STEP UP STIRRUP

Just 15 more days on Kickstarter to get your Step Up Stirrups at a reduced price so buy them now while we are still in final production !!! Or help fund the project to help up "get" there sooner... Thank you. You know you all need these. And a special prize if you buy them from FB and instant message me that you have !!
THANK YOU !!




https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/21603260/step-up-stirrup-gives-you-a-leg-up-anywhere-you-ri

Starting Step Up Stirrup LLC is the American dream ... how did I get here at this point in my life ?!?!

Ok guys its no secret that I have somehow just turned 60 !  Because of some circumstances that were beyond my control and some that were in my control, but I didn't see or realize at the time I am now starting over!

That's right from scratch.  On my own.  I have wonderful friends and a couple much loved cousins and my son and daughter in law but they have their lives.

So looking back I think "how did I get here" ??

My first mistake, and this is the one I didn't know not to do at the time, was listen to my Father, lawyer and bankers who all told me " Don't worry in your old age you will be well taken care of !"   I  asked a banker if I should have a 401k when I was running Pit Bull Tire Lock Corp. and the person said "Why ? You won't need it".     This whole sordid story has been told in my book
Weezie A Palm Beach Story and you can read it there.

The moral to that story is never take for granted, no matter what the circumstances are that a promised inheritance will actually come your way.  If it does great but TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF!  

I did but I didn't .. I started two and ran one excellent little businesses.  Both of whom I walked away from without much financial reward (well none in the first instance as I gave it away in my divorce and the second I had found out I had Hep C and was taking Interferon Chemo and my biz partner had buzzed off into never never land... those are my excuses and I am sticking to them !)

The next thing that really knocked me off course was illness.  I found out 14 years ago that when my son was born & I was given a blood transfusion they gave me the gift of Hep C  !!  I went 19 years not knowing I had it but wondering why others seemed to always have so much more energy then me!  Two rounds of chemo, a major liver cancer scare, health deteriorating and a fiancee who got ice cold feet left me high and dry.  Last winter I was able to take the first round of the new medicine and I am now cured.

For quite a few years now I wanted to get my Step Up Stirrup idea patented but due to the fact that I was living in England and I couldn't actually work there made me realize I had to come back to the good old USA !  And that is what I did.

Maybe the main reason to move back to the glorious Santa Fe is the sunshine. And my son and daughter in law are here.  I had lived her for six years and started and ran Wilson-Ford, Corp which then morphed into Pit Bull Tire Lock Corp.

What has proved to be Step Up Stirrups' good luck is the team I had used with Pit Bull was still here and now all back on board.  I was able to get the same wonderful, lovely Corp attorney Nikki Wells.  Van Beahr who proved then and now to be an excellent fabricator and production manager !  Through Van I am working with the same foundry for the cast high Tensile Aluminum and the same pattern maker.  All good.

I  also found the most fantastic Patent Agent who wrote a fantastic comprehensive patent with 50 pages of explanations and 50 pages of drawings that some have said are the best they have ever seen.  The US Patent office accept the application right away.  So we are Patent Pending Protected !

I am so excited it is all coming together !!  I am sleepless only because I have so much to do !  This kickstarter launch is really important because it will take us through the process of making moulds and the first run of production and also allow us to be able to look at producing a Western Stirrup and a Children's Step Up Stirrup !   It has actually also been fantastic kick off advertising for this great product !

The link is here... any help that anyone can give is appreciated. Buy your stirrups at a reduced cost, or a hat or a t shirt or just help crowdfund this venture !!   Thank you !!

Happy Trails !!!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/21603260/step-up-stirrup-gives-you-a-leg-up-anywhere-you-ri

Why I felt I had to make the Step Up Stirrup

I have spent my entire life NEEDING the Step Up Stirrup and now that I finally have one my on design, invention I couldn't be more pleased.  It works.  It works really well.  Its easy,  lightweight and so compact underneath my regular stirrup that once you have used it and snapped it shut it you don't even know its there. But when you need it ... there it is !!

