Doing Up Girths??

[unicorndanca]

I've always been told that horses that 'puff up' when you try to do their girths up take that approach because in the past someone has really yanked up the girth or done it up really tight. I have always been very careful not to do either and have tried various girths but more often than not my 3yo will 'puff up'. Any advice????

[Princess]

Do up the girth tight enough so that u can mount up, then sort out your stirrups. Once you are in the saddle with the correct stirrups tighten your girth again, by this time the horse would have forgotten about the girth and breathed out.

[LindaAd]

Do you do it up in stages - or all in one go? I find it helps to do it up very loosely at first, then a hole or two more before putting on the bridle, then the rest before I mount, so nothing happens suddenly.

[FreedomStar]

A lot of horses blow because they just don't like the girth, but it goes on anyways. What I do is tighten it a bit, then adjust my stirrups, tighten it some more, go get my helmet and bridle and crop and everything, then I tighten it more, and before I mount, I always check to make sure the girth is tight enough.

[floppy]

when i do the saddle up i do it up equally on both sides...with my horse only i do it up 3 holes on each side to begin with...then i do her tail thing up..then i do the girth up another hole or two. Then i go and fetch my hat and gloves then i come back and do it up another hole and then i put her bridle on and do her saddle up one more hole and that's it.
She doesnt midn it and she has stopped blowing her belly out. Before i bought her she always blew out because of an ill fitting saddle she had at her old home.
but to do the girth up tight enough to mount straight away isnt nice for the horses. always be patient.

[ros]

If you're being very careful to do the girth up in easy stages and your horse is still blowing out, perhaps she finds the saddle itself uncomfortable for some reason? It would certainly be worth having everything checked out very carefully, as horses don't do these things just to annoy us, whatever we may think at the time!

[Mossy]

Hi
My two are direct opposites. Con needs her girth doing up gently, yank at your peril, but does not blow at all. Moss is a little tinker! Nothing hurts, he has his saddle checked very regularly but even if he does not actively inflate he waits until you have one foot in the stirrup and the other off the ground and then deflates as hard as he can! The number of times I have finished up on the floor! He then turns his head and laughs at me. The problem is partially solved with a breastplate.

[Julew]

My horse had girth galls long before I ever owned him. He would try and bite you as you did up his girth. I found a bit at a time worked well as said above but having done all that I sometimes also walk him a circle or two before the final tightening. Changing to an Equiprine ( is that the right spelling?) girth helped too.

[Shiny McShine]

Usually I find if you give your horse a nice brisk walk around after doing the girth up a bit of the way, they will usually be fine to girth up after that.

[Stella2]

I do the girth up on my mare very gradually, but I worry a bit because I simply can't adjust it again after mounting and most advice seems to advocate this. A couple of people have told me that if its tight enough to mount then its probably okay - I have been riding like this because I have to enlist the efforts of someone else if I want it up a hole after mounting. When just done up on the ground, the saddle has not slipped and I can get 3 fingers under the girth snugly, but comfortably.

So really, it seems okay not tightening the girth again when on board, but I have a nagging worry 'cos it goes against the 'books'. I'd be interested in views on this.

Ann

[Wally]

Check, check and check again. When your weight is in the saddle the girth will become looser simply because you are sittiing in the saddle depressing it and making the girth loose.

Don't have it so tight the horse cannot breath or move, there is no point in making sure your sadle fits, you are absorbing the movement of the horse and following him if you do his girth up so tight he is sore.

The better the rider the slacker the girth can be. With novices on board you cannot take risks...make it firm. With more experienced riders, well, if they cannot tell if they are slipping out the side door........?


Your horse will tell you if something is making him unhappy, it's not the girth going up, it's usually the saddle starting to bear down that makes them flinch. A pinching saddle will make the horse flinch as the girth goes tighter, with some anyway, worth a check.

[virtuallyhorses]

The puffing up is a 'prey reaction' to the 'grip' of something around their vulnerable stomach - if you think about it, the fact that they simply puff up is a pretty small reaction for an animal who is hard-wired for survival :)

The more gentle\slow you can make the adjustment from no girth, to tightened girth the more comfortable the horse will feel about the whole thing... and the more consistantly you take this approach the more the horse will learn that it doesn't need to react at all - but this of course will take time.

The advice about doing up the girth in easy stages and making sure that you are aware that girth reactions can also be 'bad saddle fit' reactions are all good ones. I usually put the saddle on and do up the girth ony enough to stop it dragging on the ground the first time, sort out saddle pads etc , do up another hole, pick out feet, do another hole or two etc etc etc It doesn't take any more time and lets your horse get used to having the saddle and girth on without any fuss.

[Stella2]

thanks guys, but do you think its essential to do it up another hole when on board?

Ann

[intouch]

You should be able to slip your hand under the girth with just a comfortable amount of pressure, unless your horse is barrel shaped, in which case it may need to be a bit tighter, unless your balance is exceptionally secure! A great many horses suffer from sore pectoral muscles from too tight girths, he will flinch or flicker his skin violently when you touch the area behind his elbows if so.

