Down.
I was at an IEA show a few years ago and one of the coaches noticed that the host team had several saddles with stirrup bars in the up position. We all conferred and got the steward involved, and the stirrup bars were put down. At the time, there wasn’t a rule. There is now in the Hunt Seat section of the IEA rule book that says “stirrup bars must be placed in the down position”.
The only thing I will say about those short, curved stirrup bars pictured above is that I have seen one or two kids a) pull the stirrup leather off while trying to adjust stirrups, and b) the stirrup leather is pulled off if they do something silly like lose their balance to the point of their leg sliding back but not to the point of falling off. It’s not common and I’d way rather have that happen than have a stirrup get stuck in a bad situation, but my preference is a slightly longer stirrup bar with the end of it in the down position
I’d like to add that the more recent style of stirrups leathers (calf wrapped, thick and easily worn out - hate them) don’t slide through stirrup bars at all easily IMEX, so having stirrup bar latches down is all the more important.
I got some Rid-Up stirrups recently based on recommendations on this forum because my hateful wide stirrup leathers are so incredibly hard to pull thru the bars that they’re a hazard.
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I have one saddle (Custom Icon Coda) that cannot be used with the bars down, because the stirrup leathers will randomly slide out mid-ride. All others stay down. I wonder if I could rig something slightly safer with rubber bands? It’s the saddle I use the least thankfully.
Down, down, down. This and “never coil the lead rope around your hand” are the two safety directives I will be whispering on my deathbed.
When I came back to riding, I quickly ruled out one lesson barn after finding the stirrup bars up twice in a row — on a saddle/horse used for lots of low-level beginners. I commented on it and the instructor told me “Some people prefer to ride with them up.”
As I prefer to not spend the rest of my life in a vegetative state, I crossed that particular place off my list.
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If you condition them occasionally they slide out easily. I only suggest that because afaik they are all nylon lined so you don’t have the same stretching risk you do with plain leather ones.
It must be my bars but they get conditioned and they’re still thick and hard to slide as heck! Stretching never bothered me - just swap sides every time you clean them and they stretch evenly.
When these wear out (soon I’m sure because the quality is poor) I’m going back to all leather vs wrapped.
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That’s a bummer. I have a few pairs of the county leathers and when I condition them they slide through great.
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