short stirrups good or bad?

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sylvie.hettema

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I tend to ride with quite short stirrups because thats comfortalbe for me. Ive heard people saying that with short stirrups you can improve balance, fitness, strength and flexibility. Does anyone know if this is true? What are your views? :)
 
I honestly do not know the true scientific answer!

But for me riding short has always been much comfier: I feel more balanced, secure and compact. I also find my body falls into a more natural position.

In addition I tend to feel much messier, flappier and less in control with long stirrups.

For me that is personal preference because I ride better short, but I have spoken to many other ladies who prefer longer stirrups - a common explanation why is because their legs are more wrapped around the horse and so they feel more safe.
 
Depends what you're doing and in what saddle. Short stirrups in GP saddles with forward stirrup bars tend to encourage a chair seat. Short stirrups in a dressage saddle with knee blocks = pretty uncomfortable. Short stirrups for two point / fast work in a forward cut saddle? Good move.
 
I was taught to ride long, sometimes we would have nearly a full lessons without stirrups. So I always ride long unless jumping.
 
Short stirrups tend to give a false sense of security as riders tend to be relying more on the stirrup as opposed to there seat :)
 
Depends on the saddle, surely?! When I ride in a forward cut jump saddle, I ride short as that's the natural position. When I ride in a dressage saddle, I ride long as that's the natural position. In a GP, you ride in between as that's the natural position... Perhaps I'm making it too simplistic.... Either that or I'be just never been taught properly/paid attention! Haha!
 
Depends what you do.
If you jump short is good and if you hack out short your in the best position to cope with the unexpected and it helps you develop the strength and balance you need to be truly effective schooling and jumping in the short position .it's a good idea to spend part of every hack up off the horse back pushing the heels right down and practising being able to stay in balance without depending on the rien you do need a strong core balance well very short as well as strong legs
I won't employ people who only ride long a good effective short postion is essential if I am going to let them ride my horses.
Of course you need to have a correct short postion if you have a chair seat short that's a result of incorrect training and bad practicing and it needs fixing .
I prefer to ride fairly short or fairly long when I was ridng seriously I think it was sixteen holes difference between my short and long position .
 
Although much is probably down to personal preference I do know that judges for BHS Stage 3 and PC B test and above prefer a relatively short stirrup as it demonstrates a more stable lower leg - but also mindful you are going to have to then go up 2 more holes at least between flat work and jumping. So don't start off with jockey length! And that will only apply on GP and jump saddles. Not straight cut ones with knee blocks.
 
Short or long are neither good nor bad; they are for different jobs and styles of riding. Jumping and fast work require you to get into a 2-point position, up off the horse's back and so with shorter stirrups. Actually sitting on the horse and using the seat bones and lower legs/thigh for giving aids works best with a longer, more "wrapped" leg and so is more effective with longer stirrups.

Unless you have a very well established seat, then it may feel more secure to have shorter stirrups but in effect you are perching on the horse, weight tends to tip forwards and riders are more reliant on the reins, less able to use their weight aids and legs.
 
I have a good 5 holes between my dressage and sj lengths and then depending on the horse I will go up another 1/2 holes for fast work and x country.
I blame my instructor lol as she often takes away my stirrups and hides them for a few weeks if I am getting too comfortable with short stirrups and if I haven't done much jumping/fast work she makes me put them up to jockey length for maybe a week.
As other posters have said, different lengths for different jobs.
 
I have bad knees (along with everything else!) and find they can get really bad when I'm riding, especially in a lesson when I can't stretch them out etc. But because of this, I used to ride really short to the extent that my stirrups were even quite short for jumping without changing the length. Whereas now, I can't have them short as they just lock up and into position so I have to jump longer than normal too.
Not bad for 20...
 
Cortez said:
Short or long are neither good nor bad; they are for different jobs and styles of riding. Jumping and fast work require you to get into a 2-point position, up off the horse's back and so with shorter stirrups. Actually sitting on the horse and using the seat bones and lower legs/thigh for giving aids works best with a longer, more "wrapped" leg and so is more effective with longer stirrups.

Unless you have a very well established seat, then it may feel more secure to have shorter stirrups but in effect you are perching on the horse, weight tends to tip forwards and riders are more reliant on the reins, less able to use their weight aids and legs.
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This is a great answer.

On the whole I tend to ride a little longer for hacking than I do jumping as my horse can throw in some rather sharp spooks and having that little extra length makes me feel more secure.

Do other people experience this though - when I ride in my dressage saddle in my 'every day' boots I have my stirrups one hole longer than I do in my competition boots because the soles are so different in thickness. My 'every day' boots are the Mountain Riders which are quite chunky compared to proper competition boots. Possibly having very short legs might have some bearing on this or maybe I should do more work without stirrups LOL
 
I did ride short but I have a forward cut GP so feel comfier riding slightly shorter. However I have since dropped two holes and am riding much more through my seat. But will pop them up a hole if I am doing lots of fast work.
 
Agree with Goldenstar.

You will be much more secure with your stirrups short and your heels down for jumping and xc. It makes it easier to control your balance to keep you in the plate. If you feel it's making you rely on the reins, use the neck strap, that's what it's for. Go to a local hunter trail and the majority are riding too long for xc.
 
As predominantly a dressage rider, I've always been taught to try and lengthen my leg and deepen my seat! So for any form of flat work, schooling, dressage I ride on the longer side, and I must say I feel very secure this way, I regularly sit to the naughty one with no stirrups at all. (Bucks, bronking, rears, bolting, spooks, dropping her shoulder).
Equally it is important to be able to shorten up. For jumping, two point position, improving your lower leg security ect. It's of my opinion that a good rider should be able to ride effectively and well with short & long stirrups. To me someone who only ever rides shorts is relying too much on their stirrups and there core strength and perhaps balance isn't there.
 
