# Has anyone ever been hung up



## joshg30 (Jun 6, 2014)

Has aoyone ever been hung up.
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## Saddlebag (Jan 17, 2011)

Hung up has various connotations. You need to be more specific.


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## joshg30 (Jun 6, 2014)

Saddlebag said:


> Hung up has various connotations. You need to be more specific.


has your foot gotten stuck in a stirrup.
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## boots (Jan 16, 2012)

Myself? Just briefly. Foot and boot came out.

I've seen others hung up for longer distances. I have a pair of boots that are a half size too big. I wear them when schooling the silly ones. 

I saw a young man get hung up but his coach had taught him to run his other foot along the stuck leg and kick the foot free. It worked well for him.


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## Foxhunter (Feb 5, 2012)

One of the safety things I was taught from an early age was that the stirrups should always be the correct size for the foot, two finger width between the side of the foot and the stirrup side. 

With English stirrups the leather should break free from the saddle, the stirrup leather bars are designed to allow this and the clips should not be set up. The other thing is that of you roll onto your stomach the foot breaks free.


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## Heleen Strydom (Sep 2, 2013)

My brother was still quite young - I think around 13 or 14 when his foot got stuck. He was dragged about 300m before his boot came of. He still has the scars to show and he is now 32. A LOT of skin came of his arm that day.
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## Corporal (Jul 29, 2010)

Like Foxhunter said, use the correct sized stirrup.
ALWAYS have a stirrup pad to add friction.
Ride in BOOTS with a heel, never in sneakers.
Ride with ONLY the ball of your foot in the stirrup. NEVER ride "Home."
If you are worried, get a pair of peacock stirrups, that are breakaway.
http://www.statelinetack.com/item/korsteel-peacock-fillis-knife-edge-stirrup/E006251%20450/?srccode=GPSLT&gclid=CNfBiIL8574CFZSMMgod4GIAEA&kwid=productads-plaid^79014694068-sku^283754-adType^PLA-device^c-adid^40065089868


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## Ian McDonald (Aug 24, 2011)

Only once, and then the horse started to buck with me underneath her. Fortunately my foot came loose after the 2nd or 3rd jump!
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## bsms (Dec 31, 2010)

No, I haven't got my foot caught in my 6 years of riding. I also haven't made a habit of coming off the horse, but I'm an old fart who doesn't push my riding hard.

I'm picky about having my stirrups fit! The height of the stirrup can be important as well - a too tall stirrup will allow the foot to go through. I also always wear boots with a heel.

I usually ride with my foot in the 'home' position. With the right stirrup & boot, it would be darn hard to get a foot caught up. Impossible without losing the heel of the boot, in fact.

I gather from the OP's other posts that western riding is the OP's preference. Some posters on HF have said oxbow stirrups make getting caught up more likely & cited it happening with family members.

I prefer leather covered stirrups to bare metal ones because my feet slip more with bare metal ones. I haven't tried an western stirrups with metal & rubber.

I've also considered trying these:










Cashel Cozy Toes Stirrup Covers Western Pair

They wouldn't win me any style points, but my waistline, $2 T-shirts, bifocals and wrinkled face ruin my style points anyways...:wink:


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## Saddlebag (Jan 17, 2011)

When I started riding it was with leather soled cowboy boots. The high heel prevented getting hung up. Also the leather will slide. When I rode English again it was a good heel and leather soles. To this day I cannot ride with anything but this type of footwear and it stands my hair on end to see people ride with rubber soled boots with a small heel in a western saddle. BTW as a teen we tested numerous English saddles to see if the leathers would let go, even with the tab down. Only one came free, so it's not something a rider can count on. If one should get hung up, try to flip over and the foot will come free.


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## trailhorserider (Oct 13, 2009)

Sorry, but every time I see the title of this thread, I think of this: :lol:


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## Corporal (Jul 29, 2010)

Covered western stirrups never let you ride home. I think that bsms meant to say that you adjust correct length, and then USE the stirrup, not tentatively place your toes in it. The average correct length for your stirrups is so that the bottom of the stirrup hits right below your ankle bone when you hang your leg. 
"Going HOME" with the stirrup means, no cover, and you push your foot all the way to the heel. THAT is a great way to get your foot caught.
It just tells you that learning to ride without your stirrups and riding with only the balls of your feet in the stirrups, weighted heels is the safest way to ride.
Btw, the stirrup was invented in Asia. No one in the ancient Mediterranean or elsewhere, rode with stirrups before ~400-500 A.D.


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## bsms (Dec 31, 2010)

Actually, I normally ride with my foot "home". I can find no evidence that it increases the chance of getting caught in the stirrup, and most agree it makes one less likely to lose the stirrup when things get a bit wild. Julie Goodnight once wrote that she often rides with her foot home, and it is common in a number of types of riding.

