Isit possible. . .

[Lucie]

To have the stirrup bar moved further back (as in moved back towards the cantle) an inch or so?

If so, is it a difficult procedure (not thinking of attempting it myself :p, but in terms of how specialised it would be to do)?

Any ideas of cost?

[Yann]

If it can be done, and I'm not sure if you could on all saddle trees, then it's a case of totally dismantling the saddle, drilling a new bolt hole and relocating the stirrup bars. Unlikely to be particularly cheap :)

[Daffy Dilly]

No, it's not. I've asked this before, the thread should be in here somewhere.

My solution was to move the stirrups leathers further back on the stirrup bars. At the moment, I'm preventing them moving forwards again with some hair ties, but I think I have a more permanent solution so will be doing that shortly. You should be able to get an inch that way, it's made a massive difference to me.

I know the stirrup leathers are supposed to come off the bars anyway, and having them further back *could* encourage that, but as of yet I haven't noticed them doing so.

[Lucie]

Thanks anyway :).

[Mariaana]

Yes, it can be done to some saddles, but it is a skillful job and not that cheap. Sometimes you can replace the normal stirrup bars with longer ones, so your leathers can be placed further back (but it needs to be done so the longer bars do not turn in an hurt the horse). Or, you can in some saddles, attach the stirrup hooks/bars off the twist rather than the points.

[Lucie]

Thanks Mariaana ;).