A common question we get asked when customers are considering purchasing stirrups is” What is the best stirrup?”. Unfortunately, there is no ‘best’ or ‘worst’ stirrup for everyone in all cases.
What needs to be considered when identifying and assessing what stirrup is going to be the best for you is the following questions:
- What type of riding do you do? Dressage, Jumping, Eventing, General.
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What stirrups are you currently riding in and why are you looking for another pair?
- Are you constantly losing your stirrups and looking for a pair that provides more grip?
- Or are you wanting something with extra safety features?
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Have you had any previous injuries or surgeries that are impacting your joints (knees, hips, ankles) whilst you are riding?
- Are you looking for a stirrup that minimises the impact on your joints?
- Are you needing a stirrup that has a wider foot bed to distribute pressure on the bar over a wider surface area?
- Are you wanting a stirrup that provides more flexibility to absorb some of the pressure that is placed on your joints?
Once you have answered these questions, we then have some clues as to what is likely to be the stirrup design that is going to be best suited for you.
Every brand of stirrup that we carry is designed to enhance your overall ride and feeling through improving your leg position and minimising the pressure on your joints. However, each brand goes about it slightly differently in the way they achieve this.
Sprenger
The internationally renowned System 4 technology enables the stirrup to pivot in 4 directions which minimises the impact on the rider‘s cartilage and ligaments without creating an unstable feeling whilst riding.
Sprenger’s stirrups are suitable for all disciplines, in general we find these stirrups best suited for dressage riders and those who have experienced arthritis in their joints.
Flex On
French design which aims to assist with riders lower leg position by reducing strain on the leg muscles and joints. It has a wide surface area and elastomer shock absorbers underneath the foot bar which absorb shocks and vibrations.
Flex On stirrups are suitable for all disciplines, in general we find these stirrups best suited for jumping riders and those who are looking for a stirrup with a wider surface area.
FreeJump
French design which has been designed to provide shock absorption for the riders joints as well as offering significant grip on the foot bed through the integration of carbon fibre and removable steel cleats. Each stirrup has a very high mechanical strength of 1200 MPA and single sided technology allows the pressure to be reduced by a factor of 3 in each stirrup as well as reducing the pressure on the horses’ back.
Free Jump stirrups have designs that are suitable for all disciplines, in general we find these stirrups best suited for jumping riders who like having the ability to customize their stirrup to enhance their lower leg and knee positions.
In each instance, Chaballo offers ‘test’ stirrups that riders can ride in at home to ensure that the stirrup they are considering is going to be the best suited for them. If you’d like to find out more information about this, please contact the store on (08) 8388 4812 or alternatively service@chaballo.com.au