What Your Stirrup Length Might Be Saying About You

Personal preference and riding activity both definitely have an impact on stirrup length. But so does horsemanship skill. In general, you’ll see better horsemen ride with longer stirrups. Why is that?

The better the horseman you are, the better your balance in the saddle. You’ll ride the horse more than the saddle, following his movement with your seat and not relying on your saddle, stirrups, and reins to keep you balanced.  As a result, your weight will be more in your seat than in your stirrups, so stirrups are set longer. I love watching a great horseman ride and see his (or her) body move in rhythm with the movement of the horse. They aren’t just a passenger.

Less experienced horsemen tend to put a lot of weight in their stirrups in an attempt to keep in balance and stay centered, which requires shorter stirrups. They don’t yet have the balance and “feel” to use their body to follow the movement of the horse.

But too much weight in the stirrups not only leads to aching knees, it also tenses the rider and the horse and makes it difficult for horse and rider to get in synch.

How much weight should you put in your stirrups? I love this explanation from Tammy Pate, wife of clinician Curt Pate, that I read in a past “Western Horseman” article:

“A lot of people ask me how much weight to put in a stirrup. [My husband] Curt said to think as though there is a cookie in your stirrup. If you put all your weight on it, you will smash the cookie. If you ride with your knees and there is no weigh in your stirrup, you’ll lose the cookie. If you put the right amount of weight in your stirrup, when you get hungry on your ride you can eat your cookie. I think that sums it up!”

Used Saddle Pick of the Week: 16″ Crates Reining Saddle

The “Used Saddle Pick of the Week”

Every week we scour the Internet searching for a particularly juicy bargain on a high quality used western saddle and feature it here on the WSG Saddle Blog. The saddles featured are listed for sale on ebay as of the date of the post.

The Western Saddle Guide is not the seller of the saddles featured and does not make any representations about them. We encourage all potential buyers to do their own due diligence on the seller and the saddle before purchasing.

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This week we’ve found an almost-new Crates reining saddle that is a real dandy. I’m a big fan of Crates saddles. I own one myself and I think they’re one of the best production saddle brands out there. They make nice, solid saddles.

This week’s saddle has a 16inch suede seat, 6 5/8 gullet (full QH bars), with basket weave tooling on parts of the the fenders, skirts, jockeys, fork and cantle.

Reiners are close contact saddles that have become popular for use as overall training saddles and for trail riding. They’re not suitable, however, as a heavy duty “using” saddle.

In the photo you can see how nicely balanced this saddle is – a level seat with the stirrups hanging straight down. This saddle has so few rides in it that it’s basically a new saddle.

We present the Saddle Blog’s Used Saddle of the Week:

16″ Crates Reining Saddle Saddle

Check out other Crates Saddles for sale in our tack shop.