I have the Tech Venice Dressage stirrups, which replaced my Herm Sprenger Bow Balance stirrups. I definitely didn’t need shorter stirrups - and I also use the last hole in my Bates leather webbers so I would have noticed!
I’ve just bought the Rid’up safety stirrups. I’ve only ridden in them once so far, but I liked them a lot. They are noticeably more comfortable that my old filis irons to ride in, and they were the only ones I found with a true 90 degree offset, which my hips and ankles appreciate. I like the concept of how they release, and that they were designed by people who specialize in ski binding release mechanisms.
There’s a whole thread on safety stirrups in the eventing forum, which I read through extensively before I made my purchase. There are a couple of good links in there to tests and reviews.
My trainer and I both had to take things up a hole.
I would recommend buying whichever ones you want to try from someplace with a good return policy. Stirrups are a weirdly personal thing, you really just have to try and see what works for you. I tried the LeMieux safety stirrups and my ankle really hated them, even though they came highly reviewed by people who swore by them for relieving ankle pain while riding. Something about them just didn’t work for me. I tried a few more and wound up with the American Equus stirrups which I love. I bought the LeMieux ones from a smaller retailer without a great return policy so now those stirrups are just sitting in my locker until I can sell them.
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I love my tech Venice and I’m shorter.
dmveventer what color are your LeMieux stirrups? Feel free to pm me. I might be interested.
PM’ed you!
I also have a pair of these BR Lavarone Stirrups:
https://www.tradeinn.com/horse-riding/en/br-lavarone-stirrups/139291308/p?utm_source=google_products&utm_medium=merchant&id_producte=17543183&country=us&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiAnfmsBhDfARIsAM7MKi2SCHf6dWtWqjB_8yLyiZ5u2s60aBBEVq2X8u9jQCRutDwkBcif3aUaAgKEEALw_wcB
Basically identical to the B Vertigo safety stirrups and almost same as the Tech Venice, but a better price point.
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FYI: This is far from unheard of. It’s a primary reason to keep stirrups run up on the saddle until mounting and as soon as you dismount. Horses reaching around to scratch or to bite at a fly can catch their jaw in the stirrup as yours did. So glad no one was hurt.
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I was just looking at those. How do you like them??
I like them very much.
ibex - I don’t have them yet, but will most likely be ordering soon. I have been researching and trying to decide which would be the best choice for me. I am between the LeMieux vectors and the Tech Venice, but am leaning towards Tech Venice. I will update this thread when I get them and try them. So glad they are finally making safety stirrups that look traditional but provide added safety (and are not peacocks).
I like the angled footbed of the Tech Venice. I have limited mobility in one ankle and the slight angle of the stirrup makes it more comfortable for me to relax my ankle so that I can at least have a neutral foot position - I will never have my heels lower than my toes without extreme effort, but these stirrups help. Much better than my bow balance ones. I also find that I have way less of an issue with my foot sliding too far forward in the stirrup.
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This is not a freak thing, this is why stirrups are run up whenever you are off a horse.
What can happen is the horse fights the stirrup caught in the mouth and starts to spin. If you have one stirrup down, the other is usually down, so that stirrup is flying around at head height. This can be lethal to people trying to help the horse.
You should wait for the horse to fall, over and jump on it.
Run your stirrups up always.
We put our stirrups over the saddle as the safety stirrups we use are the plastic cages that go on the stirrups. I like them the best.
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I just recently bought the Acavallo Arena AluPro Stirrup Irons and tried them for the first time yesterday. As I get older, I worry about safety more. They’re dressage legal. I like them a lot. I bought them from the UK because they were SO much cheaper.
Suzie, this was unfortunately a western saddle so no running up the stirrups possible. As soon as I knew he was going down I did jump out of the way, for sure! and while I didn’t sit on him (I did think about it) I just put pressure on his neck to steady him, but he did make that big effort to get up and somehow managed to get the stirrup off the tooth it was stuck on. This was only 2 weeks after he managed to slip and fall down in his stall right in front of his owner. Until I saw the stirrup in his mouth I was thinking oh s%^t hes going neuro. Was actually happy to see the stirrup because gave a valid reason for falling over. Hes a sweet goofy boy.
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