My trainer is stealing her stirrups back, and though I don’t ride much - I’ve finally found the most amazing stirrup in the world for all my bum body parts. These stirrups mostly sit on my fake horse at the booth at horse shows, but on the off chance I do get to ride every few months, I need the Jin’s. After hacking 3 horses in one day over the fall, I was not in a stupid amount of pain riding in her Jin’s AND they didn’t make my feet fall asleep. So I’ve decided the Jin’s are the stirrup for me.
However, the Jin’s at the Jin price tag make me cry. Has anyone tried the fake from German Jin’s for sale on ebay versus the real Jin stirrups? How do they compare?
I used my friend’s Jins before and like you I wanted to grab a pair myself because of how stable my legs felt while in the saddle. Have you looked into MDC S Sport irons? They are of a similar build except hang in a 45° angle and have helped me so much more than the jins! They are about $30+ dollars less than the Jins–still a little pricey, but for me were so worth it because my legs have definitely improved in terms of stability and placement.
I have the fake jins. You can’t tell unless you look really hard, and I’ve had a lot of people compliment me on them. Mine aren’t slippery, no more than a normal pair of stirrups.
I think I paid 30$ for them. If you absolutely have to have the real deal look at the English/European websites and ship them over here. At one point I found a pair of JINs for about 120$ including shipping but I like my fake ones enough I couldn’t justify the cost.
I have had stirrups with fixed angles, with angles that move with your foot and a combination of both. I have used heavy stirrups and light stirrups. I will admit that I have never had stirrups with crystals on them
What makes Jin stirrups so special? As with everything equestrian, there always seems to be “the flavor of the month”. Is this really different, or is the Jin really a breakthrough in stirrups?
They are $35 - $40. After looking at the video, they look interesting — especially the part about the pad actually compressing. What do the Jin stirrups have that make them worth 10x as much?
Haha I have the compositi stirrups too. (Am I possibly a tack hoarder?) I really like the compositi stirrups and have actually gifted them to people who rode on my saddle and commented on how nice they feel. I have them on my jumpers saddle.
They come in normal and wide tread. I will say that the wide tread is super wide and so if you have short feet it may actually put you in a bad position because you have to push your feet out in order to get your heels down.
One more question: The angled stirrup ----does it really help keep your heels down? Does it help with pain on your knees and ankles? Who needs angled stirrups?
2 more questions: I have seen stirrups that have a wedge on the inside of the stirrup pad. Does anyone have these? What condition do they help?
3 more questions: What is the normal width of stirrups? It appears that most of them are 4.5, My boots are 4" through the ball of my foot. They are standard boots (I have had them so long that I cannot remember the brand, but it is a well known boot with a thin calf ). Do I need a 5" stirrup?
I had the compositi reflex, and I liked them enough until I felt like I actually couldn’t get my heel down and the treads were making my feet fall asleep. Regular, fillis irons are awful for my knees & ankles. The Herm Sprenger 4 way yada yada are great for my ankles, not so much for my knees, plus I feel instable. I’ve tried fake springs, loaded springs, and just plain wide bed compositi vs the compositi reflex and NOTHING has worked past 1 horse on a day riding multiple.
Then I rode in my best friends Jin’s on an off day at the horse show & flatted three horses for her. I felt secure, like I could get a heel down, and there was no numbness. It didn’t effect my tendonitis in the knees or ankles, and it also didn’t make my recently broken leg more sore than usual. They have been the only iron that I’ve been like “Oh. OK. I get it”. Which was why I was looking for the fake ones, because they were $60 + shipping from Germany on eBay. However, if they are slippery or not well made, then I might just splurge for the Jins.
I will say I have not tried MDC, Freejump, or Flex-On. But I’ve ridden in just about everything in between name brand & off brand that are a wider foot bed or flexi!
OP - I have neither fake nor real Jins so I can’t comment on that, but if I were you I would splurge and get the real Jins. If everything else left me in pain and these didn’t, it’s worth it. They will last a long time, look at the cost per use.
Jin seems to have many different models. Is everyone talking about the same model of stirrup? They seem to range from $145 to $400. Dover only sells the Kinko. Others have the Precious ($399). I have also seen the EVOL (looks kinda odd) Most of the ones I am seeing on ebay are in the $140 - $250 range. Is there a special model which costs so incredibly much (other than the crystal ones — and these are available in the mid $200 range)?
The Compositi Reflex stirrups are the obly ones I can ride in without pain in my joints from the hip down. After destroying my left ankle a few years back, I could no longer use jointed irons because they caused hyperflexion and ran the risk of reinjuring the ankle. The Reflex irons give me a wide vase of support and a bit of flex and shock absorption, without running the risk of hyperflexing the bad ankle. I HIGHLY recommend them to anyone with joint issues. The light grey colour is approved for hunters (at least in my area in BC Canada), but they come in other fun colours. Since I don’t show hunters I have lovely brown ones on my jump saddle and black on my dressage. The flex mechanism makes them a bit more bottom heavy than other composite irons, which is awesome because I don’t like a super light stirrup.
The Kinko are slightly angled. I find them easier to kee at the correct angle on my foot versus the originals but otherwise they are pretty much the same. I have not tried the other models with very different shape. I bought the Kinkos new in box for half price from a friend whose trainer didn’t like them. I’d already had the originals, but I have 2 saddles and was tired of switching stirrups. They are the only thing that make my ankle not hurt and my feet not go numb. I also like the security of them. I don’t have quite the glue in my seat that I did as a teen.
I love finding new tack sites. I stumbled on this one and think I might try these stirrups before committing to $$$ wide pad stirrups. I can always put them on my “guest saddle”, so I won’t be wasting money.
Are these even vaguely like the expensive stirrups?
Those remind me of the stirrups you might find on an icelandic type saddle. I couldn’t imagine getting my heel down in those, but I bet they are stable! LOL
I have a pair of the fake gins yes they are more slippery but a roll of heavy grit skateboard grip tape fixed that in a second. At the end of the day both the real and fakes are simply a lightweight wide tread metal stirrup. You pay a lot of cash for those 3 letters with a TM sign next to it…
Not true…the difference in the Fake JINs I had and the real ones was night and day. I couldn’t even ride in the fake ones they were so awful.
I think it depends what fake ones you get. Just remember when they are fake and cheaply made, there is likely no testing on these to ensure they are safe for use day in and day out.
I’m not sure about Jins vs. fauxjins but I love my Freejumps 10 times more than the Jins I tried…If you’re going to take the Jins plunge you might want to try Freejumps even just to rule them out!
