Turning Western Stirrups

Just to be sure, the distance between point A and point B should only measure 1 1/2"?

Yup... up to 2"

Interesting... I have to give it a try too...

Bill, I figured out the twist, I just need my Bill's go ahead. LOL... Saddles are personal in our family. I don't want to twist his stirups without his full OK. He saw me fiddling with it when he got home from work Saturday but I haven't OFFICALLY asked his permission. We were super busy this weekend and I didn't even bother with it.

I have however twisted the stirups on my Fabtron. That took about 30 seconds on each side! LOL (It's half synthetic )

Korrie's barrel saddle has soft fenders so they are already turned and Nicole was at her mom's this weekend so I haven't monkied with her saddle yet either.

I do have every intension of turning all of them!!! I think it will be SO great to have them turned especially for the kids so they have one less thing to worry about...Losing stirups and knee torque shouldn't be an issue anymore!

Sorry to re-ask, but does it indeed help with knee pain? And why?

Yes it will help with knee pain. The the fender if never turned ( by any method) will put torque on your knees. When you put your foot in an unturned stirup you are constantly having the fender made of thick leather wanting to be parallel to the horse. Thus...the fender is putting torque on your knee joints.

If you turn the stirup, It is going to be parallel to your boot heel and will not be "fighting" you to lay flat against the horse. Reducing the amount of torque on your knees.

Make sense???

Just as Dumas said:

It helps tremendously. If you look at a typical Western saddle you will see that the stirrups turn in. To get your foot in the stirrup (particularly the right one) you need to reach down and turn the fender so that your foot slips in.

99% of Western riders will use a broom handle to help twist the fender when the saddle is on the rack. This helps train the fender to be in the correct position. Doing it in the method I use, you don't need to do anything else - ever. It takes the curve out of the leather from using the broom handle and it always has the stirrups in the correct direction.

Because a fender on a Western saddle always wants to return to the position it came in when it was new, it is putting stress on the rider's knees and hips as you fight that tendency. Many riders don't even realize how much stress they are going through until they try the way I described.

Some riders resort to an add-on product that turns the stirrup on a swivel and costs in the area of ~$25.00. This method does it all for free and looks 100% better.

He-he... I'll certainly try it to see what it will feel like!

I can't wait to get my new saddle and give it a go!!!! The directions are very well written, by the way!

Alright, the saddle is home, the fenders are pulled. The way it looks, I wont have to add anymore holes, but I will have to judge that after I get on a horse.

One question I have about the twist, is after I twist, will I need to keep the hobbles on to keep the form? To be completely honest, I'm not 100% on the instructions. I'm sorry, Imma dope, I know... Maybe it's to much book learnin. Lol


ETA: My fenders are pulled down, and I tried to get them the same measurment, one is 1/2 inch shorter than the other. Will that pose a problem?