Webbers/T bar Stirrups for jumping and XC?

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pottypony1

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I'm wanting to get some webbers to use on my close contact jumping saddle, as the buckles on normal stirrup leathers are proving to be uncomfortable with it... However I compete at BE Novice/CCI* level and not 100% confident they will stand up to the strain of jumping and cross country... Has anybody else used them for this and had no issues?? TIA
 
I use the Bates ones for jumping and XC but not nearly to same level as you, I'm more a 90cm kind of level. I do trust them though but you have to make sure the T bar is fastened properly into the hole before you get on.

Definitely more comfy under the leg and no calf pinching. Would be interesting to hear what other more advanced riders than me say.
 
That's very helpful thankyou! I guess xc is xc so if they're managing totally fine for you then they should be fine! and well if not... I've done plenty practice with no stirrups! ;)
 
Another vote for Bates - again, nowhere near the level you are (as in, I try my level best to not do XC), but they cope with me, constant moving for other other people to use when they ride Nugz and my non-cleaning approach to them. They also seemed to be the thinnest, I tried FSS ones and they never seemed to 'relax' and always seemed bulkier that I thought they should be, and especially in comparison to the Bates (and both pairs were to replace my WoW ones that were too long for everyone bar me!)
 
Have not got experience of using T-bar XC. But if you want a buckle one look at Albion or ideal leathers, they have a very thin buckle and soft leather so lay down well. I find them better than the pair of T-bars I had felt less bulky.
 
I have always used them for everything except cross country and hunting. I don't trust the single tiny tongue on them. If it broke, there would be no warning, your stirrup would just fall off your foot. With a proper buckle, at least it would slip a bit and give you time to react.

I used to use full leathers, but turn them upset down so that the buckle was on top of the stirrup. It works very well on WOW saddles, and those are almost impossible to use with a full stirrup leather fitted the normal way.

Enlightened Equitation sell good quality t bar webbers at a very good price if anyone is looking.
 
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I had some Jeffries ones that stretched horribly and once the hole is slightly stretched, the t bar slips out easily. They are marketed as 'dressage' leathers which is a get out for guaranteeing them for other disciplines. Note I didn't jump on mine as they were attached to my dressage saddle but they were occasionally used for hacking.
 
criso said:
I had some Jeffries ones that stretched horribly and once the hole is slightly stretched, the t bar slips out easily. They are marketed as 'dressage' leathers which is a get out for guaranteeing them for other disciplines. Note I didn't jump on mine as they were attached to my dressage saddle but they were occasionally used for hacking.
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I don't ever buy stirrup leathers that don't have a synthetic core, for that reason. EE and WOW and FSS (eBay) are webbing core. WOW are expensive and FSS are very variable in quality and have a 'painted' finish which rubs.
 
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ycbm said:
That's terrible! Jeffries, too. I would expect better :(
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And not cheap. There are some things I don't buy cheap from a safety point of view - leathers and reins. I didn't follow it up, partly because they were a gift so I didn't have receipts etc and partly because I thought that dressage label would be their get out clause so I just went back to my traditional ones.
 
ycbm said:
I have always used them for everything except cross country and hunting. I don't trust the single tiny tongue on them. If it broke, there would be no warning, your stirrup would just fall off your foot. With a proper buckle, at least it would slip a bit and give you time to react.

I used to use full leathers, but turn them upset down so that the buckle was on top of the stirrup. It works very well on WOW saddles, and those are almost impossible to use with a full stirrup leather fitted the normal way.

Enlightened Equitation sell good quality t bar webbers at a very good price if anyone is looking.
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But shouldn't they be made strong enough to withstand the load so that they don't break? I know there are no guarantees and I understand why you might not want to test it but I would hope they would come with a statement saying they're not suitable for particular activities if there was a real risk of them breaking.

Anyway, I'm interested in what you say about using full leathers with a Wow as I have one and was wondering how this would work if I did decide to try ful leathers with it. I can't quite picture what you're describing though. With the buckle sat just above the iron don't you then end up with the extra length of leather flapping around? Or do you use very short leathers? Or am I just being thick and completely misunderstanding what you're saying?
 
I've used normal leather upside down on a wow too - can't remember why but I had the buckle basically touching the iron, threaded the excess strap back through the buckle and cut it off as they were old leathers ;) Could have secured it with tape I guess.

I have used Wow leathers for everything quite happily though I rarely jump these days, have evented with them in the past. I had a bog standard stirrup iron break once, freak thing but just shows that you can't legislate for everything.
 
