Introduction to Equestrian Stirrup Collection

The first record of a foot-rest is no earlier than 100 AD. It is possible that the Scythians, nomadic horsemen of the Steppes mentioned by Herodotus (484 BC) were the first horsemen to experiment with a form of foot support.

The origin of the word may be Stige-rap, stigan means to mount and rap is rope. A mounting rope. By the eighth century the stirrup was in use in Central Europe. (Juliet Clutton-Brock, (‘HORSE POWER’) So from evidence available today it would seem that the stirrup and iron were invented about the 5th or 6th century AD in China or Chinese Turkestan and did not appear in India until the 10th century AD. It would appear that the stirrup and the horseshoe are the last bits of the equestrian jigsaw finally bringing the way we manage horses into the modern era.