[jUmPingIsLifE]

i put my horses girth on the first hole on both sides hwen i first get the saddle on than i take him out of the pasture tighen it up again, hope on and than go up one more hole.

the horse i ride at my barn, she rears when the girth is to tight! if you have it to tight your horse will let you know it in some way or another

[virtuallyhorses]

Whether or not you do up more after you've gotten on board (and even how tight you do up the girth) will depend on you and what you are going to do. If you're schooling in a flat arena and are happy with your balance, then leave it loose-ish if you are riding cross-country or have a horse who's shape means the saddle tends to slip - you may need it a hole tighter when you get on board....

If you really want you could try out an elasicated and\or shaped girth - you get the best of both worlds - just remember not to do it up so tight that the elastic is stretched.

[snailspace]

I also take the girth up in stages-a little at a time-and one last time right before I mount. I've never gone up a hole once mounted, and still have the "3 fingers" breathing room whenever I check. But I think the shape of different horses has a lot to do with it. The only time(knock wood- I know there's more coming) I've fallen off is with a very barrel shaped horse. We should have done the girth up one more on that one! The saddle just started slipping sideways and I wasn't coordinated or experienced enough to know how to shift my weight to save myself, so down I went! That's when I learned from my instructor that it's hard to get a girth tight on a really round horse! Gee, thanks
:rolleyes:

[Lucy J]

my youngster isn't good at standing and getting her girth put up another hole when I'm on board (or maybe its me thats not so good!) I have an elasticated girth. WHen I try and fasten it I struggle to get it in the first hole cause she blows out. I do it a bit at a time till we're ready to mount, by which time (although the last hole is a struggle) it is in the 5th hole. That is enough to let me get on and work on the flat. After a few minutes work it could go up one more hole, but unless jumping there is no need to.

[Bebe]

Has anyone tried the aerborn humane girth? It makes girthing up blowing out horses really easy as you can pull one strap up and fasten it to the girth then wait a while before fastening the other strap (on same side). This is because both buckles are attached to each other through a special kind of ring and if you pull one up the other will shorten. Fastening one buckle on a hole higher than the other is safe because of the way it's designed and means you can tighten by half a hole if you need to.

My mare loves this girth. Even though I fasten the girth really slowly (I take it off completely after every ride so start from scratch each time) she still gets grumpy with elastic end girths. With this girth she's really happy to be girthed up, no nasty faces, tenseness, etc.

[ros]

Yes - and I wouldn't use it again. I was warned that it causes pressure points, which makes sense if you think about the way it's constructed. I also saw a batch in one local saddlers which were stitched incorrectly so there was no "roller" effect anyway!

[Dizzy]

Ros, could you explain about the pressure points, I bought a humane girth for Breeze, must admit it wasn't used much as I use a western saddle now. But I thought the humane girth would be far less restricting for the horse as it moved with them, as opposed to a girth that was ungiving.

Surely if there are pressure points, they would be more pronouned with a girth that had no give as the saddle is fixed. Ideally we are talking about a saddle that fits the horse, the reasoning behind the humane girth is that the saddle is held at the same tension all the time, as one leg steps forward, that side gives, but the tension is counteracted on the other side.

The ones that were stitched wrongly are by the by anyway as they had a fault in thier manufacturing. Would they not have been the equivalent to a normal girth as the give and take was eliminated due to the error?

I am not favouring the humane girth, just interested in your reply - I have never been a lover of the elasicated girth, I feel these can be over tightened far too easily.

Lesley

[Bebe]

Not sure how the humane girth can cause more pressure points than an elasticated girth. Would like to see the research that shows this.

It's by the by for me anyway, my horse most definitely prefers it over any other girth I've used. I found that whilst using the new Thorowgood airoform girth huge amounts of pressure were created on the breastbone area (under the belly) but up the sides of my horses barrel there was none, in fact the sides looked so loose that I kept being told my girth was too loose, yet when I tried to put my hand under the girth at the breastbone it was so tight I couldn't. I can't possibly see how this is better for the horse. It got to the point where Bebe would run to the back of the stable (had major saddle panic again at one point despite having a treeless) and when I went to girth up she pulled faces, moved around and attempted to bite. I'd used the humane girth on her before (for a year with no problems) so I bought the dressage version and immediately she was back to being calm and quiet whilst tacking up. I think that speaks for itself but realise that each horse is an individual and may not feel the same.

[ros]

Hi Dizzy

Its the v-shaped fastenings that cause the problem because they centre the pressure when the girth is done up. It's a similar priciple with girths that have the reinforced stitching only up the centre line (like Cottage Craft) rather than having stitching all across the width of the girth (like the ordinary Aerborn girths - which I do like, incidentally). If you look at the outer edges of any used Cottage Craft girth you'll see they look ruffled, because they stretch more than the centre.

