Been seeing a lot of new english stirrups on the market these days. Plastic, wide tread, wide tread with knarly cheese grater treads, flexible, quick release and magnetic ones to keep boot and iron together.

I am wondering if any of you have tried any of these stirrups? If so what do you think of them? Would you buy them again? And how important is a stirrup to you anyway?

I LOVE the invisible stirrups that are open on the outside!!

Stirrups are an extremely important piece of equipment.

From the ones you mentioned;
Plastic-were popular in Eventing for awhile-they can break if you loose contact and then hit them hard on landing-a HUGE safety issue.

Wide tread- Have a hard time getting ankle to flex fully IF you actually put the ball of your foot in the tread.

Cheese grater/very rough pads- Hope you never fall off-rubber soled boots easy catch a secure grip-perfect opportunity to be drug.

Flexible-make it near impossible to actually "ride". There are certain [most] times when riding when you need stirrup support-these are designed and do, give when pressure is applied. Near impossible to jump/gallop in.

Don't know the others.

A plain or offset is the best.
If the newer types were any good, they would have discontinued the older style.

Just to emphasize on Ltc's response about the rough padded stirrups... they are dangerous. I would NOT recommend these for anyone. Sure, they keep your foot sturdy and from slipping, however, I have personally been dragged across the arena from a fall while using these stirrups. The stirrups that 'bend' are ridiculous as well. I have no clue why people feel the need to have a stirrup that moves like that but I found them very hard and uncomfortable to ride in. Again, as Ltc said, the older models are still around for a reason.

I personally love the flexible stirrups and I do hunters! I have a pair of the herm sprengers and wouldnt trade them for anything else! They assist in putting your heel down, so that you aren't just "jamming" it down, but following the movement of your horse and act as shock absorbers, as they should, naturally! Very easy on the knees too, love them!

Oh, also they are nice because you get that section of black rubber coating which is a nice touch in the EQ classes, it can hide a bit of leg movement without looking too obvious. I love the all black irons though too!