PF- I’ll keep you posted. Pony and I would absolutely love to have you there.
Sue: Oh dear, so glad you made the right decision to lunge first and Bennie got his energy out!
Suzie: I hope the rub gets better soon! Poor thing. It’s very interested about the sneaker and cage, i’ve never heard of it! Safety first so good for you!
PF: Yahoo for dressage show!! excited for you!
We are all settled in PDX! Kitty and I flew because i’m worried about her being too long in the car, DH drove (poor guy by himself). We settled in our apartment and priorities of course, I went straight to barn shopping. I tried 3 and luckily, i love the second barn that’s close to my apartment (17 min), i use to drive 30-45 min!! Trainer is very kind with constant feedback. I made a mistake on my jump course, and apologize to her, she said “Look, you’re not here to impress me, you’re here to learn”. I was sold ! I will be riding a pony (legit pony) to gain my confidence and allow myself to work on myself. not sure if this can be long term as he’s really 13H and i feel very strange riding a pony. But he’s forward thinking, super smart, seeing eye dog and adjusts base on rider. SOLD
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Faye I bought the cage after one of our dear dear reriders was killed. She posted often in this thread and sent me a while lot of miniture rocking horse Christmas decorations that I love and cherish and display all year round.
I think EVERY rider should ride in them and if you agree with riding in a helmet then you would agree with riding in cages.
With our dear rerider she had been riding her whole life. She went out trail riding and they don’t know if she had a heart attack and she slumped and her foot went through the stirrup and she was dragged to her death.
Or whether her foot went through the stirrup and she had the heart attack while being dragged to her death.
The other thing that happened was hubby fell off his chair at work.
He was sitting down (lowers blood pressure), eating, (lowers blood pressure) and laughing, (lowers blood pressure. He hit his head on the table on the way down.
He remembers nothing. One moment laughing. The next moment co workers holding him down and blood everywhere.
He ended up in Hospital and they said change diet as a clogged artery limiting oxygen to the brain. I am going back 10 - 15 years.
BUT WHAT IF HE HAD BEEN SITTING ON A HORSE AT THE TIME?
The cages are inexpensive, you take out the tread of a normal pair of stirrups, they screw on and have their own tread.
That is it. It does mean you cross your stirrups over the saddle instead of running them up when dismounted.
It is impossible for your foot to go through the stirrup, you can ride in bare feet, but of course you shouldn’t be around horses on the ground in bare feet. I will also add there that you should not be around horses in steel capped shoes or boots. If stamped on they can cut your toes off.
It is impossible for your foot to go through the stirrup whether you have a fall or whether something medical slumps your body.
I will add there to move your stirrup sideways to see if your foot can go through a safety stirrup. One of the ones made with the outside of the stirrup bent is more dangerous then a normal stirrup, when the stirrup is turned sideways your whole foot can fit through it and it is impossible to get your foot out.
So I say again it is impossible to put you foot through a stirrup with a cage on, whether the stirrup is right way up, sideways or upside down. You never know what can happen in a fall.
Hubby has changed his tune. I got him all excited about getting the cages until we got to the tack store when he started. He refused to buy them. People would think he was a beginner.
A decade later, now riding Sim in the dressage arena he made. After the first time he rode alone with me leaving for work, I asked how he went. He said Sim was good but the whole ride he worried about his foot going through the stirrup, with me not there.
I asked why are you worried about that? You are riding in the cages and it is impossible for your foot to go through the stirrup.
He has never given it another thought.
Now a decade later and he did say to me one day that he thought that every one should ride in them.
Like helmets they will not really catch on until riding instructors and great riders start riding in them. And it is seen online and in magazines. It would be better if every saddle was sold with them, but most saddles don’t even come mounted. Macho men don’t want to be seen in cages. Lets face it most western men do not even ride in helmets. Good on Charlotte Djarden for riding in a helmet to win gold medals.
As a little kid we had whole plastic brown clogs. We called them our chocolate stirrups and back then we did not even wear shoes to school!
So they have been around forever, but people don’t want to look like beginners.
One thing I have picked up from this forum. Think how you can do things safer.
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@Faye ponies are fun.
This was when I was working at Willow Park. He went back after 2 weeks as too forward for little kids but I had fun.
If you are tall put your stirrups up you can knock the jumps down with your feet.
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Is it the pony you posted on IG? If so, you look great on him!! He doesn’t even look small! You fit well together.
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PF: Yes!! That’s the one ! His name is Siracha for a reason though 
I hope I don’t look ridiculous on him !
Suzie: wow that is scary about the tragic accident , I recently switched to the stirrup iron that breaks away too
Faye- super excited for you! Ponies are the best. Now I have to check IG for pics
If that is the one that has a rubber band on one side, I don’t trust it. Over the years I have had 2 stirrups with solid sides break on me. The first one was in gallop and it went down and stabbed Peppy on the outside of his heel bulb. The other time was with Stars. I swapped into different stirrups without cages for a competition. Luckily I did it at the competition so I still had the stirrups I used at home.
