What stirrups are we liking these days? I bought a second horse, which means I bought a second saddle and now I need stirrups and leathers. I use MDC sport stirrups on my other saddle and I love the wide tread but I don’t turn them at all, so I’m not even using that feature. I’m just wondering what everyone is using that they like! Definitely need the wide tread… I hate flexible stirrups so that’s a no. Might as well tell me if there’s leathers I need to have as well! I’ve always used Prestige lined calfskin leathers and those have served me well.
I like the Acavallo Arena stirrups. No reason not to use a safety stirrup any more with all the options out there. The tread is wide, and I like the lighter-weight aluminum. I have LeMieux Vector Balance irons on my jump saddle, and love them, but I think the tread grip would be a bit much for dressage.
I have the rid’up stirrup. safety stirrup w ski binding type mechanism. wide footbed and has little rubber pieces between foodbed and bottom of stirrup for extra support and cushiness. they are extremely comfy. Previously I rode in safe-ons, but not so safe because the arm doesn’t separate easily. I have the prestige calf webers which have half holes. I love them. tried the wide stability stirrups but prefer prestige.
I have the Rid’ups too. I really like them. But I’ve been riding in 90 degree turn stirrups for a decade or so, so that was actually a requirement for me when I started looking at safety stirrups.
And for a bonus, the extra “cush” and the wide, supportive footbed have been a bit of a godsend with my smashed toe.
They are quite unobtrusive and fine to show in.
I have Jin stirrups und I love the evol. It doesn’t rub the saddle
I found mine on sale online on a French site. on sale because they are red, not exactly unobtrusive. but so comfy.
I use these too. Love them.
I have the Royal Rider Sport stirrups on both mine. I love how lightweight they are and also I like the solid black look.
They come with two sets of footpads and I learned to switch to the black polymer ones immediately and to discard the metal ones that are much better suited for grating cheese.
I love my Tech Venice stirrups. I really like the footbed; it’s wide and grippy. They are expensive but I got them for a discount through a eBay page for a tack shop. I think they were around $250 but I don’t really remember. I did the quick math and if I use them for a year it comes out to less than $1/ride. I got them for riding my young horse when I wanted the extra safety measure over my old composite stirrups, which I loved. Certainly more expensive than the composite stirrups but $1/ride for a year is worth it for the peace of mind of not getting caught in a stirrup or dragged if I happened to come off.
I love my Tech Venice stirrups as well. A good release option is very important to me.
MDC S Classic with the wide aluminum tread. I have stability leathers, but find they make no difference at all.
I have MDCs (with the s-top) on my jumping saddle and like them for that. I also have the LeMieux Vector Balances but seem to be an outlier because I didn’t love them…I kept them on my jumping saddle for several months before switching back to my MDCs, and then stuck them on my dressage saddle, where I didn’t love them either. They’re currently sitting in their box and I’ve debating selling them or trying them again.
I have the Tech Capri’s on my dressage saddle now and I really like them–the footbed is wide enough for comfort and stability, the tread is good, and they have a nice weight to them that makes them hang correctly. I got them in black, and they also look really sharp on my saddle.