Cob Jockey

Last month CGP rode Connor before me in a lesson, and I forgot to bring my stirrups to the indoor and had to use hers, which we were MDC Comfort stirrups set in the 90 degree position.

Now, I've always been a "Fillis irons are fine" person. Never even tried anything different, besides some super bendy Herm Sprengers once that I hated. The fanciest stirrups I own are the $30 composite wide tread ones that live on my jump saddle, and the irons on my Dressage saddle are the ones my mom got for Little Red three decades ago.

Good enough for my mom, good enough for me. Side note, didn't realize til I went to dig up this picture that those Gary Mundy leathers are almost four years old! They literally still look brand new. He's retiring this year and I really need to get a backup pair, for fifty years from now when this pair wears out I guess.

It took about ten minutes of riding in the MDC Comforts before I realized what wasn't happening. I didn't have my right foot pronated and cocked to the outside. My lower right leg wasn't swinging as much as it normally did. And something about them made the whole act of riding seem more effortless, like there was something I had to fight in Fillis irons that I didn't in the MDCs.

The Pivo was plagued by a software problem that week so the only proof I have of this lesson are some blurry screenshots of CGP on him.

Had I just become a fancy stirrup person? Maybe, but I tried to deny it a little longer.

It was in a subsequent lesson when I went back to using my regular Fillis irons that she really got onto me about my 0 to 100 posting that lacked enough tone, and she said some of my mechanical posting problems seemed to stem from "something about the way your feet are in the irons."

I knew exactly what she was talking about: my tendency to have all my weight on my big toe phalanges on the right foot but spread evenly across all toes on the left. She didn't say a word about my equipment being part of the problem, but I made a mental note that everything she said had been easier to fix or not a problem in the MDCs.

In regular Fillis irons earlier this month. Peep my right foot cocked out to the side.

I placed an order for them from Horse.com on the 21st and had a voicemail from Martin, the owner, later that day wanting to confirm that my feet really are small enough for the 4.25" irons and if that was a mistake to please call him before he shipped them out the next day. It wasn't, and I didn't, but I was touched that he took the time to do that. They arrived in what qualifies for warp speed for the USPS right now on the 26th.

My right lower leg is usually MUCH flingier than this. The left is always stable.

You can kind of see it here

Check out those relatively even foot angles!

Reminder that this is my normal foot position, with the right one cocked out like this

Since I'm going to tag this as a product review, let's a get a few review-y things out of the way before I end this, shall we:

• These come very specifically in foot sizes. I'm a 6, so I got a 4 1/4"
  
• There's a whole line of MDC stirrups out there, and if you're not sure which one is right for your particular body, Martin will consult with you about that, per The 900 Facebook Pony's blog post from way back.
• They're heavy. That's part of the deal, these stirrups are supposed to be a safety play as well. The 90 and 45 degree offsets, in addition to helping fix my right foot problem, also make it easier to pick your stirrups up if you've lost them, and the weight helps with that as well. After riding in composites for a long time on my jump saddle, can confirm, much easier.
• I had to raise my stirrups a hole (which is a half hole on my CWD child's leathers) to account for the stirrup strap hole being slightly higher on these than they are on a Fillis iron
• They have an "if you don't love them, you get your money back" policy.
  

Bottom line: I am not saying these exact stirrups are right for you or will change your riding life like they did mine. I am saying that non-traditional irons have a lot to offer for those of us with weird asymmetries and biomechanics issues, and they're worth investigating. Also these are just so dang comfortable, it's kind of amazing.

What: MDC Comfort Stirrups

Sizes: 4.25", 4.5", 4.75", 5" (based on shoe size)

Colors: Stainless

Price: I paid $179.95 at Horse.com. They're often manufacturer restricted on coupons and are extremely difficult to find used.