As far as movement goes, the ideal is to have a saddle that is completely stable. You can only achieve that if the fit is perfect and the saddle well-made - inside as well as out! If it sits flush all the way along the back, and not too far forward so that it doesn't interfere with the shoulder blades, you shouldn't really get much movement at all. Out of interest, there's a modern tendency for saddlers to make the girth webbings long so that they can renew girth straps without dropping out the panels. That makes the girth webbing less stable, which allows more movement of the saddle, and in turn that can lead to problems (if the saddle itself isn't right).

If the saddle fits you shouldn't need to overtighten the girth, in which I guess you're less likely to have problems with it whatever make it is.

Amanda - I'm a great believer in letting your horse tell you what it likes, so if Bebe's not happy I guess she'll let you know!

[cvb]

I didn't realise how much my new horse was puffy out until we had a spook and i fell off.

She's western, so you really DO need to get the girth sorted out before you get on !

Anyway, she spooked at some flappy plastic on a windy day, across a ditch, through a rope fence - which made her panic again/more, dumped me on the floor and went home.

Luckily we were both ok. (I had images of a horse with a shredded chest, but she was fine).

But when I finally caught up with her - about 10metres from home - her saddle was completely upside down. Poor little girl.

So now I am doubly careful about girth and have gone back to using a breastplate. Makes her look like a fetish/bondage horse and takes me twice as long as the english/classical riders to tack up, but so much more safer and comfortable for us both !

(I had stopped using the leather breastplate so I could use a reflective fluorescent one instead - it broke rather than stabilise the saddle).

[Stella2]

I ride English and aspire to classical riding and I use a breat plate!

Ann

[Bebe]

Ros, I can see where that would happen. Actually, as soon as my old saddle started to be uncomfortable to Bebe, she started objecting when she was girthed up. She's now in a Fitform which can't do anything but fit perfectly. I'm pretty bad too for not doing my girth up very tightly unless someone reminds me so tend to ride with it looping around her body (I know it's bad!). In theory you'd think that would let me get away with any girth but she definitely hated the airoform.

I also use a breastgirth, just the standard elastic one which I got from Libbys tack. I live in Sheffield and we have monster hills everywhere. My saddle stays where it should do on 95% of the rides but there are a couple of hills that drop everyone's saddle back a bit and I got fed up of getting off at the top of them all and putting the saddle back where it belongs.

[Dizzy]

Ros, thanks for the reply, I can now see what you mean - the pressure point is through the centre of the girth.

I see I gave a poor explanation, I didn't actually mean that the saddle should move. I meant that because of the runner mechanism, and the action of the horse, the girth (not the saddle) will give and take, keeping the girth constant but not restricting. But with a fixed girth the pressure is constant and doesn't have the give and take.

cvb I know exactly what you mean, I do Breeze's cinch up bit by bit, but I have now learnt exactly which hole it should be on, and if we stick to our diet/fittening plan it will be one hole less :D very soon.

Lesley

[ros]

Talking about breastgirths reminds me what an idiot I was with Frank. He's quite long in the back and has filled shoulders too, and he naturally carries the saddle well back. I used to put it on much too far forward (and boy, when you really start looking don't you see a lot of people doing that - I was watching some medium dressage tests not so long ago, and I reckon two thirds of the saddles either were too far forward or didn't fit at all) so of course it would slip back to where it wanted to sit (and of course should have been sitting) - so what do I do? I buy a breastgirth! Of course, it doesn't do any good because I'm fighting nature. I did give up in the end, but not because I realised what I was doing wrong.

Of course that's a totally different matter than having lots of steep hills to contend with.

And back to girthing up - because so many people put their saddles on too far forward, they also have the girth too far forward as well, instead of in the girth seat, which is at least a hand's width behind the elbow. I remember when I was young all my Pony Club manuals and stuff used to tell you to allow that hand's width when girthing up, but how many people remember to do it? And this morning I looked at Frank, and his girth seat actually starts a good 9 inches behind his elbow, which falls in line with where his saddle should correctly sit.

AND (sorry!) if you put the saddle on too far forward, that makes it look as though the front arch is closer to the withers than it should be, so you think "oh my goodness, my saddle needs re-flocking", or you stick a thick numnah under it, which then makes it too tight, and bingo! You've created a problem where you never really had one in the first place.

[Bebe]

Looks like the breast girth might be redundant now, a sign has gone up on our steepest ride saying no horses!!! Not sure if it's due to some wrangling over getting an official bridleway designated (most of ours are cart tracks that have been used for hundreds of years but aren't on the official maps and we're arguing with the Forestry Commission over retaining use of at least a couple - if they don't grant us that much we're going to take it further ourselves) or something else so will have to investigate. It's annoying though as this ride has a gorgeous long track that is great for cantering down, and getting up there is too steep for most walkers so we usually have it to ourselves.