Stirrup bar came off - any experience with this?

[hillary_again]

Hello, A rider at my barn had her stirrup bar come off the tree while riding a month ago. It did not break - the rivets holding it to the tree sheared off (all 3 of them). She sent it back to the manufacturer, who told her that they have ~1 of these incidents per year. ??

Some info: the saddle is ~ 5 yrs old. This is a dressage saddle and the rider only uses it for flat work. It’s a very well known custom brand: new, this brand sells in the $5k range.

I did search on this on the forum pages, when it happened. I found some threads about cases where this happens as a result of the tree cracking. Per the factory, the tree is NOT cracked or damaged in any way. They apparently confirm that the rivets sheared off.

I am just incredulous about whole event. Does anyone have any experience about this type of failure? I will accept that I might just be uninformed!

[Hej]

Yes, this does happen but unless you’re in the tack business in some way you might not ever see it.

Generally speaking, one of the rivets probably failed and the other two held the bar fairly well until they also failed.

More often seen in sports with a lot of strain on the stirrup bars, like polo, but can happen to any saddle.

You can check your own saddle by grabbing the stirrup bar and trying to move it. It should not move at all in any direction. If it wiggles even the tiniest bit, get it to a repair shop ASAP.

(Obviously the safety catch should open and close, but the bar should be solidly attached to the tree.)

[hillary_again]

Thanks Hej! Any concept of the frequency for this? Like, 3 in a lifetime, or something similar?

[Hej]

@hillary again

Thanks Hej! Any concept of the frequency for this? Like, 3 in a lifetime, or something similar?

Well, IME, if you are doing repairs in an very active, multi discipline horse area, you might see one or maybe two a year, but that would include saddles with loose stirrup bars brought in before they shear off completely.

By ‘very active, multi-discipline’ I mean an area that supports a concentration of pros and ams involved in high level training and competition in many different sports. (Polo, eventing, sj, hunting, etc.)

In a less concentrated area I wouldn’t expect to see more than one every few years.

[merrygoround]

I have seen a similar situation, rider doing gallop sets, suddenly no stirrup. A good saddler which it appears she has can replace it.

[Halt3]

This actually happened to me last month. Previous to that, I had never heard of this happening either.

Mine was also on a very reputable/high-end saddle ($4k price range) that I’ve had for about 8 years. The rivets sheared off, exactly as you described. The trainer at my barn used to be a saddle fitter and she was shocked. She said that almost never happens. The saddle is used daily, but only for dressage… so no “extra” stress on the stirrup bars like you might expect to see in jumping/eventing/polo.

The manufacturer fixed it under warranty, and luckily my trainer was nice enough to loan me one of her saddles until I got it back. Took a couple of weeks to get it all sorted out.

[jaybird660]

That is quite rare depending on where the saddle was made.There is a standard to which rivets, stirrup bars and trees are made within some countries. Sometimes a stirrup leather gets hooked on a door or something and gets torqued. Normal use shouldn’t impact the bar. Is it still under warranty?

[cookiejump]

We have purchased 6 CWD saddles over the past 10 years, 2 had the stirrup bar rivets pop out, one the leather on the flap came loose as the stitching didn’t grab the entire piece, these were all new saddles. Another had the tree not break although it looked like it. We found out the side wires/cables along the tree were not tightened right causing the loud squeaking noise and the crease across the seat. We stopped using it fearing it was unsafe. This was the second repair on this saddle in the span of 2 years, it was just a lemon! They didn’t stand behind it so we traded it in with another company who will repair it correctly for resale. We aren’t buying CWD anymore. It was a fight each time to get them to do warranty work and they ended up replacing one saddle entirely. I have heard of the rivets popping out of new saddles from other people. For the price they should stand behind it cheerfully if problems.

[hillary_again]

Wow @cookiejump ! That is some run of not-very-lucky with CWD! And no,that is not the brand of this particular saddle. Yes, this is being repaired under the tree warranty, but the saddle owner is still out some $ for some of the costs. Thanks to everyone for the information. Super helpful.