Charlie31 said:
But shouldn't they be made strong enough to withstand the load so that they don't break? I know there are no guarantees and I understand why you might not want to test it but I would hope they would come with a statement saying they're not suitable for particular activities if there was a real risk of them breaking.
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But then different designs could be more resilient. A traditional buckle may spread the load in a different way that makes then inherently stronger than a t bar.

In any case for the ones I had, it wasn't the leather itself that stretched/snapped or the t bar that broke but the drag on the t bar made the hole bigger and and then it popped out easily when I was riding.
 
Charlie31 said:
But shouldn't they be made strong enough to withstand the load so that they don't break? I know there are no guarantees and I understand why you might not want to test it but I would hope they would come with a statement saying they're not suitable for particular activities if there was a real risk of them breaking.

Anyway, I'm interested in what you say about using full leathers with a Wow as I have one and was wondering how this would work if I did decide to try ful leathers with it. I can't quite picture what you're describing though. With the buckle sat just above the iron don't you then end up with the extra length of leather flapping around? Or do you use very short leathers? Or am I just being thick and completely misunderstanding what you're saying?
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Everything should be strong enough not to break, but the world isn't made flawless and I didn't risk it over six foot hedges :) If a buckle tongue breaks there is still a certain amount of hold in the buckle. T bars are tiny and weak compared to buckle tongues and if one snaps you've lost your foot support in an instant.

I'm another one who has had a stainless steel stirrup snap at the shoulders. I now 'ring' metal stirrups with a tea spoon and you can hear when they are getting metal fatigue.

As Millipops says, you place the buckle right down at the stirrup, thread the rest back through the buckle so it sits inside the two lengths, cut off any huge excess and tape up the tail end. It's quite neat to look at
 
Ooh I'm quite intrigued by this idea of normal stirrups upside down... might need to give that a try! my only concern is that I change my stirrup length between sj and xc so is this still do-able without having loads of excess flapping around?
 
I used wintec synthetic webbers on my leather close contact saddle! The webbers were black and my saddle brown - I'm not a matchy matchy sort of rider...I jumped at BE novice and BS foxhunter with them and never had any issues.
 
ycbm said:
Everything should be strong enough not to break, but the world isn't made flawless and I didn't risk it over six foot hedges :) If a buckle tongue breaks there is still a certain amount of hold in the buckle. T bars are tiny and weak compared to buckle tongues and if one snaps you've lost your foot support in an instant.

I'm another one who has had a stainless steel stirrup snap at the shoulders. I now 'ring' metal stirrups with a tea spoon and you can hear when they are getting metal fatigue.

As Millipops says, you place the buckle right down at the stirrup, thread the rest back through the buckle so it sits inside the two lengths, cut off any huge excess and tape up the tail end. It's quite neat to look at
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Standard practice with some treeless saddles except you have a leather sleeve that the loose end slides up through so you still can adjust length.
 
pottypony1 said:
Ooh I'm quite intrigued by this idea of normal stirrups upside down... might need to give that a try! my only concern is that I change my stirrup length between sj and xc so is this still do-able without having loads of excess flapping around?
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It's doable. Tape up the spare end and just pull hard to break it, adjust stirrups, retape, probably with two bands if you jump as short as I do :) Not a lot more fiddly than shortening a normal one and pulling the buckle back to the right place.
 
ycbm said:
I have always used them for everything except cross country and hunting. I don't trust the single tiny tongue on them. If it broke, there would be no warning, your stirrup would just fall off your foot. With a proper buckle, at least it would slip a bit and give you time to react.

I used to use full leathers, but turn them upset down so that the buckle was on top of the stirrup. It works very well on WOW saddles, and those are almost impossible to use with a full stirrup leather fitted the normal way.
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I had a t-bar come out during schooling which resulted in a broken ankle.
t-bars now completely banned in this household - I use leathers with the buckle at the bottom as described above. Take a look at children's leathers they may be long enough to lace back through the buckle but not so long that you've got spare dangling about).
 
Would somebody mind posting a photo of the upside stirrup leathers please? Reading some of your stories and thoughts about the t-bars has put me off using them a bit and I was looking at the holes on mine yesterday and thinking they look a bit stretched so maybe can't be trusted. I still can't get my head around what to do with the extra length of leather if I use the upside down approach though. If I cut it off won't the leather just fray?
 
hey, just seen your comment! I will try to remember to get you a picture tomorrow. i didn't cut my leathers, just taped the end up :)
 
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