If the stirrup fits right - not too tall or too wide - then getting your foot thru it should be impossible without breaking the heel off of your boot. With mine, I doubt my foot would go all the way through even if my heel came off...I'd have to be barefoot or in thin sole sneakers to force it through.

Here is one of the first threads I posted asking about riding with the foot deep in the stirrup:

http://www.horseforum.com/horse-riding/question-stirrup-position-ball-foot-mid-74556/

Here is another thread:

http://www.horseforum.com/trail-riding/caught-your-stirrups-105422/

I have never used the stirrup covers I showed. I'm thinking about it, but my main objection would be that they might not allow my foot to be where I want it to be.

This guy campdrafting has his foot about where I like it:










This is where mine go in a western saddle:










This is what the US Cavalry showed as correct:










For the record, I'm a backyard, putz-around rider, not an instructor or high level anything rider. If anyone has any evidence that riding with the foot 'home' is dangerous, I'd love to hear it.


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## Ian McDonald (Aug 24, 2011)

Les Vogt is another one who comes to mind riding with his feet in the home position. A much greater risk for dragging than having your feet home occurs when the saddle turns as you fall. That's how I got dragged and have seen it happen in other cases as well. 

These are fairly expensive, but they're on my personal bucket list (hopefully before kicking the bucket!)

Breakaway Stirrups Horse Saftey Stirrups that break away if you fall to prevent dragging by STI


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## ThatClassyEventer (Jun 3, 2014)

I usually avoid riding with my feet jammed into the stirrups like that just because I tend to end up working with spooky or jetty horses, and I need to be able to bail if they're being silly and/or dangerous. 

I've only ever bailed once, but I've come off plenty of times and here's what usually happens: horse spooks or jumps to the right, for instance. I go down (cause they've moved out from under me and bolted off) and my right leg comes over their back. Occasionally my stirrup will come with, but I'm a gymnast and have been taught to roll if I'm falling, so I've usually twisted my foot in a way that it doesn't get stuck. Had a few close calls though.
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## usandpets (Jan 1, 2011)

I've never been in a situation of falling off and having my foot hung up in the stirrup. I also tend to ride with my feet in the "home" position. 

I have heard that if your foot does get hung up, you should try to roll towards the horse which will release your foot. Instinct is to roll away to get clear of the horse and hooves.
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## bsms (Dec 31, 2010)

I've come off once, when my mare bolted mid-dismount. I was using an English saddle with traditional iron stirrups. She half-reared, spun 180, then took off - while my right leg was above her rump. I went flying and landed on my back.

The next day, my left foot had a curving bruise across the end & toes that could only have come from my foot slipping in all the way up to the heel, and then slammed out by the force of my 'dismount'.

There is no position - home, at my toes, etc - that could have prevented my foot from going in and coming out as it did. In fact, since I was dismounting, the stirrup was at my toe when my horse 'hit the fan', so to speak. The violence of what followed is what drove my foot as deep as possible into the stirrup. Since she then bolted across a field of 12-18 inch jagged rocks (called rip-rap in southern Arizona), being hung up might well have been fatal, the more so since my cloth baseball cap wasn't going to offer any protection!

But because the stirrup was the right size and my boot had a good heel, it didn't matter. That is why I refuse to ride barefoot, in sneakers, etc. That was also the week I bought a helmet...:wink:


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## trailhorserider (Oct 13, 2009)

bsms said:


> That was also the week I bought a helmet...:wink:


Good for you. Welcome to the dark side. :lol: May I also suggest a Da Brim for the Arizona sun? I never liked wearing a helmet until I got one of these:

Da Brim

Now I wear a helmet every time I ride. The Da Brim provides outstanding shade......better than a hat in my opinion.


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## trailhorserider (Oct 13, 2009)

Ian McDonald said:


> A much greater risk for dragging than having your feet home occurs when the saddle turns as you fall. That's how I got dragged and have seen it happen in other cases as well.


Do you feel a breast collar would help prevent that? Or not?

I am a big believe in breast collars now as years ago I had a saddle turn and I came off the horse. When I recovered and caught him the breast collar was so tight I could hardly untack him (the saddle was on his side). I really credit that breastcollar with saving me from rolling under the horse. I think it could very well have saved my life. I don't ride without one now. 

Everyone talks about breast collars for hill work, but I have found their most important function may be keeping the saddle from rolling under the horse in an emergency.


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## verona1016 (Jul 3, 2011)

I've never been hung up, but have always ridden with safety stirrups. I have Kwik-outs for my nicer dressage saddle (gives the same look as regular fillis stirrups), and curved safety stirrups for my less-nice jumping saddle. It's so hard getting the leathers on my dressage saddle to begin with, I wouldn't count on them coming off on their own. It would be more likely with the jumping saddle, but I still wouldn't want that to be my primary safety net.


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## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

Even though the OP has been banned, this is a good conversation.

