# Motorcycle-style foot pegs instead of stirrups?



## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

and into what is that motorcycle style foot peg attached? or, are you imagining a stirrup, hanging from some kind of stirrup leather, that is sort of L shaped?


I think you need to flesh out your idea to better match the title.




Indian braves were incredibly physically fit, and could do the things you describe. They also did not carry heavy armor. The ancient Romans also rode without stirrups. Stirrups made carrying and riding with heavy armor possible.


I can tell you that I am so much happier with stirrups. But then, no one expects me to jump off and back on like a warrior.


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## mmshiro (May 3, 2017)

There are stirrups that have a break-away rubber band on the outside. It slips right off if you put on too much pressure.

From experience, let me just point out that your feet tend to be a lot quieter on a motorcycle than on a horse. I have never posted on the bike.


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## 4horses (Nov 26, 2012)

There are also western safety stirrups. I have some on my saddle. It is missing the outside edge and has a flexible piece that goes over your foot. They are very hard to find and expensive.

And don't forget the endurance caged stirrups.


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## aussiemum (Apr 11, 2013)

mmshiro said:


> There are stirrups that have a break-away rubber band on the outside. It slips right off if you put on too much pressure.
> 
> From experience, let me just point out that your feet tend to be a lot quieter on a motorcycle than on a horse. I have never posted on the bike.


I once accidentally 'mounted' my husbands bike like a horse and nearly tipped it over. ie. instead of just throwing leg over and sitting down, I stepped on the nearside peg and threw my leg over like mounting horse


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## pasomountain (Dec 19, 2018)

I solved that problem by just not tying the laces on my riding boots--they stay on fine when I ride or walk around but are loose enough to come off in an emergency. I only trail or arena ride for fun though. Wouldn't look too good if you were showing--lol!


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## Foxhunter (Feb 5, 2012)

The biggest reason people have problems with stirrups trapping their feet is because the stirrups are either to big or to small and/or wrong foot wear. 

As for jumping on and off horses at speed ( long gone those days for me) you just quit the stirrups. 

Having just a bar could prove dangerous in a fall of the horse, even with a blunt edge it has the potential to cause serious injury.


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## mmshiro (May 3, 2017)

pasomountain said:


> I solved that problem by just not tying the laces on my riding boots--they stay on fine when I ride or walk around but are loose enough to come off in an emergency. I only trail or arena ride for fun though. Wouldn't look too good if you were showing--lol!


I started reading your response, and my not-quite-awake brain turned it into, "I solved that problem by just not tying the laces of my riding boots to the stirrups..." :smile:


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## Foxhunter (Feb 5, 2012)

For a straight bar to rest the foot on it would have to be fixed to something rigid. That wouldn't work under a rider's leg.


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## Hondo (Sep 29, 2014)

mmshiro said:


> I have never posted on the bike.



Since this thread is not going anywhere much anyhow, I'll mention that I have made thousands and thousands of posts on a bike.


For long difficult 100 mile enduros, conservation of energy is paramount to the finishing score.


Since standing up over most jumps is important for control, the technique is to remain seated until the motorcycle first begins to lift you off the seat and then use the leg muscles to continue carrying the body to the simi-standing position.


I know, I know, this is a horse forum, but mmshiro started it.


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## Golden Horse (Feb 20, 2010)

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mmshiro said:


> I started reading your response, and my not-quite-awake brain turned it into, "I solved that problem by just not tying the laces of my riding boots to the stirrups..." :smile:


You are not alone...


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## Foxhunter (Feb 5, 2012)

Hondo said:


> Since this thread is not going anywhere much anyhow, I'll mention that I have made thousands and thousands of posts on a bike.
> 
> 
> For long difficult 100 mile enduros, conservation of energy is paramount to the finishing score.
> ...


I was asked to judge a section for a trial bike contest. The place I was overseeing was they came down a steep railway embankment, had about twenty feet of flat ground and then over a ditch, about four feet wide. 

I looked at it and thought that if o was on a horse I would com down the slope keeping the horse straight, get a few feet from the bottom and kick on. 

This is how most riders rode it with no problems at all. 
Then there were the riders who were nervous about coming down he steep slope, they didn't kick on at the bottom. The bikes never refused but they didn't clear the ditch either. 

I had a good laugh at their expense, I always helped them get the bikes out the ditch on the far side. One father came over and really had a go at me for laughing at his son, he told me I wouldn't do it. I told him to provide a bike and I'd have a go. 

I treated it like a horse, steady down open the throttle and raise the front end. The only difference being was that I noticed the better riders all sat down bringing the back wheel to land first. I did the same. 

It won me Fifty pounds!


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## AtokaGhosthorse (Oct 17, 2016)

jonbailey said:


> This could be the safety answer to being drug to death due to stirrup hangups.
> 
> Many ancient horse-riding cultures never used stirrups anyway including the American Indians.
> 
> This is why Indian braves can so easily jump off their horses onto an enemy afoot while in battle.





They also didn't get vaxxinated, use a dentist, or have indoor plumbing and they talked to God through Peyote (Some still do.  Some things are like they are now because the old ways needed to cast aside in lieu of modern improvements.


What would you connect those pegs to? A motorcycle is a mindless, solid, static piece of equipment, a steel machine. It is rigid and it offers support for the pegs.


A horse is a living, breathing being of flesh and bone, skin and hair with a mind of it's own. To ride a horse, most of us use a saddle made of something that moves with the dynamic creature we're riding. Materials are leather or synthetic, but flexible.


