around a xc course once. The wintecs had those curved stirrup bars and I had synthetic stirrup leathers that are quite low friction. We pecked slightly on landing going down hill and then immediately had a 90 degree turn, which I wouldn't have tried to haul a horse round these days but I was considerably younger and stupider then so we motor biked round, my leg flew back as I tried to keep balance and stirrup shot off backwards. I didn't fall off though, the stirrup just fell away and I pulled up a few strides later.

So while I appreciate that it can be done, I think you'd have to be doing something fairly out of whack to get it to, and the likelihood is that you would have come off anyway. I'm not sure how a loose stirrup could manage to be responsible for pulling someone of normal human weight off a horse.
 
ester said:
I think it can also depend on the fit on the horse... if the balance isn't right you are going to have stirrup bars pointing in the wrong direction.

OP presumably you had the opportunity to check the stirrups and bars before riding in them? Hard to see why this is the manufacturers fault with the information given.
Was it a WOW? They have 2 bars with a flat top one I can't think of any others atm.

pic for other posters
double-stirrup-bar.gif
Click to expand...


I was looking at those stirrup bars, I've never seen anything like them anywhere else.
 
criso said:
When I was little it was drummed into us in pony club that the hinge only went up went you put the saddle away for a length of time. It should always be down so it could come off if you came off and your foot got stuck.
Click to expand...

This. I never have mine up and they slide off really easily, I don't undo them to change my stirrups etc just pull them off the bar. They've never come off when I'm riding though. I can't see how that would happen unless the saddle shape is putting your leg in a weird position or something?
 
I have had a leather slide off in extreme circumstances. A spook in the woods took my leg nearer to a tree than I was happy with and I swung my leg back at a right angle but that's not a normal manoeuvre.
 
Gloi said:
I was looking at those stirrup bars, I've never seen anything like them anywhere else.
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As far as I know, they only exist on WOW saddles. I use the forward one for jumping and breaking in (in case I need a safety seat) and the back one for schooling to get hip shoulder heel alignment more easily.

I've used nothing else for twelve years and I've only ever had a leather come off when I was dragged a short distance.
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I don’t remember a thing about that week let alone the accident itself, as far as I’m aware he may have put a buck in but that is all. I can understand what people are saying about leg position as it were my first thought, Ive sat many bucks in various saddles and never had this problem! I’ve never seen stirrup bars completely straight so the leathers come off so easily! The dressage bar has a slight curve, the event bar Is poker straight. I posted asking for opinions which I’m fine with receiving.

However that “didn’t like the answer she got” do you sit and stare blankly awaiting a response? Unnecessary.

The right hand stirrup bar takes a bit of a tug to pull the leathers off - which in an accident you would get. The left however (the one I lost) fly straight off with little effort. I wanted to speak to the company about replacement bars as I can’t find any online to fit myself and this saddle isn’t old.
 
so it was a wow? I find it really hard to get the leathers on and off the top bar as it's so tight up to the seat and it's been the same on all the Wows I've owned. How strange if so. Mine have all been resin or leather seats, not sure what the plastic ones are like.

The stirrup bar on my equipe is flat, like most, and I find it really handy to be able to get the leathers off as I take them off every day to take the saddle home without the stirrups clonking about. I don't think it's a design fault :)
 
milliepops said:
so it was a wow? I find it really hard to get the leathers on and off the top bar as it's so tight up to the seat and it's been the same on all the Wows I've owned. How strange if so. Mine have all been resin or leather seats, not sure what the plastic ones are like.

The stirrup bar on my equipe is flat, like most, and I find it really handy to be able to get the leathers off as I take them off every day to take the saddle home without the stirrups clonking about. I don't think it's a design fault :)
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It is a Wow yes, if other saddles have the bars tighter, then no not a design fault but the left one on mine is so much easier to get off you don’t even have to pull them. The bottom bar is how I’d expect and you have to wiggle it a bit to pull off, id have much preferred the top bar like this on both sides but we can’t have everything! Thank you for your response!
 
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