Yeah but until you get them... or instead of forking out for another piece of kit, twisting the strap before doing it up, as I described, on fender leathers does pretty much the same job.

Pre-turned stirrups are nice:



Something I like about my Abetta is that the fenders bend easily...just cloth and a nylon strap.

this is one reason I do not like cordura fenders; becuase they NEVER hold a turn. You cannot get them to 'turn' and stay there., they always hand 'limp'.

Some would say, "oh, good! there's no resistance" . but, you want the fender to WANT to stay in the position that helps your knee. A turned leather fender will do this. A cordura fender will always want to hang in the easiest, most direct manner possible, and this is just the opposite of what you want for your knee comfort.


Admittedly, since it is made of a light fabric, it offers less resistance than a leather fender that is NOT turned. But, it can NEVER BE turned. It will never off total relief. It will always want to go back to it's free hanging position, especially if you post the trot.


AND, if you are in a position with a bucking horse, you will find that the lightweight fenders and stirrups are dangerous because they will not drop away from your foot, but rather hand up on your pants or your gripping foot, and be more likely to end up with your stuck on them, as your body flies off the horse, and you end up being dragged. A heavy stirrup is a safer stirrup.

I"m sorry. I can't type worth beans!

@loosie I will have to play with that too... I've never done up my own stirrups. Is that what bsms has shown in his next photo?

@tinyliny I can see that being true also. My fenders aren't cordura... I think nylon maybe? They are kind of thick and a little squishy if that makes sense, like there is a very light padding inside the stitched material. I can imagine they would never hold a turn. Twisting the strap as loosie described or stirrup turners might be an eventual thing I do. I am still learning about saddles and other tack in general since mine was a gift/hand-me-down. Dad bought it at an auction for my aunt to clean up and re-sell. He took a loss on that one though I am making a mental note of all the pros and cons I learn about as I go for when I eventually do invest in another saddle. The place I'm taking riding lessons also has a few different saddles that they said they will alternate through so I get to see how different ones feel.

The stirrup turners that I sent you a link to are $10 a pair. I guess you have to add shipping to that. Skip eating out once and you have the money.

yeah, I know the kind of material you are talking about, the sort of 'quilted' look. you won't be able to get a permanent twist to them. you can, however, find a nice pair of leather fenders and replace the nylon ones with leather. As long as the strap that goes over the stirrup bar (on the tree) is the same size as what is on their now (not too large to fit)

@Celeste I noticed that, I appreciated the price, very reasonable compared to some other horsey stuff ;) I think eventually stirrup turners would be perfect. For now I'll be doing a lot of my learning in someone else's saddles and probably won't mess much with their stirrups except for the length. I hope soon to have my first trail ride on my own horse, just an easy one around the back of mom and dad's property. After that I may decide I immediately need stirrup turners

I had to wonder about that... abstract Freudian slip... until you explained!!

Thanks for the pic to explain what I mean bsms. I had a synthetic saddle, it was suede look, and was thick, good quality material - I don't know how cordura/abetta compares, but twisting the straps worked fine for that one.