I never really liked oxbows because I felt they jammed my foot too far in the stirrup, not allowing me to get up in the saddle.  Now that I have not been running barrels much but am trying to get back into it, I find I'm having a hard time sitting down and have dashboarded and almost face planted a few times.  I just can't get it in my head to sit down, I guess!  I recently rode in my trainer's saddle and thought it was a wonderful saddle but after talking to her, it may have been her oxbow stirrups that made it so wonderful.  I know about them being smaller and getting hung up easier in a fall, but I wear my boots 1/2 size too big anyway for just that reason, so that is not too big of a concern.  I'm thinking about switching to oxbow stirrups just because it feels like they may make me sit down more and have a more secure seat.  What experiences have any one of you had with them?

My experience has been, oxbow stirrups are comfortable for long days in the saddle.

You either love them or hate them and I love OxBow's, that's why i love my half breed nettles..

There’s no way you can have good balance unless you’re on the balls of your feet. You can’t ride on the balls of your feet in Oxbows, they’re not meant for speed events.

I agree.......and they tend to hug your feet which hurts.

Darn ..... I sure wish someone had told me this during the almost FORTY years that I ran barrels and team penned ...... LOL

LOL, I love Oxbows and always rode in them, barrel racing, team penning, break away roping in my teens, and NTO was telling me about the Nettles and wanting to try these in a Oxbow, but all they were making that was close to a Oxbow were the Half Breeds so bought a pair of them and loved them also, so I use the Half Breeds and Oxbows, with the Oxbows I would have to shorten my stirrup leathers just a tad since you rode deeper in a oxbow (Foot all the way in the stirrup} and the Oxbows are a bit longer in depth wise. I still have two pairs from 35 years plus, they are so cool I think

And just wanted to add, Oxbows come in different shapes, some were a bit longer in shape like a oval or tear drop {kinda hard to explain} and some were more round.