Running Stirrups Up RANT

[allpurpose]

For some reason I have become fixated on watching who - and who doesn’t - run their stirrups up before and after they ride. It’s a safety thing to run them up, right?

I was trained to keep my stirrups up until it was time to mount, then run them up immediately after dismounting to avoid them getting hooked on anything while you’re leading your horse to and from your grooming area.

Am I turning into a old crabby bugger at my advanced mid-50s age? Have the “rules” changed? What gives? What do YOU do?

[beowulf]

oops. you’d hate me! i cross my stirrups instead of running them up – lined stirrup leathers + composite stirrups are a PITA to run up and rub/damage the soft leather…

i agree that leaving them down and dangling is a bad idea.

[rizzodm]

I have a horse who plays with everything. If I didn’t run up my stirrups he would be sure to catch his mouth in one.

[Mango20]

As a Pony Club graduate and the mother of a current Pony Clubber, I always run mine up.

[Eleanor]

[QUOTE=allpurpose;8845505]
For some reason I have become fixated on watching who - and who doesn’t - run their stirrups up before and after they ride. It’s a safety thing to run them up, right?

I was trained to keep my stirrups up until it was time to mount, then run them up immediately after dismounting to avoid them getting hooked on anything while you’re leading your horse to and from your grooming area.

Am I turning into a old crabby bugger at my advanced mid-50s age? Have the “rules” changed? What gives? What do YOU do?[/QUOTE]

I find that a lot of coaches don’t teach this. I remember telling one kid that she had missed the stirrup on the off side. She looked at me like I was crazy. I couldn’t see that she still had the other stirrup down. When she asked what I was talking about, she was all “I didn’t know, no one has ever said anything.”

[charismaryllis]

yeah, i’m old too; always run them up when not in use. (even so, i had a horse rub the side of the stall as i was leading her out, catch the stirrup on something, pull it down, and then all the way off the bar.)

[BeeHoney]

If your stirrups are wet or covered with mud or shedding sand you might not want to run them up and get that all over the flap of your pricey French saddle. There are also some types of stirrups that do not run up, and running stirrups up on calfskin leathers is rough on them.

I generally do run stirrups up, but honestly, as a safety issue it is a pretty minor one. What exactly are the stirrups going to catch on as you walk your horse from the groomed arena down the wide barn aisle to the crossties? If there is stuff sticking out that the stirrups could catch on, that’s more of an issue than the stirrups hanging down. If your horse gets loose and is running around, the stirrups getting caught on something are the least of your worries. Plus, in the rare event that it DID catch on something, most likely the leather would slide off the stirrup bar of the saddle. If you have a mouthy horse, sure you know you need to run up or cross those stirrups. But most horses aren’t reaching around biting at the stirrups.

People do hundreds of much worse things all the time. If the people you ride/board/train with are such that this is the worst safety infraction you can find to fuss over, I’d say you are in good shape. I would recommend NOT criticizing other riders who choose not to run their stirrups up–it’s not a serious enough safety issue. I DO get after people for tying horses in an unsafe/improper manner, letting strange horses get too close, riding too close to others, etc.

IMO, whether or not you run your stirrups up (or cross them) is more of an indication of how “well brought up” you are. If you were brought up in a proper barn, you were taught this as a matter of procedure/discipline and likely have retained the habit.

[S1969]

Yes, I generally run mine up when I dismount…but sometimes not. I don’t know that it’s rant-worthy as a safety issue. I wouldn’t lunge my horse with loose stirrups, but leading her from the arena to the barn? Meh.

[PNWjumper]

I also don’t find it a major issue. Occasionally it’ll stand out to me when someone has dangling stirrups, but usually it’s because of a corresponding lack of attention (e.g. someone chatting away while their horse scratches their side with their nose banging on the stirrup).

I always run my stirrups up before I leave the ring (or cross them as my Freejump stirrups don’t “run up”) after a ride. But I also always pull them down after I tighten my girth and before I leave the crossties. So I guess I always walk to the ring with them down and from the ring with them up or crossed.

As a kid I was taught that you ran them up not only so that they didn’t catch on something (which is still possible in the run up position), but also in the event that a horse spooked and now has banging stirrups on their side to exacerbate the issue. On that note, I spend some time when my horses are young lunging them with hanging stirrups. Mainly to prepare them for the inevitable time that we part ways in the ring in the hopes that the stirrups don’t add to the excitement.

But at the end of the day, I don’t care greatly about where my stirrups are. Perhaps I would feel differently if I had a long path to navigate to the ring or were squeezing through tight gates or past saddle racks or something of the like.

[Obiwan]

Momentarily I thought this thread was “Running stirs up rant”, and got excited because I get really competitive of people who can run faster than me. Alas, 'tis not that.

I’m not that concerned with my stirrups getting caught on anything, unless being lead through a stall door, or my horse turning his head around to bite at a fly and getting his face stuck in my iron. But I always run them up.

What I am concerned about with my stirrups being down is them banging against my horses side. Granted at the walk there is minimal banging, but what about the off change you need to start jogging because you’re almost late for your warm up, or it’s about to rain on your delicate saddle that apparently can’t handle stirrup irons?! If my horse spooked and leapt at something the last encouragement he needs is stirrup irons whacking into his side to really give him something to take off about.