I use the Samshield safety stirrups. I like them a lot. Not elastic. https://www.samshield.com/en/collection/shieldrup/
Again the side is not solid so more weight on the other side of the stirrup.
The cage sits on a normal pair of stirrups. Mine are black. If they were black on this photo they would probably be invisible!
They are strong. You can’t bend them much. Jubby ran over a pair with a slasher and they survived. Poor things.
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I try not to ride in different equipment at home schooling from what I can show in. And since we can’t show in cage-type stirrups, I use the Samshields.
I haven’t seen those, but they look really totally “normal.”
Here’s a crazy one, I actually know someone who uses and loves it! (But I’d probably be too scared to try beyond a walk lol) https://ophena.com/products/ophena-s
Same, I also never seen these cages around.
PF, I have the acavallo alupro, very similar to yours ! I won’t be able to do the hunters since mine is rose gold but my firecracker pony won’t be going into the hunter ring anytime soon
That is a bit scary !!
TC, I’ve seen those, too! I think they look cool, but I’d be nervous, like you, to actually try those!
There are definitely a lot of options out there now for safety stirrups, which is good.
Suzie, I’m no poo-poo’ing your cages, but I have seen a weird freak accident – well, could have been bad accident that bring your cages to mind. Will it ever happen? Maybe not. Can it happen, yes, it can. I was a t a show with Katie. We were standing (on the ground) with her, and there was a rider next to us who was mounted. We were on concrete waiting to go into the arena. This horse reached around toward the rider’s toe. I don’t know if the horse did it on its own, or if the rider was stretching the horse, but either way, the horse was in a full-cheek snaffle. The snaffle bit got caught in the stirrup, and the horse panicked. The rider couldn’t get off, as the horse was spinning in circles on the concrete. It was scary. Everyone was just standing watching. My DH was able to get in and stop the horse and was able to disconnect the bit from the stirrup. So yeah, freak thing, but how often do you see horses reach around toward the foot? Often enough to think that is possible to get caught in the cages. I don’t think there’s any perfect solution. We are involved in a dangerous sport.
@ParadoxFarm. Happens more often than you think. I remember reading it on a blog here, and it was terrifying! Now the rider didn’t have a cage, and it can happen with just plain iron but i can imagine the cage may allowed for more opportunity to get into that situation. It’s always good habit for us to never allow our horse to turn around near your irons, but again, they are horses, it happens in a split second. Be safe everyone!
Yes, see!! It does happen. That one was scary. So that’s two times. Yes, lesson learned, don’t let your horse reach around toward your toe. But crap happens.
@ParadoxFarm. I read about it a few years ago from FB (linked to the blog), and if you read the comments, others chime in about their experience. It could be a quick turn of their head to scratch shoulder, or to bite a fly.
https://www.facebook.com/SaddleSeeksHorse/posts/772664142902820
@ParadoxFarm it is very common and I mentioned it in the post to you about hopping off and walking around your horse without putting your stirrups up. The horse can turn to scratch or bite at a fly and get there teeth caught in the stirrup. If the rider has one stirrup down, they usually have 2 stirrups down the horse spins and the other stirrup is flying around at head height, so it is very dangerous to get in and stop the spin. You have to wait for the horse to fall over.
Snaffles seem to be a bit different sometimes in America, eg to us a tom thumb is a mild snaffle bit, in America it is a severe curb bit.
The cages are legal in some (I won’t say all) competitions here and the cage would stop the horse getting their teeth caught in a stirrup. Curb chains could theoretically get caught in the holes, but the chocolate stirrups I talked about did not have any holes. They were solid. The horse could not get teeth, bit or reins caught on that one with a foot in the stirrup.
A shopping spree yesterday. I am working again so some money to spend! For months I have been looking for a gold necklace with a horse or horse head.
Nothing local. She said she had western stuff but things like 2 guns. The jeweller had a horse head but no detail and lumpy so my friend and I went to the nearest City just over half an hour away.
I bought a lovely horse head and chain for around the same price as just the lumpy horse head. They had gold on sale.
I have trained my friend well!!!
Walking back she said look long boots until you can fit into your long boots for lessons. No I don’t need. I pulled up when she said Stars’ needs it so as the rubber on your sneakers don’t rub him.
They look like boots at the bottom and soft chapettes at the top. $19.00. They fit. While I was trying them on she brought over some dress shoes with a snaffle bit as the decoration, so I bought those as well.
I bought both with the gift card that I was given by one of the bread companies for Christmas.
Well I had better get. 3 jobs today and I can’t ride with 25ml last night. First putting the bread up for 2 different bakeries. 2nd I am taking bread to Camp Kokoda, if they haven’t cancelled with the rain last night. 3rd I am doing local grocery deliveries, as the guy doing them can’t today.
Oh and picking up a new Twin Tub Washing Machine, while I am in town with my ute to deliver bread which I bought in town. Ours is making a horrible sound. I bought it new about two and a half decades ago. This one is much bigger.
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