Stirrup leathers or webbers with a break point

[stimpy]

After a terrible accident with my horse where her saddle ended up underneath her and she trod on and got caught in the stirrup ripping her saddle to pieces I am looking for some stirrup leathers that will break in an emergency. I already ride with double bent irons so I am not so worried about getting my foot caught and I'm not looking for Barnes Buckles, open side stirrups etc, but I do want the leathers to break if they get caught. I have several pairs of good quality non-stretch leathers (Jaguar, Harry Dabbs) and although I love them they were part of the problem in my accident as the leathers wouldn't break. I abandoned standard non-reinforced leathers many years ago as it drives me mad when they get uneven, is there such a thing as leathers without a nylon core that will break eventually but not stretch in day-to-day use? Ideally I'd like some webber type leathers but I have never seen any that don't have some nylon part that wouldn't break. Can anyone suggest anything?

 

[HannahB]

Ask a saddler to make some direct? I'm impressed you still want to ride, that takes a lot of confidence. Good luck

 

[Cragrat]

I can totally see why you would want leathers that would break in that situation, but I have never heard of such leathers. I would guess the risk of them breaking when you didn't want them to is too great.

 

[sbloom]

Stirrup leathers should be as strong as possible, they're dangerous if not.

I'm sorry you've had such a nasty experience but you do not want stirrup leathers that will snap, though there are options that come away at the bar end rather than the stirrup end, there's a quick release buckle that drops the stirrup, the name escapes me. @cremedemonthe might know. And of course make sure that the saddle can't end up there, whether it was a too loose girth (which I know if it was you'll be making sure never happens again anyway) or the fit of the saddle, and don't let anyone tell you that it's highly likely to happen on a wider horse (if this is the case), no matter how well fitting the saddle is. It's not.

 

[stimpy]

Thanks for your replies and empathy everyone.

@sbloom I appreciate that folk don't want leathers to snap in normal use but there's a big difference in the strain that a 60/70/80kg rider can create and the strain a 400/450/500kg horse can create so I would have thought it's possible to make something that will snap at the increased breaking strain only.

This accident actually happened a couple of years ago and even after a vast amount of rehab the horse can no longer be ridden, she is physically compromised and still mentally fried. It was the perfect storm of factors, trying a new saddlecloth, insufficient girth tightness and sheer bad luck but you can imagine that slipping saddles is now something at the forefront of my mind each and every time I ride. She is very wide and I agree that it's not an insoluble problem with wide horses but it is much more difficult! (I say this as someone who last fell off when a saddle slipped after a dramatic spook on another of my horses... this was an AH saddle! )

After a bit of goggling this morning I think what might make me feel better is pre-stretched all leather stirrup leathers, I see Harry Dabbs does a pre-stretched version of the non-stretch ones I already have so I may start there.

 

[Alibear]

An alternate approach might be to use a Y style breast girth, which will also lessen the chance of the saddle slipping under them?