Anyone know of any trial programs for these stirrups? Alternatively, I could head over to Dover, their return policy is incredibly lenient. Thoughts?
Bit of Britain will do MDC trials for a small rental fee that goes toward purchase - https://www.bitofbritain.com/MDC-Stirrup-Rental-Program-s/553.htm
I have never noticed anything with knee pain, though i don’t have that issue. However, once I went to a wide tread (royal riders) on my dressage saddle and then went back to my jumping saddle in normal irons, I could NOT stand it. Got another pair of wide tread irons for my jumping saddle now also. I felt it was uncomfortable under my foot with the narrow tread and offered no support.
Edited to add, the narrow tread were jointed also. To me jointed makd no difference and do not ride in any kind of jointed irons.
Best thing you can do is try them out to know what you like.
I had ankle pain before I got my Jins. My ankle pain has all but gone away since switching from regular fillis irons. I think my pain came from the instability in my ankles, which the wide base has helped fix. I have also ridden in the MDC Hunter Classic irons, and while I liked them too, but I preferred the Jins.
The worst stirrups I have ridden in have been the jointed irons. They were awful for my ankles and made my hip pain worse as well. That being said, everyone’s mileage varies and I know people that love their jointed irons.
How you sit and the position of your leg has more to do with knee pain than stirrups. How you sit has a lot to do with saddle fit.
mdc and compositi reflex stirrups do wonders for my knee. if i go back to regular stirrups i really notice a difference. i did not care for jin stirrups, they were less effective and more expensive.
I borrowed a set of Sprenger irons from a fellow boarder over ten years ago. I thought they were a gimmick but the other boarder urged me to try hers.
I was able to ride without knee and ankle pain. So I saved up and bought myself a set for my jumping saddle.
At first I’d be in pain after riding with regular irons, but after a while I found I could ride in regular irons pain free. This would be the odd ride someone else’s horse sort of thing, not on a regular basis.
I used to test flex every pair of jointed irons I found in tack shops and decided that Greenhawk’s Connemara jointed irons were the closest to my Sprenger 4 ways, and bought them for my dressage saddle. I bought another set for my younger horse’s dressage saddle when I got that for him. I would not go back to regular irons now that I have forgotten what it’s like to be in pain every time I dismounted.
It is very much a personal thing. Borrow someone’s irons if you can. I loaned mine to a fellow boarder with ankle (injury requiring surgery) and they worked for her. Your own riding position, body strengths, and reason for pain will all factor into what works for you.
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So, if you don’t feel knee pain at all (so far) when you are actually riding, but only feel knee pain on occasion when doing normal activities, etc., is there any way of knowing if your stirrups could be the culprit behind this non-horse-activity knee pain?
