Monday, May 25, 2015

"The leather doesn't lie"

I really don't want to think I'm a super crooked rider -- but, as a fellow rider and I looked down at the stirrup leathers I've used for the past 4-5 years, we had this exchange: Me: I don't believe how uneven these are! Look at the string where my stirrup holes are! Friend: [Looking somber] Leather doesn't lie....


6 comments:

  1. Wow! Do you have a mirror in your arena? Worth checking that the saddle is not twisted?

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  2. The leather you have on the left will always end up being longer than the right. This is due to mounting, over time the repeated stepping into the stirrup stretches the leather. So the longer one you have could have been on the left, so that could account for some the stretch, but not all of it.
    Hope this helps eases some of your uneven worries.

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  3. Could the left one be stretched more because you use it to mount?

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  4. I can remember being told at Pony Club 35 years ago to swap leather from one side to the other every time I cleaned tack... Here's why!

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  5. Wow, they are very different. There's 24 holes in the longer one, and 22 holes in the shorter one (not counting the one you've obviously punched in between holes 3 & 4). Then the strings you've attached are at different holes as well, the longer one is at number 6, and the shorter one is at number 7.

    I have a pair of leathers that have been in regular use for 20 years. I must lay them out and see if there's any difference in them!

    On my new saddle I'm using the synthetic Gladiator type which are not meant to stretch.

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  6. I always try to remember to swap my leathers every so often.

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