I’m not going to argue with y’all about the keeper, I will keep on listening to the saddle makers.
fwiw though, I have seen someone hung up in the saddle and dragged because the leather was stuck in the keeper that’s why I’m aware of it.
Full cheek with keepers completely changes the bit action.
Just saying.
Plus the safety is kind of questionable with keepers applied and the lower part of the bit still prone to hooking up on things.
I like the full cheek bit but there are better ones for the purpose.
I grew up working in a riding school. One day I was pulling a saddle off a rack that was at eye level. Whoever had used it last had crossed the stirrups over the saddle instead of running them up. As I pulled it down, the stirrup came flying down, smacked me in the face (got a shiner!) and chipped my tooth. I was LIVID and have no idea who had been so thoughtless. Run up your stirrups. It only takes a second.
Add me to the list of people who have almost killed a horse by failing to run up stirrups. I was 16, and careless…though I knew better even then.
Wanting to go on a trail ride, I dismounted to exit arena. Planning to mount again when just outside of gate, I left the stirrups down, and proceeded through the gate without paying one iota of attention to my horse (actually my instructor’s wonderful school horse).
When the horse ceased to move (after more attention-less tugging on the reins by yours truly), I finally turned around to look at him and discovered that the stirrup had cought the protruding gate latch, which pulled the gate closed onto his sides…getting tighter the more he tried to go forward. Any other horse would have panicked, jumped forward and promptly gutted themselves with the latch.
Even being an idiot teenager, I almost fainted…realizing the dire situation I had placed this saintly horse in. He was just standing there with the gate closed on this sides, neck fully extended, waiting for me to turn around and “fix it”. I carefully backed him up and released him… And became in that instant a militant safety freak, which my present-day students will attest to.
No one has mentioned this drawback to un-runup stirrups: They bang on your knees/legs when you carry the saddle. I find this super annoying. I always run up my stirrups so it rarely happens, but occasionally one slips down or my son only ran up the one on the dismount side and forgot the off-side (back when I used to carry his saddle for him). We carry our saddles from the barn to the house so a banging stirrup is very annoying.
It’s one of my pet peeves and I admit to thinking less of people’s horsemanship if they don’t run their stirrups up. Yes, I wear my judgey pants often. 
There are a few exceptions, like getting off to fix a jump, or some such, but for the most part, if someone is not in the saddle, the stirrups should be up.
The fenders on western saddles make the stirrups less likely to move in a way that a horse can get their jaw stuck on them. Not that it can’t happen, it’s just less likely.
I run them up like this. They stay up better and if I’m longing one that I don’t want the stirrups to bang (I usually don’t mind if one comes down and think it’s good for them to get used to it), I just put the end of the leather through the loop and back into the keeper and voila! secured stirrup.
[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]
It’s not all that uncommon. Many, many horseman will have a story of a horse that got caught up in a stirrup that wasn’t run up.
i do run my stirrups up if i am to keep my saddle in my garage but i often have three with me in my car so the kids ones are all run up myones dismantled to fit them all in as its the biggest lol
Really? Are some of you not running your stirrups up because it makes your French saddle dirty? Even French saddles can survive a little dirt. Don’t you all show in the rain every once in a while? :lol: My French saddle is at 10 years of running up dirty stirrups and still doing fine. And if you don’t run the stirrups up on your way to the barn how do you get the saddle to the tack room to clean it? Let the stirrups bang all over your legs? 
I always run up the stirrups and loosen the girth a couple of holes.
I truly don’t understand how using the keepers to hold the tail of stirrup leathers could prevent them coming loose when they should. Can someone explain this one?
I was taught to run them up, for safety reasons.
Actually wearing a full cheek without keepers changes the action of the bit. The full cheek is suppose to put pressure on the opposite side—that is the correct action. The keepers keep the bit from turning and moving too much in the mouth. I don’t know when the fashion of not using keepers came into play but that negates the correct use of the bit. This new fad of not running up the irons is a western thing from years ago. I saw plenty of it on the qh/app circuit. Didn’t care for it then and don’t care for it now. I pulled a door off it’s hinges and almost onto my mare by not taking the time to runup the irons. I also saw a horse kick forward and get a hoof caught. It take 5 seconds to run up the irons. I learned my lesson when I was a kid.
[QUOTE=keysfins;8852802]
I truly don’t understand how using the keepers to hold the tail of stirrup leathers could prevent them coming loose when they should. Can someone explain this one?[/QUOTE]
This is one way. I actually put the leather over the front stirrup bar, like this image and then under the back bar, which this image doesn’t show. Then I put the leather through and into the keeper. It provides even more stability.