[Sticky_Situation]

[QUOTE=S1969;8845641]
Yes, I generally run mine up when I dismount…but sometimes not. I don’t know that it’s rant-worthy as a safety issue. I wouldn’t lunge my horse with loose stirrups, but leading her from the arena to the barn? Meh.[/QUOTE]

I actually sometimes intentionally lunge young horses with the stirrups loose and flopping around on their sides… In order for them to learn that while a bit annoying, a stirrup or other object bumping their side during work is no big deal.

But otherwise, I do keep them run up when I’m not riding.

[Foxtrot_s]

I notice things like this, too…but can’t get too excited about someone else doing it. I find hanging stirrups a hazard going through gates, down aisle ways, or if they get upset and bolt, or whatever…I just can’t not run them up, like wearing a helmet or seatbelt. At the very least, cross them over the saddle so they are higher than the roundest part of the horse.

[Belmont]

I run up my Stirrups, but I don’t find it a dire safety concern. Of course, they can get caught on something, but I pay close attention to where I’m walking (especially if it’s a close space). After all, I don’t run up the Stirrups on my western saddle…

[Alex_and_Bodie_s_Mom]

I always run my stirrups up - it’s just The Thing You Do.

To me, it’s not so much about safety (though there is that) as it is about taking care of your tack, being a good, fastidious horseman, and not annoying your horse. I hate for things - anything - to flap against me; I imagine my horses are the same.

(Though on the safety issue - I never once thought about stirrups catching on something, but more that a loose horse with loose stirrups equals danger - imagine trying to catch a loose horse with metal stirrups flying!)

[toady123]

An old instructor told me a story of a horse who was being walked with the stirrups down. He reached around to scratch, caught his jaw on the stirrup, panicked and broke his neck. While it was obviously a freak thing, I’ve always run mine up or crossed them over - even if jumping off for a minute or two.

[Pocket_Pony]

I always run my stirrups up, also.

Not all of us only ride in groomed arenas and walk from the arena to the barn. I trail ride a lot and have to walk across the street, to the trails, open a gate, close a gate, walk to the stump-used-as-a-mounting-block and there are trees and brush all around us.

Having said that, though, one of my saddles is a western saddle and there’s no stirrup-running-up on that sucker!

When I longe a green horse, I do let the stirrups loose to flop around to get the horse used to that.

I guess it is something I’ve Always Done, so I just keep doing it.

[SecondInCommand]

[QUOTE=toady123;8845742]
An old instructor told me a story of a horse who was being walked with the stirrups down. He reached around to scratch, caught his jaw on the stirrup, panicked and broke his neck. While it was obviously a freak thing, I’ve always run mine up or crossed them over - even if jumping off for a minute or two.[/QUOTE]

I had an old instructor with a similar experience - the horse reached around to bite at a fly, caught his lower jaw in the iron, flipped, broke his jaw, and had to be euthanized.

So I run my stirrups up. I figure horses are good enough at finding creative ways to die that I try not to add to their options when possible.

[McGurk]

I had a young horse panic when a loose stirrup caught on something in the barn aisle; he clearly thought something had reached out and grabbed him. He pulled the stirrup and leather off the bar while panicking and I was able to soothe and calm him down, but it was a great reminder why always running them up is good horsemanship.

I have been known to stand on the mounting block and reach over the horse’s back to run up or run down the offside stirrup because I’m lazy - er, efficient.

When teaching at a riding school where wrapping leathers was a frequent occurrence, I had to cross stirrups over the neck instead.

I am also a fan of lunging green beans with the stirrups down occasionally so they realize it’s not a big deal and are less reactive (I had a newly started TB 2 yo spook big when I was adjusting a iron from the saddle, he didn’t realize those things moved) but as a general practice, I tie the leathers up if lunging in tack.

It’s not something that compels me to rant or completely condemn someone else’s horsemanship, but I do think it is the best practice.

[clanter]

get a western horse

[beowulf]

[QUOTE=SecondInCommand;8845760]
I had an old instructor with a similar experience - the horse reached around to bite at a fly, caught his lower jaw in the iron, flipped, broke his jaw, and had to be euthanized.[/QUOTE]

I had a horse do something very similar except it was his running martingale - I was riding him (we were having a great ride btw!) and he reached around to snap at a fly and caught his incisor in the metal ‘O’ ring of the martingale attachment that you feed the reins through. He went straight up in a sheer panic – so vertical that I just landed right on my feet behind him with the stirrups still around my feet! Thankfully he had the good sense not to keep flying back otherwise I’d probably have been crushed - once he saw me on the ground he froze and waited for me to untangle him. I’m amazed he did not break his jaw or go down. Anyway, freak accidents are freak accidents.

I think so long as you are conscious of where you walk the horse that ‘ran-up’ or ‘crossed-over’ should not matter. I don’t like seeing horses stand idle with the stirrups down though.

Many old school trainers teach long-lining by running the long-lines through the stirrups – how’s that for an "OP’s eyes-abuggin’ scenario? I’ve done it, been taught to do it that way as well, there were never any freak accidents that I remember – though lunging in itself is its own subset of freak accident potential and dangerous hazards.