Short people no-stirrup work - ideas?

[endlessclimb]

Seems stupid, but I could use some ideas here.

I want to work on no stirrup work in my jump saddle.

Just taking my feet out of the stirrups is possible, but my Tech Venice stirrups are very heavy, and bang the horse’s sides which I don’t find fair to them long term.

I try to flip them up and cross them up front, but my stirrups are so short that they don’t lay nicely, clang together, jump around (they’re basically on the wither), and then there’s the whole bulky flipped stirrup leather under your leg problem.

Is there something I’m missing here, where no stirrup work can be easily done without aggravating me or the horse with the equipment itself, or requiring lots of adjustments before the work can be started?

TIA for any ideas!

[Larbear]

Could always try using the composite stirrups, they’re pretty light and I don’t think they’re that expensive.

[terasa]

I’ve got the same problem - if I want to do no stirrups I just pull them off for the last bit of my ride - end of ride works better for me anyway since we’re both well warmed up and relaxed by then. It’s still less than ideal but I’ve yet to find a way to keep them in place and out of the way crossed in front - they’re just too short regardless of the weight of the stirrups.

[luvmyhackney]

I like to live dangerously and just take my entire stirrup leather off the saddle. Mine barely cross the saddle.

You could probably use a piece of twine and tie the stirrups together over the top of the saddle. Maybe thread it through the oh shit strap if you ride with one.

[PNWjumper]

I ride one horse without stirrups every day. I have different stirrups on all of my saddles. I find that the heavier stirrups are harder because they do move more than the lightweight ones. But also, you should have your leg in a position where they kind of hold the stirrup relatively still. Every now and again my stirrups start moving around and it’s my reminder to think about the position of my leg.

I have always hated crossing stirrups, and at many points I’ve just pulled the stirrups off of a saddle for a long period of time. But it’s a pain to mount without stirrups (at least on the taller horses), so I don’t love that either. They do make a strap for holding stirrups while you lunge, and that might work to hold stirrups up out of the way without banging around?

My only other thought is to get stirrups like Freejumps that slip onto stirrup leathers in place…meaning you don’t have to undo or unbuckle the stirrup leathers to take the stirrups on and off. Then you could just pull the actual stirrups off before a ride and put them back on after (without messing with stirrup leathers).

[endlessclimb]

I have a set, but I made the mistake of going down the YouTube rabbit hole of riders getting hung up. I then bought the techs because I couldn’t get it out of my mind. That’s a great idea though, maybe I need to switch back for a while.

[endlessclimb]

I thought about this… might be the easiest way ultimately.

[endlessclimb]

I thought about tying them to the girth, as over top they’ll still clang about and be a distraction.

[endlessclimb]

Good point. I know I pinch with my knee when my brain goes idle, taking my lower leg off and letting the stirrups move too much. I’ve been trying hard to correct it, but the stirrups moving too much is a great reminder to stay on task.

[clanter]

all of our English saddles you could easily just remove the stirrups which eliminated the stirrups completely

[endlessclimb]

My stirrup bars are a little tight to be able to say they “easily” come off, but it’s doable. I’m going to work on it and see if that’s an option while in the saddle.