I've always ridden with my feet in the "home" position and I've had some pretty hairy mounts/dismounts/falls in my life. I've never been hung. The closest I've been is where I fall and my foot gets hung just long enough to flip me so I can land directly on my head , but as soon as I hit the ground, it turns me loose.

BUT, I wear boots that slip on/off easily and I ride in big western roping stirrups that are wide and tall. Even if I _try_, I can't get my foot hung well enough to not pull free with very little pressure.

Now, all that being said, there are certain stirrups that _will_ trap your feet, specifically oxbow stirrups like the saddle bronc riders use.









Because they are so thin and the bottoms are round, if you stick your foot "home" in them, then they can _easily_ become trapped at the narrow part of your boot just in front of the heel. That's one of the reasons why saddle bronc riders use them. To them it's worth the risk because in the midst of a ride, if you blow a stirrup, your ride is fixing to be done. They wear boots that slide off easily and learn to kick the stirrups free at the last moment to minimize the risks, but I've still seen way too many draggings because of oxbows than I care to remember.


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## AnrewPL (Jun 3, 2012)

only once. While I was in Jordan doing my research I had a thoroughbred/Arab cross for transport, a cruddy Egyptian made knockoff of a brittish cavalry saddle and wore combat boots everywhere. I got the biggest stirrups I could find and only rode with the toe of the boot just in the stirrup however when cantering across a bit of desert one day the horse went down in a soft patch of sand and as he did I went to jump off but my foot got stuck and I ended up on my back trying to kick my boot out of the stirrup before the horse got up or rolled on me. thankfully when he did get up he just stood there and I managed to reach up and pull my foot out.


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## AnrewPL (Jun 3, 2012)

smrobs said:


> Even though the OP has been banned, this is a good conversation.
> 
> I've always ridden with my feet in the "home" position and I've had some pretty hairy mounts/dismounts/falls in my life. I've never been hung. The closest I've been is where I fall and my foot gets hung just long enough to flip me so I can land directly on my head , but as soon as I hit the ground, it turns me loose.
> 
> ...


I also always rode in roper stirrups until I got a set of oxbows a few years ago and you are dead right, they make riding something that bucks a hell of a lot easier, but you are also right about them grabbing your feet, a few times, usually when dismounting, I fount I had to actually pull my foot out of them.


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## Midnite711 (May 30, 2014)

I never have, however, my friend did the first time she rode her Western horse with an English saddle. It was pretty bad, the break away stirrups did not work like they were suppose to, so, she was drug through briars and ditches for a good distance before her foot finally came out. It was pretty traumatizing. Needless to say she hasn't rode English since.


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## Emma2003 (Jan 9, 2014)

Once, when I was a kid. The horse I was on bucked and I fell off. I was wearing skinny little running shoes that had no heal and one of my feet went through a stirrup and I got dragged. I was in a round pen and there were a few adults close by who came to my rescue. I must have stretched something in my thigh/groin area because I couldn't walk properly for a couple of months, but other than that no harm was done.


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## Corporal (Jul 29, 2010)

Ya know, this has been a discussion thread about STIRRUPS, but it's really about the delicate balance between:
--equipment that keeps us as safe as possible
--the idea that you can ride and NOT be athletic (vis a vis, learn to ride with a deep seat, balance and the ability to dismount quickly, "emergency dismount")
--riding horses that are well trained, ESPECIALLY if you have only ridden for a few rides-for a few years
When DH and I played at US Cavalry (1986-2011), we bought and learned how to use the 1859 US Cavalry equipment: McClellan Saddle, breastplate, crupper, surcingle and covered western-type wooden stirrups
All of this extra tack would prevent your saddle from EVER slipping underneath the horse if you fell off and pulled the saddle with you. As many of us know, this is an uncomfortable and possibly freaking experience for most horses--might consider using my beater English saddle sideways now to desensitize my two geldings...hmmmm...
BUT, the 18th century Hungarian Cavalry rode an english type saddle without a girth. Most ancient armies rode with a flat saddle and no stirrups, bc they hadn't been invented yet.
Putting your body on top of a moving animal is inherently dangerous, like driving a car without a side door, much like the WWII Army Jeep.
MY advice is from years of teaching beginners how to ride. Still, a LOT of people are teaching themselves how to ride. I still say, look at how International Competing Horseman/women mount their OWN children. What kind of ponies/horses do they trust with their children and how do they teach them? They pick the safest ponies for lead line and for flat work and for jumping bc they have either had the stupid riding accidents or dodged a bullet and just witnessed them and they are protective about their own children.
I am always reading/watching testimonials from I'Natl HS and Dressage riders. Every one that I've read/seen talks about the sure and steady, maybe a little bit slow horse that gave them the confidence to later take on the truly talented but cheaper (bc of bad early training) "diamond in the rough" that they retrained and took to the top of their game.
*MY POINT: WHAT you ride is far more important than your personal preference of stirrups.*


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