To what would you affix a solid peg? And what would make you think it would be rigid enough to be useful given it would have to be affixed to a flexible piece of leather, which is strapped onto a 1000lb toddler with hooves and fast enough to run 30mph and then stop on a dime??


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## PoptartShop (Jul 25, 2010)

Riding a horse and riding a motorcycle do not go hand in hand, IMO...

The type of stirrups (with the breakaway band) that @mmshiro suggested are the ones I use. They work perfectly.


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## Hondo (Sep 29, 2014)

My own personal solution to fears of being drug is to have a stirrup large enough with covers placed in a way that is impossible to get my foot hung even if I try.


On the stirrups with the bands, fine for open riding but in the brush where Hondo and I normally travel, the bands would be gone in short order.


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## Golden Horse (Feb 20, 2010)

This thread just makes me think of this other thread

https://www.horseforum.com/horse-talk/mobo-horse-toys-799935/#post1970660695


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## AtokaGhosthorse (Oct 17, 2016)

Golden Horse said:


> This thread just makes me think of this other thread
> 
> https://www.horseforum.com/horse-talk/mobo-horse-toys-799935/#post1970660695



Made me think of that one thread where one of us found a type of stirrup that looks like you cut the nose and the tail off a ski and hung it from the leathers so you had a foot long piece of something... IDK what they were made of... to stand on.


I guess it's like building a better mousetrap. Folks just gotta try.


Also, I solved that problem by finding out you don't ride in lug soled cowboy boots. Thems work boots... I ride in leather or hybrid soled boots and I make sure my stirrup leathers are not only the right length, but the stirrup itself is big enough I can kick my foot out in an emergency... and I ride in boots loose enough I can get my foot out of them but not so loose they slop around on my feet... I go just a half size larger.


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## Chevaux (Jun 27, 2012)

My immediate thought on the down side of this type of stirrup is that if the horse slips and falls on you, the stirrup could be pushed into your body in a “stabbing” type of scenario


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## AtokaGhosthorse (Oct 17, 2016)

Chevaux said:


> My immediate thought on the down side of this type of stirrup is that if the horse slips and falls on you, the stirrup could be pushed into your body in a “stabbing” type of scenario



Or into the horse if it's a stirrup leather type thing its attached to and it flips around during a fall.


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## HombresArablegacy (Oct 12, 2013)

jonbailey said:


> This could be the safety answer to being drug to death due to stirrup hangups.
> 
> Many ancient horse-riding cultures never used stirrups anyway including the American Indians.
> 
> This is why Indian braves can so easily jump off their horses onto an enemy afoot while in battle.


So, imagine this: You're about to mount your horse using your foot peg stirrup and your horse suddenly spooks into you, impaling you with said peg. Now what? Or you're riding along a fence line or heavy trees and your peg gets caught on a post or tree. Your horse keeps going while your foot and leg slide back and stay behind. It's just not practical.


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## Caledonian (Nov 27, 2016)

@*AtokaGhosthorse* - The Kavall stirrup. No matter what people say, they look too confining with the toe and heel sections with a high risk of being dragged. 

The Japanese stirrup, Abumi, comes closer to the peg, with the solid foot plate that runs along the base of the foot, yet allows a rider to jump off .

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Antique_Japanese_abumi_(stirrups).jpg


Riders have stuck with a loop of some sort since they were invented for very good reasons - being impaled, foot/feet slipping off when you apply pressure as aids, thumping the horse’s side; I’ll stick with the rubber band safety stirrup.


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## Woodhaven (Jan 21, 2014)

I go with the elastic sided stirrups. I have ridden in them for many years and many, many miles and had no problem with them. The elastics can come off and I have gotten home and taking off the saddle I see that an elastic has come off. Never even noticed. If I do notice I carry some elastics in my pocket and replace them easily ( better to replace an elastic that an ankle) 
As Hondo mentioned they can come off in heavy bush, if I am going through something particularly rough I have draped my stirrups over the horse's wither until we are clear again avoiding loosing the elastics that way. I'm not sure this would be as easy with western stirrups.


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## Chevaux (Jun 27, 2012)

AtokaGhosthorse said:


> Or into the horse if it's a stirrup leather type thing its attached to and it flips around during a fall.


Very true


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## Dustbunny (Oct 22, 2012)

tinyliny said:


> I can tell you that I am so much happier with stirrups. But then, no one expects me to jump off and back on like a warrior.



Hmmm. This could be a new competitive event! :runpony:


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## Yogiwick (Sep 30, 2013)

Foxhunter said:


> I was asked to judge a section for a trial bike contest. The place I was overseeing was they came down a steep railway embankment, had about twenty feet of flat ground and then over a ditch, about four feet wide.
> 
> I looked at it and thought that if o was on a horse I would com down the slope keeping the horse straight, get a few feet from the bottom and kick on.
> 
> ...


"The bikes never refused but they didn't clear the ditch either"

I love this sentence!


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## AtokaGhosthorse (Oct 17, 2016)

Dustbunny said:


> Hmmm. This could be a new competitive event! :runpony:



Look up Native American relay races. WOW. Those guys jump from horse to horse! And ride bareback... and LEAP onto the next horse... and they run TBs, not small built Indian ponies like Choctaw ponies (A type of mustang). They do it in war paint and often historic clothing - the leather chaps and breach cloth and moccasins. I've seen videos of some that are on a track, others that are more cross country.



I saw one video on youtube, the guy that won one of those races was sitting back all relaxed and moving like he was in a glider rocking chair, no hands on any reins... and that horse had a fully stretched out stride at the finish line like he was running at Belmont.


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