I have been on the hunt for a pair of stirrups that….just fit. Everything I have tried “fits” but doesn’t exactly do what I have been wanting them to do.
First, they NEED to have a wide tread. I will never go back to stirrups that do not have a wide tread.
Second, they need to alleviate knee pain. Its not bad but jump lessons go much better when my knee’s aren’t aching.
Third, they need to not break the bank. Easier said then done…
The first pair that helped with all of the above were the Tekna stirrup irons.
Wide tread? Check
Helped with knee pain? Check.
Didn’t break the bank? Check.
I’ve been riding in these for a couple of years now. They were my first upgrade from the regular old heavy stirrup iron’s everyone has ridden in since the beginning of time. They were bendy, made of composite and kinda neat looking!
Their biggest downfall? How light they are. Everyone wants the new fan-dangled stirrup that is made of whatever to make it light! Me? No thank you! It’s not that I have an issue when I lose my stirrup – specially since I don’t lose my stirrups very much, if ever – I just don’t like light stirrups! If I want to do no stirrup work I HAD to cross them over the withers even if I just wanted to do a couple laps. Let’s be honest, I am too lazy to need to do that all the time .
This is what started the hunt for something else.
The next stirrups I tried were the Lorenzini’s. I borrowed these from a friend to try since she has a pair and wasn’t riding in them.
Wide tread? Yup.
Knee pain relief? Eh.
Bank-wise? Close to breaking it.
These were pretty….meh for me. There is no other word to describe it. They are pretty looking but I did not like how they felt under my feet. Grippy, yes, but I felt like they were rocking my toes forward and down. It was a strange feeling. I also didn’t like that they chip so easy. My friend’s were hardly used and were quite chipped along the top. No thanks !
These ones just were not what I was looking for. Which I was slightly disappointed about as I had heard such great things, but alas, they are not meant for me!
Next up were the Freestyle Soft Up Pro Safety Stirrups.
Wide tread? Yup.
Knee pain relief? YES
Bank-wise? Broken.
I LOVE THESE STIRRUPS. I cannot tell you enough about HOW MUCH I LOVE these stirrups. LOVE THEM.
They are incredibly grippy, but not in the cheese grated type of way. More in the pins in the bottoms of my boot kind of way. I have been jumping in shorter stirrups with these and my knees are not killing me at the end of my ride AND I can still feel my toes! Bonus points for feeling my toes!
Biggest draw back? The price point. I have had my eyes on these stirrups since they first came out. The price point scared the bajesus out of me though. They retail for $539 at a semi-local store to me. In CANADIAN $$! To me, that is ridiculous for a pair of stirrups. BUT I ended up finding them from Divoza for super cheap ! Regular retail from them was about $300 CAD, but then there was a 25% discount! In total, with shipping and duties I ended up paying about $330 – thats $200 in savings!
I love getting deals and I LOVE my freejump’s!
Baymarechronicles 