Stirrup bar - open or closed?

CobSunshine

CobSunshine

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A lot of american sites seem to claim english saddles are dangerous with the stirrup bar closed as without regular maintenance/oil they can lock in the event of rider being dragged.

What do you guys do?


Heres my stirrup bar, if I leave it open the stirrup leathers come out too easily

2011-04-06195030.jpg
 
Open, always. My first instructor drilled it into me that it should be one of the FIRST things I checked when tacking the horse up!
 
Open. Always open. They're designed like this as a safety measure - so they DO come off if the worst happens.
 
I was always taught the stirrup bars should remain "open" precisely so that the stirrup leathers can slip off if there is an accident.
I've never known stirrup leathers to slide off the bars easily, perhaps you should look into your leg position or get a saddler to check the bars are correctly aligned?
 
I was lunging him tonight with saddle on and one of them came close to working its way to slipping off.

If they should always be open whats the design all about to have them closed?

Would it not be better to close them and use a safety stirrup instead?
 
Open. They are only designed to close to keep the leathers on whilst the saddle is being carried. I would still have them open even with safety stirrups, one more element of safety.
 
Always, always OPEN - the only time they are closed is when the saddle is being carried but most people rarely close them up even for that.

If your leathers are coming off when you are riding then the saddle may not be sitting correctly, generally the saddle will be too narrow for the horse.

When the saddle is on the stirrup bar should be horizontal to the ground and the leather hanging from it vertical to the ground.

Also have someone check where you keep your legs when riding as if the riders leg goes too far back then it is likely to come off.

If you are happy with the fit of your saddle then buy a pair of Peacock Irons (they have an elastic band on the outside) and put the clip up. Then should you fall off the rubber band will ping on the stirrup iron freeing your feet.
 
I have Peacock stirrups on both my saddles, but I've never heard about having the stirrup bar open or closed! :eek: So I went to check both of mine, and they are open on my County which is in use, but they are closed on the other! I looked at the bar and didn't see how you move it...so how do you? Do you have to use pliers to flip the end down?
 
jroz said:
I have Peacock stirrups on both my saddles, but I've never heard about having the stirrup bar open or closed! :eek: So I went to check both of mine, and they are open on my County which is in use, but they are closed on the other! I looked at the bar and didn't see how you move it...so how do you? Do you have to use pliers to flip the end down?
Click to expand...

If it's impossible to move with your fingers then yes you may need pliers.
 
Even with safety stirrups, I'd still leave them open *just incase* the stirrups fail. You never know if you will fall at an angle which prevents your foot from leaning on the elastic.

I've also never known my stirrups to fall off of my saddle when lunging or carrying my saddle either so always leave them down.
 
Also have safety stirrups, and stirrup bars absolutly always down. Should I come off I like my legs just the shape they are, and attached to my body!!

CobSunshine, sometimes they are really hard to move, so if you can't move it with your fingers then give pliers a go, the little block on the end will just turn through 90 deg. I tried to move mine to clean behind them (a bit keen on cleaning!!) and just couldn't shift them for anything though!!!
 
Open. One day out hacking we went through a narrow opening to get into some woodland and there were metal posts each side. Old mare rushed a bit and my leg/foot was in danger of smacking on the post. Instinctively I swung my lower leg back and up to clear it and somehow the stirrup with my foot in it got looped over the top of the post. Thank god the bars were open because the stirrup and leathers came off the saddle and my foot came out. I seriously dread to think what would have happened if it hadn't come off, it could have been very very bad. Yes it was a freak accident, but it made me very glad someone had drilled into me to always have them open!

ETS safety stirrups wouldn't have helped in this instance!
 
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I'm amazed someone would ever consider riding with the bar closed. Some saddles now don't have a hinged stirrup bar which have to be in the interests of safety.

Sometimes, thin leathers can move about so I would try your saddle with thicker ones :)
 
Oldmare, that wasn't a totally freak accidents I have seen quite a few leathers get caught on gates, post etc mostly out hunting but also could just be of horse walks to close to stable door or a gate when you aren't even on, or out hacking etc, I actually always thought this was the reason they were open so that of the horse was caught there they could easily free, horses or us don't like being caught!!

I suggest that the OP has her saddle checked and could maybe buy some thicker leathers please don't shut them though! Both my saddles actually just have a bar that slightly curves upwards with no open/closed option, but they will still come off if caught!
 
Always open, if they fall off easily the saddleneeds attention. I somtimes ride in a specialist saddle, which doesn't have stirrup bars (too complicated to explain), & the saddler insists that even when trying the saddle caged stirrups are worn so you can't trap your foot.

If you insist on riding with them closed, looked into caged stirrups, such as flexi-ride from performance equestrian. Not overly pretty (think they also have metal options with cages), but very comfy & a much safer option. No they wont help if you get trapped on a gate, but if the horse suddenly backs up on being caught then ordinary sirrups on an open stirrup bar wont help either (been there, experienced it).
 
Ill keep it open then cheers!

I have decathlon leathers with handy numbers on.

Anyone recommend a good brand of thick leathers?
 
Yep ones with nylon in are normally thicker, and most are still numbered! I've got some John Whitaker ones and also Kentaur ones alot of makes do them tho, think Bates, Mark Todd, and my mum as got some made by Keiffer which look like leather but are synthetic, and not too expensive either, alltho I tend to find they squeak slightly but I'm very sensitive to noises like that so hate it, but other pepople don't find it a problem.
 
OPEN - can you imagine if they were closed!!!!!!

As most have said, it's only there for carrying or non-ridden work for precisely why you said, stirrups can slip off without a rider.

When training youngsters to go through gates, often the leathers get stuck on the catch and slip off easily. I've learnt to just whip my leg up if I think we were close. If they didn't and the safety catch was on, I'd be injured, the horse would probably get scared, injure himself and take gate with him!!!
 
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