Hey waswondering what people preferred the bow balance or wide track composite stirrups? The muscle on the top of my feet decided to be completely useless now which makes my heel go down, but almost in a jamming fashion, making my ankles go inn spasms.
Which do you prefer? I usually rotate between mdc and bows
I rode in both and found them equally comfortable. My wide tracks were so much cheaper, but very light weight. It made picking a stirrup back up very difficult because they just bounced around so much. I got the bow balance and really liked them but my trainer insisted that if I fell off with them I’d get my foot stuck. So I sold them and bought a pair of safety stirrups and put comfort wraps on them. They’ve done very well and are comfortable. It really depends on what works for you. I have ankle problems and riding in a normal fillis stirrup leaves me in pain after about 20 min.
I love the wide track composites.
mdc now makes a wide track stirrup with the adjustable top, and they are lighter than the original (but not as light as composite)
I like my composite stirrups. I was trying once again to get my trailer phobic mare to a horse trial. But I needed to get all my gear spiffed up because some of the pieces weren’t as show ready as they could be. I bought the composites to try them and loved them.
I never realized how much joint pain I was having until I rode in the new stirrups. Then in mid-May I had my accident and broke my ankle in two places. I’m not riding yet, but it seems like fate that I bought stirrups that would be easier to ride in than my old ones.
[QUOTE=Teddy;5728297]
Hey waswondering what people preferred the bow balance or wide track composite stirrups? The muscle on the top of my feet decided to be completely useless now which makes my heel go down, but almost in a jamming fashion, making my ankles go inn spasms.
Which do you prefer? I usually rotate between mdc and bows[/QUOTE]
You might want to try the old fashioned Prussian sided steel hunt seat stirrups. Fillis stirrups had been giving my feet pains for years, but when I finally found the old style stirrups I have not had ANY foot pain since (Stubben still makes them). You also may want to look into Polo stirrups, some have 4 (?) bars across, a really wide foot bed. I changed my Peacock stirrups from the Fillis type to Prussian sided ones too (luckily the normal Peacocks are Prussian sided). The old Prussian sided stirrups have a wide flat plate where the base of the bit toe is and I can lean into the inside better. The metal foot bars are also MUCH wider than the Fillis ones. MUCH more comfortable. No matter how much padding I had on the Fillis stirrups, they hurt my feet. I use only a thin rubber pad on the Prussian sided stirrups. They are also full weight metal stirrups that do not float around too much. They are almost as comfy as the Bow-flex ones but would support your foot better when your ankle gives away.
Bow Balance
I am very happy with the Bow Balance. I flew back east to go hunting and took them with me. Interesting discussion with TSA but I digress.
I was trying a saddle on my horse and didn’t want to change the irons as I was only walking up the road and back. I could hardly stand when I dismounted after using regular stirrups. Never thought about using the Prussian ones. I have a pair somewhere that I will dig out and try.
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