I hack out like John Wayne and school 2 holes shorter. I would love to be able to school John Wayne length but I feel too insecure and my legs go all over the place. Most frustrating as I used to be able to ride any length and not move a dot on a horse. That's what riding racehorses for a living does to you!

Actually my thing is more mental than anything else. I ride perfectly well with a nice deep seat, light of hand and pretty imobile when riding bareback, give me a saddle and I can't ride for toffee!

This is what happens when my horse is a plonker in the show ring - I shorten up, learn on my knees and tip forwards. That is the worst thing you can ever do on a racehorse lol!

GrayMoWestFifesaddle_zps84b661a1.png


And yet at home and at work when a horse starts faffing about the first thing I do is drop my feet out of my stirrups,lengthen the leg and wrap it round.

I'm a bit spesh :D
 
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Marchogaeth said:
As predominantly a dressage rider, I've always been taught to try and lengthen my leg and deepen my seat! So for any form of flat work, schooling, dressage I ride on the longer side, and I must say I feel very secure this way, I regularly sit to the naughty one with no stirrups at all. (Bucks, bronking, rears, bolting, spooks, dropping her shoulder).
Equally it is important to be able to shorten up. For jumping, two point position, improving your lower leg security ect. It's of my opinion that a good rider should be able to ride effectively and well with short & long stirrups. To me someone who only ever rides shorts is relying too much on their stirrups and there core strength and perhaps balance isn't there.
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It's impossible to use core strength without balance and vice versa and that's the same with short or long stirrups .
A stirrup won't keep you in balance, your balance does that neither will your seat keep you in the saddle when you have long stirrups unless you have core strength and balance .
 
I ride really short and even hold my legs up when riding bareback. I used to have them longer but I found the 'jumping length' more comfortable and supported me better when galloping/cantering, so just left them short, better for galloping around on my hacks :) I have 0 interest in schooling/dressage- but I had a knee injury a few years ago which is starting to cause me problems and I think my short stirrups does not help the knee. It can be painful and 'seize up' when I get off after longer rides , I also find that my foot goes to sleep.
So in hindsight it's maybe better for your joints to get used to riding with longer stirrups. Unfortunately too late for me (at 27 lol)- take care of your knees!
 
JFTD said:
Depends what you're doing and in what saddle. Short stirrups in GP saddles with forward stirrup bars tend to encourage a chair seat. Short stirrups in a dressage saddle with knee blocks = pretty uncomfortable. Short stirrups for two point / fast work in a forward cut saddle? Good move.
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I think if a saddle is correctly balanced and the stirrup bars correctly placed, then modern forward cut saddles no longer encourage the chair seat. It is perfectly possible to comfortably maintain a shoulder, bum heel alignment in even the most forward cut saddles.

Although I now prefer dressage and so tend to ride quite long, I prefer shorter stirrups and GP saddles for day to day schooling.
 
Deltaflyer said:
This is a great answer.

On the whole I tend to ride a little longer for hacking than I do jumping as my horse can throw in some rather sharp spooks and having that little extra length makes me feel more secure.

Do other people experience this though - when I ride in my dressage saddle in my 'every day' boots I have my stirrups one hole longer than I do in my competition boots because the soles are so different in thickness. My 'every day' boots are the Mountain Riders which are quite chunky compared to proper competition boots. Possibly having very short legs might have some bearing on this or maybe I should do more work without stirrups LOL
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I generally ride short! but i am short also!! I have been schooling at a longer length with my youngster, but after having a polework and small jump session i feel much more comfortable with my stirrups back to jumping length again, my instructor has told me not to stress over stirrup length and do what feels best for me, my core strength is far far better than it was last year, and my balance is good regardless of stirrup length.

And yes i find riding in my everday boots and competition boots feels different, due to the thickness fo the soles, i mentioned this to someone else once who looked at me like i was puddled! however, im far too lazy to change the length and put up with the difference, after 5 minutes warm up i find i have gotten used to it.
 
I'm just a happy hacker with a GP saddle, and I am cursed with a long body and short legs so I have always chosen "Lucky Number 7" as my stirrup hole of choice. This enables me to get off my horse's back for a canter but still have some contact with my lower leg as needed. Recently my friend's sharer's mum borrowed my horse and she is very long legged, she didn't put the stirrups back into position and it's weird but they now feel too long even on 7 so I have moved them up to 9.

I suspect though that a shorter stirrup hides some core instability in my seat but the main thing I want to achieve is not hindering or bouncing about on my horse. When we ride alone I do the last 10 mins without stirrups and practice sitting deep in the saddle and up straight and all that, but I have to face facts, I ain't Pippa Funnell :)
 
You should ride both- short stirrups improve balance and flexibility.
Theres a good book ''unlock your riding potential'' (i think?!) that explains this really well and gives lots of exercises with short stirrups.
She says to ride short for the first 10 mins, then long with 'legs away' before strarting your session :)

Ive found this hard work but works wonders!.. when I have time :P
 
Wagtail said:
I think if a saddle is correctly balanced and the stirrup bars correctly placed, then modern forward cut saddles no longer encourage the chair seat. It is perfectly possible to comfortably maintain a shoulder, bum heel alignment in even the most forward cut saddles.
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Never said it wasn't - I did specify saddles with a forward stirrup bar, did I not? :rolleyes3:
 
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