I just received my Prestige Ideal Leathers last night, so of course I wanted to get the new composite stirrups I bought put on them and get them ready to use. The problem is the T bar and leather around it looks like it will NOT fit in the hole in the irons. I figured I would return/ exchange the stirrups for a different pair with bigger holes. I went to Smartpak and Riding Warehouse to browse stirrups and every single set looks to have the same sized hole with the exception of FreeJumps. While I have and love my FreeJumps I have a hard time believing those are the only stirrups that work with the leathers (and I really don’t want to spend another $250 on stirrups). I must be doing something wrong. Is there a trick to getting “normal” stirrups onto these leathers?
Can you go from the top of the leather instead of over the T bar?
Yep, had the same issue with them. Even tried using pliers to pull them thru with no luck; finally gave up and donated them to a rescue. You might consider exchanging the leathers rather than the irons.
Even though it looks wrong, put the leather loop end through the stirrup hole, not the metal buckle end. Still might run into some that won’t fit, but I had much greater success doing it that way. I think mine are all Tech Stirrups right now, so not a cheap option, but I’m sure there are some cheaper options that will fit. To look at the Tech Stirrups, I wouldn’t have thought they would work but they did.
Same as for all other T-bar leathers, you put the top end of the leather through the stirrup, do up the T-bar, and THEN put the stirrup leather on the saddle by slipping the loop over the stirrup bar. You absolutely cannot put the stirrup leather on the saddle and then expect to put the stirrup on. It won’t work.
Yep, I was trying to get the t-bar thru the stirrup hole, after reading here I found out I was doing it wrong. Put the leather thru the stirrup hole. Made it so much easier,