Here is the recent press release for the company :

Step Up Stirrup, Ride Safer and Longer

The value of horseback riding as therapy and recreation, as well as a sport, has long been known. But what happens when competent riders who are short, moderately disabled, or have a very tall horse have to dismount when they are away from the barn or corral? Whether riding using an English saddle or Western, riders need stirrups with straps adjusted to fit the correct position of their feet when mounted. Youngsters riding a full-sized horse, adult riders who are relatively short, and anyone whose physical strength is diminished can have a hard time getting back on a horse after a dismount in the field. 

Louise Ford has designed the Step-up Stirrup to solve the problem of mounting in the field. It attaches to the saddle just like a regular stirrup, but it has a folding “step” that folds down to elongate it – putting the stirrup within reach of a rider who would otherwise have to jump on the horse’s back or find something to stand on in order to mount. Once the rider is mounted, the stirrup can be folded back up so that it is out of the way, and will not inconvenience or harm the horse or rider. The stirrup has an upper step that is pre-positioned at the regular height.

Louise has been riding horses since she was a child. She has been aware of the problem since she was eight years old, and had a Connemara pony – which is nearly as big as regular horse. As an adult, she is only 5’4” tall. She notes that when you are vertically challenged, and you love the gate and temperament of certain breeds of tall horses, this can turn into a problem. She notes that a healthy, agile adult can solve the problem with a bit of a jump and a climb into the saddle. 

However, she has had two bouts of chemotherapy in the last thirteen years. As you might imagine, this leaves you a bit shaky and quite a bit weaker than your normal self. She sometimes had to give up riding because she could not get herself into the saddle safely. She notes that you can sometimes stand on the side of a fence, on a stump or on a rock, but that none of these things are as safe as putting your foot into the stirrup and swinging yourself on up. 

She and a friend worked in his engineering workshop to develop a solution. The Step Up Stirrup, when unfolded, adds six inches to the length of the stirrup. She says this can make a big difference – and that using it is a lot safer than taking a chance on finding some way to remount after dismounting to open a gate or even after falling off the horse. It eliminates the chance that your horse might move away from improvised mounting blocks or that it might even inadvertently crush you between it and a fence or wall. 

She has listened to friends who have had to sell their tall horses, as they have grown older, and purchase shorter horses with less comfortable gaits – just because they could no longer reach the stirrup to get on. She hopes that her invention will help riders to stay with their favorite mounts longer. 

Louise has a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign in session to produce a run of stirrups suitable for an adult English saddle. If the campaign is successful, they will add a child’s stirrup and models for Western and Australian saddles. A pledge of $220 will reserve for you one Step-up Stirrup; for $285 you will receive a matched pair of two stirrups. If you like the idea of this invention, but don’t have that kind of money to pledge, you can still support the campaign, and receive a t-shirt or hat as a token of your donation. 

At the upper donation levels, rewards such as a ticket to the Camargo Hunt Ball, or dinner at Geronimo’s – a five-star restaurant -- are available. If you are unable to attend the ball, $300 will be donated to Listening Horse Therapeutic Riding instead.

When you support this campaign, you are not only supporting an ingenious invention, you are also supporting the many riders who can use these stirrups to continue to have the freedom to ride. They will not have to depend on having someone to help them get back on their horse in the event of a dismount in the field. You are helping a child to be able to mount safely; or an older person to be able to ride their favorite equine friend a little bit longer. If you love horses and riding, or even if having a horse to ride has been a dream, this is a way that you can help make horseback riding easier and safer. When the Kickstarter campaign is fully funded she has designed a western and a child’s stirrup so Step Up Stirrup will have the right one for you ! 

About: Louise Ford lived in Rochester, NY until age 15, when her mother passed away. She and her father then moved to Palm Beach, Florida. Since then she has worked and lived in a variety of places – ranging from Santa Fe to London. She even spent some time volunteering at the Juba Orphanage in Sudan. She has now started her own company, Step Up Stirrup, LLC.

Crowdfunding campaign link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/21603260/step-up-stirrup-gives-you-a-leg-up-anywhere-you-ri 

After April 1st the stirrups will be available at www.stepupstirrup.com