I don’t run my stirrups up, but I do cross them over my saddle. I have Bates leather webbers on my saddle though. When I first got them, I did “run them up” (there’s a different process for the webbers than traditional leathers), but I was stretching the holes out in the process…so I now cross them over my saddle instead.
I run my stirrups up after I dismount about 9 times out of 10. On the times I don’t, it’s inevitable that I smack myself in the face with a stirrup, mutter unladylike things and vow to always run the stirrups up. I don’t ride English often, so I have a hard time maintaining that habit.
For my western saddle, I cross my stirrups over and loop them together using an old stirrup hobble. When the saddle is cinched in place, I undo the hobble and the stirrups are uncrossed. That way, I drastically cut down the chances of shin bruises or a flying stirrup to the face. haha.
[QUOTE=RugBug;8852949]
This is one way. I actually put the leather over the front stirrup bar, like this image and then under the back bar, which this image doesn’t show. Then I put the leather through and into the keeper. It provides even more stability.[/QUOTE]
I think keysfins was referring to the post upstream where it was argued that putting the excess stirrup leather through the keeper on the saddle flap while riding was a safety issue because it might lead to the rider being dragged.
How much excess stirrup leather do people tuck in, and how strong are these keepers that this could happen?? I just can’t wrap my head around the physics.
[QUOTE=SecondInCommand;8853434]
I think keysfins was referring to the post upstream where it was argued that putting the excess stirrup leather through the keeper on the saddle flap while riding was a safety issue because it might lead to the rider being dragged.
How much excess stirrup leather do people tuck in, and how strong are these keepers that this could happen?? I just can’t wrap my head around the physics.[/QUOTE]
Thanks…didn’t see that.
I suppose I could see it happen…especially if the excess leather is long. I’ve been guilty of that. I switched to children’s leathers because adult leathers are way to long for me despite being of a normal height (5’7") and with most of my height in my legs.
I’m so glad to hear that most folks run up their stirrups…and some even loosen the girth. Makes me feel less of an old bat! :lol:
[QUOTE=keysfins;8852802]
I always run up the stirrups and loosen the girth a couple of holes.
I truly don’t understand how using the keepers to hold the tail of stirrup leathers could prevent them coming loose when they should. Can someone explain this one?[/QUOTE]
The one I saw was a child riding in her mother’s saddle on her mother’s hack. The child’s weight wasn’t enough to pull it loose after it had twisted. Child was hung upsidedown.
According to the manufacturer, the leather needs to be able to pull completely free quickly without hindrance. When the leather is in the keeper this slows the process, if the leather then gets twisted it can stop it pulling off the end of the stirrup bar over the curve or slow it significantly enough to cause rider injuries. Last time I spoke to a saddle maker she was so frustrated with people not doing this that she now will only recommend safety stirrups be used with her saddles and will only sell safety stirrups herself. She likens it to people putting self closing gates on their swimming pool fences then propping the gate open because it’s a nuisance.
I’ve had show jumpers tell me this is complete nonsense then in the same breath tell me they have to anyway to stop the leather coming off when they are jumping because their leg goes back too far:confused: I’m not a jumper but I don’t think their legs should be that far back anyway…
However , it’s pretty simple to see if this is a problem for you. Next time you tack up your horse take a moment to slide your leather off the bar, if it comes off with little effort and doesn’t alter the angle then great. If it doesn’t, then this area needs attention and only you can tell if your gear needs a good clean and softening, your leather not in the keeper, safety stirrups used or all of the above.
I run mine up, force of habit. I even rigged a way to run them up on my treeless saddle. I used double sided velco, the kind used to wrangle unruly computer wires, to hook the stirrups to the dee rings at the front of the saddle.
I will say that, after an older woman at our barn was caught in the stirrups and drug to death by a normally saintly school horse I will never again ride without some sort of safety stirrup. I know that nothing is going to make horseback riding 100% safe, but reasonable accommodations towards a safer ride, like safety stirrups and helmets, are a given in my book.
[QUOTE=keysfins;8852802]
I always run up the stirrups and loosen the girth a couple of holes.
I truly don’t understand how using the keepers to hold the tail of stirrup leathers could prevent them coming loose when they should. Can someone explain this one?[/QUOTE]
I AGREE!! That little strip of leather keeper probably won’t support the weight of a “dragged” rider!!
