I will be posting the next in the Horse sense series over the weekend but a short diversion here to ask a question to my fellow endurance/horse bloggers out there.
Any thoughts or preferences on endurance stirrups? Aluminum or the polymer? Having sustained a previous crush injury on my foot due to a horse falling on me and actually saved from a more intense injury because of the protection of a western stirrup, I am inclined to go with the aluminum but I am not really sure.
So, I am looking for feedback.. going once , going twice?
4 comments:
The aluminum ones will crush if your horse falls on them. So I've heard on ridecamp at endurance.net. Then you can't get your foot out, and it becomes a safety issue. It's better to get nlyon or something tougher. I, personally, use Flex Rider caged Stirrups. They are endurance stirrups for riders with smaller feet. I wear a size 6. My husband, and many other endurance/trail riders, love EZ ride stirrups. My husband has the nylon caged ones. Valley Vet sells them for a reasonable price.
Michelle
Thanks for that info Michelle. I wondered about that with the aluminums...I wish they made a wood covered in leather, because that seems to be the safest. The wood can break but the leather holds it together enough to keep the foot from crushing..thats what saved me in my incident.
I only ride with the easy ride stirrups during actual rides. The rest of the time I use austrailian ones that look like really wide English stirrups, with a padded leather wraparound . I can't get away with it at a ride ( or least I couldn't before doing dressage ) I don't like the biggnest or instability of the easy rides. My preference is the plastic.
Like you my favorite stirrups are my McClellan wood ones with leather covers.
Thanks Mel..I spent most of the last two season riding in my plain old regular english stirrups until this past fall when a friend lended me a pair of Easy ride (aluminum covered in leather) . It made me a believer in the endurance stirrup for sure. My left foot didn't go all numb anymore after 15 miles!! I would bet I could modify a western wood stirrup , add the cushion and have a saddle maker put the leather on it for me...
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