I tried searching but I couldn’t find anything recent.
I’m looking for western safety stirrups. Recommendations? It doesn’t seem like there are as many options as there are in the English world, and it’s cheap insurance when riding squirrely green beans.
Because safety comes from matching the proper boot to style of stirrup.
For example, you’d want to wear a higher riding heel with an oxbow or narrower tread. You can get away with lower heel with wider tread stirrup.
I don’t wear lace up boots, pull ons loose enough my foot can easily come out of. Leather soles, not rubber or lug soles. Preferably a single welt over a double.
Shit happens with horses. I’ve been hung up before, and don’t plan on having it happen again. I’m sure the saddle bronc riders that have been hung were just mismatched in their stirrup choice.
Suggestions for safety stirrups?
Not familiar with any Western safety stirrups. A suggestion is to also check your western boot soles for tread. I just started riding my horse western again and had a boot stick during the dismount. I was off balance and that fraction of time when left boot did NOT slide out of stirrup caused me to fall in front of the horse. She jumped back away, I held the reins she didn’t get loose.
I could not figure WHY foot had stuck until I took off the boot. It has a treaded sole!! I had never looked at the sole before, PRESUMED it was smooth leather as were all my old boots. Then I went thru my stash of new boots, where I found ALL had treaded soles!! Guess I have been “out of circulation” in the current western boot trends. Never thought to check soles as I bought boots over the last couple years. Wanted some on hand for “just in case” I wanted to ride.
I had noticed some boot changes that were quite obvious, crepe soles, low heels worn by ropers and other performance riders. Thought they were a dangerous choice! Asking why they chose them, replies varied, but mostly were that they only wanted to wear one pair of boots all day. They walked a lot, were on many surfaces and old-style boots with high heels, smooth soles were slippery and uncomfortable when not on a horse. Boot makers changed things to appeal to their buyers.
Growing up and riding western, boots always had smooth leather soles. It was a safety issue! Boot needed to come out easily when you kicked free. You may need to do that if a horse goes down, not get you trapped under him! High heels help prevent boot going thru the stirrup.
I finally found an older pair of my Tony Lamas stashed away. They have smooth soles and I have been wearing those to ride. Don’t want to fall again and scare my poor horse! More practice kicking free to slide, NOT STEP, down off her! I will be making a trip to the shoe repair shop to see if they can put smooth soles on all these treaded boots so I can use them. I only wear my western boots riding, feet do not like walking in the high heels anymore. Otherwise I will be taking a big hit reselling the new treaded boots at tack sales this winter.
When I got hung up, my foot had twisted sideways and then up. There was no sole difference that would have saved me, but for science they were non-treaded English paddock boots. I got lucky and escaped unscathed, but I don’t want to risk it happening again.
If they don’t exist, they don’t exist. But seems like a pretty easy safety box to check, and pretty foolish to not at least have the option.
When I got hung up it was the fact my foot was able to come out of my boot.
I think I’m confused by your posts - are you suggesting, or not suggesting, loose footwear?
I just saw a recommendation for Tough-1 western safety stirrups sold by Jeffers. Checking Jeffers they were $89, but were sold out. Looks like sideways pressure pops them open, with foot bar rising, ejecting boot.
Doing a search for western safety stirrups, there are some other models out there. Not sure how well they work, some add weight to saddle, but stay down to let foot come out easily. Width of stirrup might be a choice factor, should you be riding in winter-thick boots. Back in Pony Club, we were to make sure English stirrups were not touching sides of a centered boot. Not sloppy big, but not snug either.
Those Tough-1 ones were the only ones that looked like they were worth their salt. The others appeared to be glorified peacock stirrups, which I guess isn’t the worst thing but wasn’t exactly what I was looking for.
I’m super careful about width of stirrup. I think that contributed to my hang up, but can’t be sure. My foot was sideways and pointing up in the stirrup, bound in that position.
Sorry, as per my first post, I wear a loose boot so my foot can come out of it. I won’t wear lace ups.
I always wanted to experiment with a pair of steel western stirrups and those magnetic insoles for slipping feet, I feel like someone could easily make a magnetic open branch western stirrup like the English ophena(?) Ones.
Safer than rubber banding feet in like some kids do!
There’s also those swivels you can add to your current fenders/stirrups, that might help some? Makes it easier to get my feet in/out
That’s what tapaderos are for.
Would prefer a more modern twist on the whole thing.
Like I said, if it doesn’t exist, it doesn’t exist. It’s bizarre to me, though. Super cheap insurance!
Do you only use your boots for riding? I guess I can’t say for sure because I haven’t tried it, but I can see a whole lot more problems getting introduced by intentionally wearing boots that are loose enough to release your foot that easily.
Years ago, I cannot remember when and why, I met the man who invented these. I remember we talked about his design and why he designed them this way, and at the time it made sense.
I have never tried a western safety stirrup, so I can’t give you a review though!
Mostly. But they are not so loose they are sloppy. Just enough if you get hung up, you can twist out of them.
Currently I work for a cutting horse trainer and I’m both riding and on my feet saddling/unsaddling, spraying horses off, etc. If I need to pitch in on stalls or whatever I switch to my Mucks.
Cowboying, still the same. Loose enough to get out of but comfortable enough to swap easily from working the ground or horseback.
Exactly. We’re not talking about boots you need a boot jack to take off, though you might find one handy if they’re dirty. I love my ropers. They came off easy even after a day in them. I used to wear them to work downtown, when I had to walk a few blocks to the bus stop and they stayed on my feet fine, and came off easy when I got home.
Lord almighty. Those put the prices on English style to shame! They look pretty neat though.
Here is a simple model, similar to English Peacock stirrups:
There are plenty of discrete cage type stirrups that would be safest.
Decades ago I had some tapaderos we made out of sheepskin that were very light, not like the rawhide stiff monkey nose ones.
Looked similar to these ones but for western stirrups:
I just saw a pair of open branch barrel racing stirrups on eBay or FB maybe? Looked almost like a peacock stirrup without the rubber band or a Freejump but the branch was removed?
I’ll go digging but it was an interesting concept! Wide thick stirrup tread but a completely open side branch.
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