The best way for an average rider to check if their stirrup length is correct is the “armpit method.” With the hand touching the stirrup bar and the arm extended straight, the stirrup iron should touch the armpit. The second way is, when mounted, to drop the feet out of the stirrups. The stirrup iron should hit at the bottom of the anklebone, just under the anklebone – not an inch under it or on top of it. That’s the basic length. For dressage, you want to drop the iron, perhaps an inch under the anklebone. If the rider is going over big courses, it might be half an inch above the anklebone. As the jumps get bigger, the stirrups are shortened a little. So there might be a range to cover work on the flat, hunting, jumping, puissance – there might be a four-hole difference depending on the activity. But for the average beginner, as well as for the intermediate, there should be just one all-purpose length of stirrup. It should be at the bottom of the anklebone. Don’t shift stirrups until a student is pretty good at the intermediate level. Then you can go to two different-length stirrups.

Reprinted with permission from George H. Morris Teaches Beginners to Ride by George H. Morris, published by The Lyons Press