"Surcingle loop" vs stirrup leather keeper - can someone clarify?

[EchoInterrupted]

Started at a new riding school to keep me ticking over while between loans. The saddle I was riding in had a slit where a the stirrup leather keeper would normally be, but the slits didn't look like they got used regularly and the stirrup leather was quite thick, so difficult to fit through. I asked if they preferred I just left the stirrup leather hanging and they told me that it wasn't a stirrup leather keeper, that it instead was a surcingle loop or something along those lines. They said their purpose is not to hold a stirrup leather, and that this would be an incorrect use. I've never heard of this before, so was googling just now. While I can find some labeled saddle diagrams that refer to the keeper as a surcingle loop, even in those images the end of the stirrup leather is usually depicted as going through it. Can someone help clarify?

 

[rabatsa]

Originally the loop was for use with a surcingle, however as surcingles have gone out of use they have been taken over for the stirrup leather end. Nowadays I call them surcingle loops when parallel with the ground and stirrup leather loops when angled ath 45°.

 

[EchoInterrupted]

Originally the loop was for use with a surcingle, however as surcingles have gone out of use they have been taken over for the stirrup leather end. Nowadays I call them surcingle loops when parallel with the ground and stirrup leather loops when angled ath 45°.

thanks! Would a surcingle have been equivalent to a back cinch on a western saddle/would it have served the same purpose (eta in retrospect the surcingle loop definitely wouldn't be far enough back for this haha)? (This one was at 45 deg, so glad my assumption it was a stirrup leather keeper didn't make me look like a total idiot)

 

[milliepops]

Originally the loop was for use with a surcingle, however as surcingles have gone out of use they have been taken over for the stirrup leather end. Nowadays I call them surcingle loops when parallel with the ground and stirrup leather loops when angled ath 45°.

this would be my take on it as well.
it's pretty rare to see surcingles in use now. I used one when I started eventing in the early 2000s because that's how I had been raised but tbh it was probably overkill even then with the quality of girths and saddles etc.

 

[milliepops]

thanks! Would a surcingle have been equivalent to a back cinch on a western saddle/would it have served the same purpose? (This one was at 45 deg, so glad my assumption it was a stirrup leather keeper didn't make me look like a total idiot)

i used them when riding XC, the idea being it was a back up if your girth broke. it would sit over the saddle and then on top of the girth, not further back.

 

[EchoInterrupted]

i used them when riding XC, the idea being it was a back up if your girth broke. it would sit over the saddle and then on top of the girth, not further back.

oooh I see! That's so interesting! Any chance you've got a photo of what that would look like? I'm curious now!

 

[milliepops]

this is how I fitted mine.

 

[milliepops]

found one showing it on a racing saddle with the slot being used.

 

[milliepops]

also appears to be a thing in polo

 

[EchoInterrupted]

Thanks!! Makes a lot more sense now!

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

Well I have never seen that before

 

[fidleyspromise]

That's interesting. I never knew that.

 

[Tiddlypom]

News to me too! I just assumed that they were slots for the stirrup leathers. The surcingle explanation makes much more sense.

Live and learn, eh.

 

[J&S]

I would never have thought that the slots would be wide enough, but by the photos I can see they are.

 

[Fransurrey]

I'm another who never knew this!

 

[Polos Mum]

I think in old fashioned eventing days you'd call them an overgirth not necessarily a surcingle

It's been so long since I went eventing I didn't realised people had stopped doing it - I thought it was to aid stability as well as just in case so I guest it makes sense that still done in polo / racing where there's more moving around and I assume less time spent getting perfectly fitted saddles.

 

[milliepops]

Yeah I got the pics above by doing a search for "overgirth".

 

[The Xmas Furry]

I think in old fashioned eventing days you'd call them an overgirth not necessarily a surcingle

It's been so long since I went eventing I didn't realised people had stopped doing it - I thought it was to aid stability as well as just in case so I guest it makes sense that still done in polo / racing where there's more moving around and I assume less time spent getting perfectly fitted saddles.

Yes, back in the late 70s and early 80s we called them overgirths.
Surcingles were the cheap version of a roller and went over rugs.

 

[Red-1]

I used to use an over girth. I had proper quality saddles and girths, but liked one as it made the saddle more grippy!

Never had any slits to feed it through though, just wrapped it round the lot.

 

[Leam_Carrie]

I rode is a saddle recently with slits for the stirrup leathers. Here’s link to it on the site > https://www.cavaletticollection.co....CNc-bBDTas-Ppi6U_hO4b6AQuSAiSBd4aAk7_EALw_wcB.

 

[teapot]

I think in old fashioned eventing days you'd call them an overgirth not necessarily a surcingle

It's been so long since I went eventing I didn't realised people had stopped doing it - I thought it was to aid stability as well as just in case so I guest it makes sense that still done in polo / racing where there's more moving around and I assume less time spent getting perfectly fitted saddles.

Some of the older eventing pros still do it - certainly seen Tina Cook in recent years with one, but she's jump racing born and bred, that'll be why!