Product: Stability Stirrup Leathers
Manufacturer: Total Saddle Fit
Horse Trail Chicks’ rating: 4.75 carrots out of 5
You probably don’t spend a lot of time thinking about your stirrup leathers. Sure, the quality of leather varies, some are lined to prevent stretching, but other than that there is not a lot of variation, right?
Wrong. Justin Baghai, a professional saddle fitter, has designed two revolutionary new stirrup leathers that will change your riding. When you first see them they look kind of strange, but the first time you ride with them you think, “why didn’t someone invent these a long time ago?”
The primary feature of these stirrup leathers is that the part directly under your leg is wide. What good does that do? First of all, they are more comfortable. More importantly, the extra width creates more friction between the leather and the saddle, leading to less swing in your leg. This is why they are called “Stability” leathers.
Being scientists, Kerrie and I decided to test this claim out by comparing them to regular stirrup leathers. Kerrie, riding Tupelo, was “blinded” to the type of leather for each trial; that is, she did not know which ones she was using. I put each pair in turn on the saddle when she was mounted with her eyes closed.
As you can see, her lower leg is much more stable with the Stability Leather, hence the name!
The leathers come in two styles, Traditional and Slim.The Traditional leather is like a normal stirrup leather except the part directly under your leg is 2 inches wide. It narrows back down to 1 inch to go through the stirrup iron and loops back to the buckle.
I have used the Traditional Leathers on many trail rides and I absolutely love them. With normal leathers I often get pinching or pressure points on my thighs. With the Stability Leathers I have none of that. Best of all, my knees do not hurt after a long ride, which I attribute to the fact that my legs are not swinging as much at the trot and canter.
The Slim leather is very different. It has a 1 inch wide closed loop at the top which you thread onto the stirrup bar. From there it drops down at 2 inches wide under your leg, and at the bottom narrows to 1 inch to go through the stirrup iron and then to a buckle. You thread the excess into a sleeve in the underside of the wide part. It does not form a full loop back to the stirrup bar. You can twist the strap to create a 90 degree turn so that your stirrup iron is perpendicular to your horse – just in the right position for your foot.
I tried the Slim Leathers with this arrangement and it blew my mind – I felt as if my feet were much more firmly planted in my stirrups than ever. I tend to lose my stirrups at the canter but with these leathers I had much less of a problem. And they are so thin that it felt as if there was no leather there at all.
There are a few downsides to the Slim Leathers. They are difficult to adjust. You have to slide the excess strap into a pocket on the underside of the wide part of the leather, and it’s so tight that it takes a lot of work. Over time it will probably soften, but I would recommend that you only use this style of leather if you can set the length and will not be adjusting it often. The other downside is that you cannot run the Slim stirrups up (since it’s not a loop), but have to just flip the stirrups up over the saddle for storage. Not a big deal but takes getting used to.
Bottom line Traditional vs. Slim: the Slim has the least bulk under your leg and allows you to turn the stirrup 90 degrees. If you already have 90 degree stirrups or if this is not important to you, I would recommend the Traditional because they are easier to manage.
In terms of size and color, they offer jump leathers (which have a shorter wide part) as well as dressage leathers (longer), in brown and black.
I really love these leathers and highly recommend them. The only reason I gave them a 4.75-carrot rating instead of 5 is that the website is a little difficult to navigate, and I found sizing confusing because I thought having the wide part – which limits how short you can make your stirrups – might make a difference, but it turns out that the best advice is to just order the size you normally do. Also, there are only 2 options for the Slim leathers – 54″ brown and 60″ black.
I am not the only one who loves them. Jamie Jennings from Horse Radio Network swears by them and believes she is less likely to fall off her horse because they improve her stability so much.
The great thing is that you can try the leathers for 30 days and if you are not completely satisfied you can return them – “used and abused” – for a full refund including shipping both ways. So you get them at no risk, and I think that this offer demonstrates how confident they are in their products.
Finally, they are made by a small company that specializes in a small number of products that the owner, Justin, designs himself. I love it when someone starts a company because they see a need and design an innovative product. Justin’s experience with Australian saddles, that have wider leathers, led him to design these for English saddles.
Price: $139.95
Where to obtain: order from Total Saddle Fit. They are also available from many online and brick-and-mortar tack retailers.
Monica
